Is it time for a radical solution for college football in Mississippi?

[Quaoarsking]

This idea is not new. People have talked about it for decades. But I think its time has come.

A few facts to keep in mind:

College students take a lot of online classes these days.
Football players in particular take a lot of online classes.
The NCAA allows players from other campuses of the same college to play on the main campus's team. For example, someone who took classes at the MSU campus in Meridian could play on our teams.
Mississippi is the poorest state in the country, and it's one of smallest in population to have a Power 4 school (and unlike Nebraska and West Virginia, we don't have just 1)
Ole Miss is doing well in the NIL right now (top 20), but probably can't sustain it indefinitely. We are not doing as well, but combined we would be a top 10 NIL program.
The state government has been talking for years about building a nice new football stadium in Jackson
The rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State is toxic (though arguably not as much as it was last decade). However, most all of us here have friends who like Ole Miss, and vice versa. It doesn't need to be toxic.
Depending on the year, Mississippi is #1 or close to #1 in NFL players per capita. There's plenty of talent here.



So you can see where this going -- we should consider dropping down to 1 college athletic program in the state, and get everyone unified behind it.

The state would have to reorganize the university administration. We have 8 separate institutions, not 8 branches of the same institution. This would not be unprecedented - for example in North Carolina, there is the UNC system, and the main campus (Chapel Hill), NC State, Charlotte, Appalachian State, Wilmington, etc., are part of it.
The football team would all need to live in Jackson and take online classes at whichever university they want to. This wouldn't be a huge change from their student lives for most of them though.
I think it's safe to say the majority of fans in Starkville or Oxford most Saturdays would have a shorter drive to go to Jackson than to either campus.
You can't call the team the Rebels or Bulldogs - you'd need a new color scheme that doesn't match any of the current universities. You'd need a new nickname too. But you could keep Bully, the Shark, etc., as the costumed mascots. Why not have a bunch of them? And the team would have to be just known as "Mississippi"
The stadium could seat 100,000 and be near the top of the FBS in attendance.
Instead of sniping at each other for players, we would be a unified state taking on the world.
With the streamlining of expenses, there would be leftover money to add more sports, like men's soccer, lacrosse, etc.
You'd probably want to do the same with basketball and everything else. Maybe keep the baseball programs separate so that Starkville and Oxford don't lose out completely.
A lot of people wouldn't be happy when this was announced, but after a couple of years, we'd all love it.
The SEC would be happy to go down to 1 SEC school but still keep the whole state engaged.

These are the cons I can think of:

Both universities have spent a lot of money on stadiums that would no longer host games. Maybe they could play 1 non-conference game a year away from Jackson, rotating between Oxford, Starkville, and Hattiesburg or something. And maybe you could play state championships or even NCAA soccer games there.
The student sections may not be as lively since they'd mostly be coming in from 2+ hours way. The campuses could probably pay to bus students in though.
There's no guarantee we'll be a great program if we do this. Arkansas, Minnesota, and West Virginia aren't great programs. Nebraska is a shadow of what it once was. On the other hand, all of those programs would almost certainly be in a worse situation if they had to share their states with another power conference school.
A lot of people nationwide would probably still informally call the new team "Ole Miss" and see it as a continuation of that program rather than a merger of all programs. We would need to make it clear that that's not the case.

Should we do this? Yes. I said we should do this 20 years ago. I said we should 10 years ago when we were both top 10 teams. But given the modern unregulated NIL landscape, we need the entire state to unite around the same program.

This is NOT a surrender. This is just recognizing the realities of the world we live in. Companies merge all the time. Sports teams in other countries merge. Mississippi would have the chance to be a national power.

[TheLostDawg]

I hope that you aren't driving anywhere anytime soon

[Dawgology]

We don?t really have a choice. I?m trying to tell you all this is the ultimate plan. We can attend and have a say or we will just be relegated in a few years.

[cheewgumm]

Good lord.

[Coursesuper]

Just wow.

[Dawgology]

Everyone can call this an overreaction but I?m telling you all right now that the plan is to have one SEC team in MS and that team has been chosen. Period. End of story.

[Quaoarsking]

Everyone can call this an overreaction but I?m telling you all right now that the plan is to have one SEC team in MS and that team has been chosen. Period. End of story.

I don't necessarily agree with this sentiment, but I will say that if it's just Ole Miss in the SEC, they're leaving hundreds of thousands of fans behind who are never going to start cheering for Ole Miss.

Merge the two programs, and have them play in an area closer to the bulk of the fans (Jackson) and the ceiling is a lot higher.

[EdwardDrayton]

Been advocating for this for years.

[CaptainObvious]

It's gonna be a no for me dog.

Currently in the state of Mississippi, the fandom breaks out like this for FBS schools.

1) Mississippi
2) Mississippi State
3) Alabama
4) LSU
5) Southern Miss

Any reorganization that makes Mississippi the primary and only D-1 level program in this State, will increase the Alabama and LSU supporters the most, then those few hundred State fans that cheer for both State and Ole Miss will likely move to support Ole Miss.

But "most" State fans will still support State at whatever level they play at and still hate the rebels so bad they will be for anybody who is playing Ole Miss. I can assure you 90% of all State fans will NOT become Ole Miss fans if your plan were to happen. They will remain State fans and hate everything Ole Miss even more!

[Quaoarsking]

But "most" State fans will still support State at whatever level they play at and still hate the rebels so bad they will be for anybody who is playing Ole Miss. I can assure you 90% of all State fans will NOT become Ole Miss fans if your plan were to happen. They will remain State fans and hate everything Ole Miss even more!

You didn't even read what I posted, because I'm saying the opposite!

I would NEVER cheer for Ole Miss, period. No matter what. I'm advocating that the programs merge and start playing in Jackson. That's the complete opposite of "just have Mississippi State fans start cheering for Ole Miss"

The combined super-team would NOT be "Ole Miss." It wouldn't be called Ole Miss or Rebels, wouldn't use red or blue as colors, and wouldn't play in Oxford.

[Ranchdawg]

I always said when NIL came that some lesser power 5 teams would just say screw it. That some lesser would just give up because there is no way to compete with Bama, LSU, TaM, Georgia, Texas etc. Why compete if for just a meaningless bowl game and NO chance at even making the playoffs.

And what true 5star player is ever going to go to a lesser program. Why would he? The Bama’s of this country have all the advantages 100k stadiums, more money than the lessers could only dream of, better facilities, better coaching, more fans which means more NIL donations. And you have to have Thoroughbreds to win the race not rented mules. I am scared to death that the first lesser to capitulate and slide down to a G5 program is us.

[Todd4State]

That would be wild. The only way I see that ever happening is if there was a chance that both schools were left out of a super conference.

That isn't out of the realm of possibility.

[Charlie_Sheen420]

Damn we get beat down by Toledo and we already have people calling for the university to fold. I did not think I would ever see that. We are 3 games in to a VERY LONG season filled with a lot of lumps but damn give Lebby a chance and yes this is the worst State team I have ever seen but I honestly expected it when I could not name even just 4 damn players before the season started. Then take into account this is head coach number 4 in 5 years, and each of those coaches had way different schemes/personnel philosophies. It is going to get worse before it gets better unfortunately but hopefully we see some improvement towards the end of the season

[CaptainObvious]

You didn't even read what I posted, because I'm saying the opposite!

I would NEVER cheer for Ole Miss, period. No matter what. I'm advocating that the programs merge and start playing in Jackson. That's the complete opposite of "just have Mississippi State fans start cheering for Ole Miss"

The combined super-team would NOT be "Ole Miss." It wouldn't be called Ole Miss or Rebels, wouldn't use red or blue as colors, and wouldn't play in Oxford.

It would most definitely be the University of Mississippi. That would be the only name the State government and the IHL allow.


Point is moot! It will never happen. State would go FCS before merging athletics with Ole Miss!

[CaptainObvious]

It would most definitely be the University of Mississippi. That would be the only name the State government and the IHL allow.


Point is moot! It will never happen. State would go FCS before merging athletics with Ole Miss!

If you want to see a merger, try to convince Southern Miss to merge with State! They hate Ole Miss as bad as we do!

Then you would have over 35,000 students on 3 campuses covering the entire State!

[Quaoarsking]

Point is moot! It will never happen. State would go FCS before merging athletics with Ole Miss!

Actually, I think if you put it to a vote of our fanbase, "Merge football teams with Ole Miss and stay in the SEC under a new identity and branding" would beat "Drop down to FCS while Ole Miss stays in the SEC alone" in a landslide.

[Dawgology]

There will be no merger. You all aren’t paying attention. State will still be D1 but they won’t be in the new realignment of the SEC. Doesn’t matter they are a founding member. It is being disbanded and rebranded in several years during a massive realignmen to create a more NFL-like product of about 50 major programs representing each state.

[Extendedcab]

So what other states are considering this type of proposal?

[MoreCowbell]

If we do not figure this shit out, once we get left behind in the next conference realignment, Ole Miss will become what you are talking about without needing to merge with us.

[Quaoarsking]

If we do not figure this shit out, once we get left behind in the next conference realignment, Ole Miss will become what you are talking about without needing to merge with us.

They won't though, because the vast majority of our fans aren't going to start rooting for Ole Miss and going to their games.

A merged super team is the only way to get all Mississippians on board.

[FoggyBottom]

I can understand why some MSU fans would be in favor of this proposal. However, there is no way to get Ole Miss or any of its fans on board.

They are currently ranked number five in the nation and absent an unanticipated collapse will make the playoffs. They are raking in tons of cash. Why would they want to share it?

OM is in line to be a member of the next super conference should it materialize. What could it possibly gain by a merger?

[SPMT]

This idea is not new. People have talked about it for decades. But I think its time has come.

A few facts to keep in mind:

College students take a lot of online classes these days.
Football players in particular take a lot of online classes.
The NCAA allows players from other campuses of the same college to play on the main campus's team. For example, someone who took classes at the MSU campus in Meridian could play on our teams.
Mississippi is the poorest state in the country, and it's one of smallest in population to have a Power 4 school (and unlike Nebraska and West Virginia, we don't have just 1)
Ole Miss is doing well in the NIL right now (top 20), but probably can't sustain it indefinitely. We are not doing as well, but combined we would be a top 10 NIL program.
The state government has been talking for years about building a nice new football stadium in Jackson
The rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State is toxic (though arguably not as much as it was last decade). However, most all of us here have friends who like Ole Miss, and vice versa. It doesn't need to be toxic.
Depending on the year, Mississippi is #1 or close to #1 in NFL players per capita. There's plenty of talent here.



So you can see where this going -- we should consider dropping down to 1 college athletic program in the state, and get everyone unified behind it.

The state would have to reorganize the university administration. We have 8 separate institutions, not 8 branches of the same institution. This would not be unprecedented - for example in North Carolina, there is the UNC system, and the main campus (Chapel Hill), NC State, Charlotte, Appalachian State, Wilmington, etc., are part of it.
The football team would all need to live in Jackson and take online classes at whichever university they want to. This wouldn't be a huge change from their student lives for most of them though.
I think it's safe to say the majority of fans in Starkville or Oxford most Saturdays would have a shorter drive to go to Jackson than to either campus.
You can't call the team the Rebels or Bulldogs - you'd need a new color scheme that doesn't match any of the current universities. You'd need a new nickname too. But you could keep Bully, the Shark, etc., as the costumed mascots. Why not have a bunch of them? And the team would have to be just known as "Mississippi"
The stadium could seat 100,000 and be near the top of the FBS in attendance.
Instead of sniping at each other for players, we would be a unified state taking on the world.
With the streamlining of expenses, there would be leftover money to add more sports, like men's soccer, lacrosse, etc.
You'd probably want to do the same with basketball and everything else. Maybe keep the baseball programs separate so that Starkville and Oxford don't lose out completely.
A lot of people wouldn't be happy when this was announced, but after a couple of years, we'd all love it.
The SEC would be happy to go down to 1 SEC school but still keep the whole state engaged.

These are the cons I can think of:

Both universities have spent a lot of money on stadiums that would no longer host games. Maybe they could play 1 non-conference game a year away from Jackson, rotating between Oxford, Starkville, and Hattiesburg or something. And maybe you could play state championships or even NCAA soccer games there.
The student sections may not be as lively since they'd mostly be coming in from 2+ hours way. The campuses could probably pay to bus students in though.
There's no guarantee we'll be a great program if we do this. Arkansas, Minnesota, and West Virginia aren't great programs. Nebraska is a shadow of what it once was. On the other hand, all of those programs would almost certainly be in a worse situation if they had to share their states with another power conference school.
A lot of people nationwide would probably still informally call the new team "Ole Miss" and see it as a continuation of that program rather than a merger of all programs. We would need to make it clear that that's not the case.

Should we do this? Yes. I said we should do this 20 years ago. I said we should 10 years ago when we were both top 10 teams. But given the modern unregulated NIL landscape, we need the entire state to unite around the same program.

This is NOT a surrender. This is just recognizing the realities of the world we live in. Companies merge all the time. Sports teams in other countries merge. Mississippi would have the chance to be a national power.



In summary, yes we SHOULD have only one major state university but we don?t and we won?t in our lifetime. If we did, we?d have more wealth, NIL, continuity, etc.

For some reason our state has never been in control by long term thinkers. Maybe MS ancestors were full of hoarders and morons. Thankfully, mine aren?t from here!

IF WE HAD OIL THIS WOULD ALL BE MOOT.

[CaptainObvious]

In summary, yes we SHOULD have only one major state university but we don?t and we won?t in our lifetime. If we did, we?d have more wealth, NIL, continuity, etc.

For some reason our state has never been in control by long term thinkers. Maybe MS ancestors were full of hoarders and morons. Thankfully, mine aren?t from here!

IF WE HAD OIL THIS WOULD ALL BE MOOT.

Not oil. We need to find a trove of EV batteries buried in the Indian Mound under Scott Field And Dudy Noble! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

[SPMT]

Not oil. We need to find a trove of EV batteries buried in the Indian Mound under Scott Field And Dudy Noble! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

That?ll work too

[scottycameron]

This is literally the dumbest idea I've ever seen posted on a message board.

[Coursesuper]

This is literally the dumbest idea I've ever seen posted on a message board.

Thank you. BY the way are you going to release an ne J.A.T. in the future?

[Bothrops]

In this hypothetical scenario USM would remain untouched, and the combined University of MSU and UM would keep the bulldog as mascot, but everything else would unanimously go to Oxford, except of course, DNF. It doesn't matter if we have the better football stadium, or at least the better stadium after the next big upgrade. But that's how it would go down.

[BeardoMSU]

Thanks, Q...

https://twitter.com/BoardGeniuses/status/1835683809737547797?t=niQIGzK33WrN8TsIJwNYVw&s=19

[Bothrops]

Nm

[MoreCowbell]

They won't though, because the vast majority of our fans aren't going to start rooting for Ole Miss and going to their games.

A merged super team is the only way to get all Mississippians on board.

They would not need our existing fans. They would get every in state recruit and gain support throughout the state. Every person who cheers for both, which is a lot, would be all Ole Miss and kids growing up would become Ole Miss fans. You better believe it could happen and they would not need us.

[MoreCowbell]

Thanks, Q...

https://twitter.com/BoardGeniuses/status/1835683809737547797?t=niQIGzK33WrN8TsIJwNYVw&s=19

Yeah bad look

[Coursesuper]

They would not need our existing fans. They would get every in state recruit and gain support throughout the state. Every person who cheers for both, which is a lot, would be all Ole Miss and kids growing up would become Ole Miss fans. You better believe it could happen and they would not need us.

This is exactly what happens if we don't get it together, and we get cut in the next round of conference realignment.

[Cooterpoot]

We've got some genuine 17tards

[BrunswickDawg]

I'm not generally in support of Q's approach - but I understand where it is coming from....

Folks - this is the type thinking and support that is going to separate MSU from the top tier https://t.co/ZN9dAMH97x https://x.com/adamsparks/status/1836042818860490803?s=51&t=9frsdg7rvQdOlLgHO91_bA

The TL;DR version - Tennessee is raising ticket prices and donation requirements an average of 14.5% 4.5% is for facilities and athletic department expenses. 10% is specifically a "talent fee" to pay the players.
Even student tickets will go up to $25 a game. With the 75,000 season ticket holders they have, ticket/donation changes are estimated to bring in $7.5 million in revenue to use toward the $22m in player pay.

At UGA, Season Tickets will be going up to $80 a game ($560 a season) plus a seat donation that ranges from $410-$7,500 per seat. The kicker is that to have enough "points" to get season tickets, you have to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $15,000+ in lifetime giving to qualify for seats (and those are not the good seats). https://georgiadogs.com/news/2024/9/6/general-georgia-announces-football-ticket-pricing-changes-for-2025-season


Meanwhile, at MSU.....

It doesn't matter what we get from NIL. Doesn't matter what we generate in revenue. Won't really matter how we recruit or what coach we hire.
What the Top 20 schools have done is forced through a model where only they can compete. Period. The fanbase size, facility size, general revenue, and hefty donation revenue puts them so far ahead.
We spent more on Football last year then any year ever - $33 million. That is an increase of 231% since 2010. Meanwhile, the median SEC program spent $54 million - and this is just in straight expenses, not NIL.
In athletics overall, we are $50 million under the median SEC athletic department in expenses; and $70 million behind in median revenue.


These are not gaps that we are going to bridge. You can't "diamond in the rough" your way to competing once every four years when we have a load of 5th year Seniors. In economy of scale, it really means that the odds are basketball may be the only sport we can regularly compete in - IF we have a great coach and can somehow grab talent. Baseball will start to wither on the vine with 35 scholarships going into effect - simply because we won't be able to push the envelop anymore via facilities and investment like we could even 5 years ago. Everyone in the SEC will have what we have or more - and the LFL and big attendance won't save it.

I hate being so pessimistic. But the numbers are right there in front of us, flashing big red warning signals, and we as an institution and fanbase are just the "I'm fine" meme while its on fire all around us.