Hate to be that guy but I am gonna be that guy...

[Todd4State]

Completely agree.

If our players want to be better than Bama then you have to play like Bama every Saturday.

You can't just pick & choose when you will play well. It has to become a habit & you must hold yourself to a standard.

Last night showed me that Dan Mullen can win a national title at MSU. We went toe to toe with the most talented team in America with no gimmicks, no tricks, & pure smash mouth football. Playing the way we did last night with some slight talent upgrades at WR & DB, give us a chance to beat anyone in America.

However, what makes Bama Bama is that they do it every weekend & that is what we have to show the next two weeks.

Championship programs play like champions every week. Our guys have got to find a way to put last night behind them, get, focused, & knock the hell out of Arkansas next Saturday morning.

THIS 100%.

I don't expect us to win a National Championship every year- but if we come out with this attitude we will give ourselves a chance to maximize our talent and further our program beyond what many of our fans expected or dreamed of. All I really ask is that we win the games we're supposed to- Dan has done that at probably over 90% which is acceptable to me- and then in the games against the SEC bluebloods play as hard as we can and give ourselves a chance to win- last night was acceptable. We won't win every game against every blueblood- but we will give ourselves a good chance at pulling it off from time to time.

Our fans are scarred from Jackie and his "you can only get up for three games theory". That may or may not be true- but the problem is he coached like that. And you can't do that- that's how you beat Alabama and Ole Miss and then lose to Louisiana Tech and Kentucky in the same season. Or beat Alabama and Auburn but lose to a 3 win LSU team by 35 and an average Arkansas team. Dan is a better coach than that- and that's why I love some of the things he does like "We don't lose to Kentucky". That sets the tone and expectation and raises awareness and intensity just enough that it's only happened once in his tenure even though they aren't a rival. And that was with a Sirmon defense and on a long field goal at the end of the game.

I think this loss could have an opposite effect too though- it may make our guys more focused on what they need to do to get to the Alabama level and more confidence in themselves than ever. And based on the stats I could totally see us tearing Arkansas and Ole Miss a new one on the ground. I'm sure we'll give up a few bombs to both of them but it is what it is at this point. We should be good enough to play well enough to beat both of them.

[ShotgunDawg]

THIS 100%.

I don't expect us to win a National Championship every year- but if we come out with this attitude we will give ourselves a chance to maximize our talent and further our program beyond what many of our fans expected or dreamed of. All I really ask is that we win the games we're supposed to- Dan has done that at probably over 90% which is acceptable to me- and then in the games against the SEC bluebloods play as hard as we can and give ourselves a chance to win- last night was acceptable. We won't win every game against every blueblood- but we will give ourselves a good chance at pulling it off from time to time.

Our fans are scarred from Jackie and his "you can only get up for three games theory". That may or may not be true- but the problem is he coached like that. And you can't do that- that's how you beat Alabama and Ole Miss and then lose to Louisiana Tech and Kentucky in the same season. Or beat Alabama and Auburn but lose to a 3 win LSU team by 35 and an average Arkansas team. Dan is a better coach than that- and that's why I love some of the things he does like "We don't lose to Kentucky". That sets the tone and expectation and raises awareness and intensity just enough that it's only happened once in his tenure even though they aren't a rival. And that was with a Sirmon defense and on a long field goal at the end of the game.

I think this loss could have an opposite effect too though- it may make our guys more focused on what they need to do to get to the Alabama level and more confidence in themselves than ever. And based on the stats I could totally see us tearing Arkansas and Ole Miss a new one on the ground. I'm sure we'll give up a few bombs to both of them but it is what it is at this point. We should be good enough to play well enough to beat both of them.

Totally agree.

Jackie may be right or Jackie may be wrong but that quote is a terrible excuse that MSU fans continue to use, and, to be honest, I can?t imagine Mullen ever saying this.

The point is that we should and must hold ourselves to a higher standard than this.

[Todd4State]

Totally agree.

Jackie may be right or Jackie may be wrong but that quote is a terrible excuse that MSU fans continue to use, and, to be honest, I can?t imagine Mullen ever saying this.

The point is that we should and must hold ourselves to a higher standard than this.

I can't either- last night he pretty much said his goal was to win a championship. The closest he normally comes to a "let down" is something like the UMass game where he is trying to save the QB from taking a pounding which is logical. But at least if he sees that we are down he rips their ass at halftime and then starts running the QB to win the game. Which is what happened.