Just checked out the USM board....

[CadaverDawg]

to see if they were talking about our game any....

Um, no. It is a sad sad situation over there these days. Seriously, you can read every post in the voice of that depressed donkey on Winnie The Pooh, and you'd probably be spot on. Been a minute since the "Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere" stuff hasn't it?

https://southernmiss.rivals.com/forum.asp?sid=1085&fid=2604&style=2

[preachermatt83]

yea, all the USM boards are just flat out depressing to read.

[EdDawg]

I was talking with coworkers one day who happen to be USM grads and they couldn't understand why athletes around the Hattiesburg and Gulf Coast area would choose State over USM. After 10 minutes of trying to explain the difference between the SEC and C-USA I finally just walked away. They are almost if not more delusional than the Bears.

[preachermatt83]

Go to this board and read a bit. Sad.

http://eaglepost.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37667

[preachermatt83]

I was talking with coworkers one day who happen to be USM grads and they couldn't understand why athletes around the Hattiesburg and Gulf Coast area would choose State over USM. After 10 minutes of trying to explain the difference between the SEC and C-USA I finally just walked away. They are almost if not more delusional than the Bears.

Whoaaa Nellie... pull back on them reins a little brother. lol

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/538742_466344093400288_232196889_n.jpg

[AlSwearengen]

usm fans are not really more delusional than olemiss fans, they are just ridiculously retarded when it comes to football. The majority of their fans are "locals" that live in hattiesburg and they want to support the hometown team. That support is pretty mild and they aren't very knowledgable. Their hardcore fans are the dorky college kid who has a ton of school pride but absolutely zero sports knowledge.

The most ridiculous things I have ever heard muttered came from usm fans concerning football. One of the best being the kid at chili's telling us that usm was getting ready to build a dome a few years ago.

[thf24]

usm fans are not really more delusional than olemiss fans, they are just ridiculously retarded when it comes to football. The majority of their fans are "locals" that live in hattiesburg and they want to support the hometown team. That support is pretty mild and they aren't very knowledgable. Their hardcore fans are the dorky college kid who has a ton of school pride but absolutely zero sports knowledge.

The most ridiculous things I have ever heard muttered came from usm fans concerning football. One of the best being the kid at chili's telling us that usm was getting ready to build a dome a few years ago.

Yeah, same with all the Memphis fans I hang around. They sound delusional when they talk about their hopes for football every year preseason, but they really just don't realize how outmatched they are by pretty much everyone they'll come up against.

[Statefan]

Go to this board and read a bit. Sad.

http://eaglepost.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37667

Here are a few quotes I picked out:

I don't care if the 85 Bears played for Moo U I will NEVER think they can beat us or tell anyone they will. We will shock the world on August 30th. Screw Dan Mullen and those toothless hicks

Prescott is just a more polished Chris Relf. He's solid, but nothing extraordinary.

I think our defense will be fine initially versus State. They don't have many weapons that scare you.

Are we going to win? No. Are we going to get embarrassed? I seriously doubt it. Final score- 21-31.

[starkvegasdawg]

Wow. When some on that board are not even sure they can beat Alcorn, that really says where they are as a fan base. I actually feel sorry for them. Takes me back to when I watched us get beat by Tulane during the Croom debacle. The season that inspired, "The Cowbells Ain't Ringing Anymore" video.

[BulldogBear]

I was talking with coworkers one day who happen to be USM grads and they couldn't understand why athletes around the Hattiesburg and Gulf Coast area would choose State over USM. After 10 minutes of trying to explain the difference between the SEC and C-USA I finally just walked away. They are almost if not more delusional than the Bears.

THIS^ ...at least in my experience

[BulldogBear]

usm fans are not really more delusional than olemiss fans, they are just ridiculously retarded when it comes to football. The majority of their fans are "locals" that live in hattiesburg and they want to support the hometown team. That support is pretty mild and they aren't very knowledgable. Their hardcore fans are the dorky college kid who has a ton of school pride but absolutely zero sports knowledge.

The most ridiculous things I have ever heard muttered came from usm fans concerning football. One of the best being the kid at chili's telling us that usm was getting ready to build a dome a few years ago.

Mine was being told in 1992 that USM would win a nat title by 1997

[MSUMatt]

Here are a few quotes I picked out:

I don't care if the 85 Bears played for Moo U I will NEVER think they can beat us or tell anyone they will. We will shock the world on August 30th. Screw Dan Mullen and those toothless hicks

Prescott is just a more polished Chris Relf. He's solid, but nothing extraordinary.

I think our defense will be fine initially versus State. They don't have many weapons that scare you.

Are we going to win? No. Are we going to get embarrassed? I seriously doubt it. Final score- 21-31.


Re: Monken: "There's nothing like shutting up a cowbell"
Postby Goldenrod ? Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:27 am

If you are going to quote Monken, at least use the entire passage:

Monken: "There's nothing like shutting up a cowbell, maybe we can pull it back just a little".

Bruce Dickinson: "Not too much though! Trust me. Fellas...you're gonna want that cowbell."

[BulldogBear]

Wow. When some on that board are not even sure they can beat Alcorn, that really says where they are as a fan base. I actually feel sorry for them. Takes me back to when I watched us get beat by Tulane during the Croom debacle. The season that inspired, "The Cowbells Ain't Ringing Anymore" video.

I was at the Tulane game you speak of in 2006. I haven't given it much thought but that could be the low water mark of the Croom era to me, if not Maine because it was early.

[engie]

Some fairly good reading on the preachermatt link. Haven't gotten around to the one Cadaver posted yet.

I feel sorry for them honestly. I know how obnoxious and annoying they get when they are having success, but still.

[Lloyd Christmas]

Here are a few quotes I picked out:

I don't care if the 85 Bears played for Moo U I will NEVER think they can beat us or tell anyone they will. We will shock the world on August 30th. Screw Dan Mullen and those toothless hicks

Prescott is just a more polished Chris Relf. He's solid, but nothing extraordinary.

I think our defense will be fine initially versus State. They don't have many weapons that scare you.

Are we going to win? No. Are we going to get embarrassed? I seriously doubt it. Final score- 21-31.

They will score 3 because our second team defense and second team offense will be in for half the game

[Coach34]

I'm surprised they even have a board. I figured their 10 fans just had an email or text chain going

[quickstrike2]

Well I don't expect their fans to bow down to us, especially since they are in the same state. With that being said, I do agree their fanbase is pretty delusional for the most part. Most really don't get why they should be treated any different due to conferences. I have gotten into several talks with their fans and finally just gave up and say something like, "well yall play hard against UAB this weekend, we have #1 ranked (insert SEC team) coming in this week."

[Pollodawg]

Legit, there can't be much traffic there.

[messageboardsuperhero]

You want some depressing reading- check this out.

http://eaglepost.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37648

It's like most of them have realized that USM has no chance to compete at the highest level going forward.

ETA: There are even a few people who have taken that Orlando writer's piece seriously and legitimately think MSU and UM are about to be kicked out of the SEC. Man, talk about pathetic.

[maroonmania]

Seems to me like a lot of them still have the mentality of the 80's and early 90's where they were essentially on equal footing with MSU and OM as a football program and could give us fits. They did have the really good year a few years back before the bottom fell out for them but, in general, over the last few years, the talent level has risen so dramatically all across the SEC while a lot of the talent USM used to reel in is now going to places like ULL, USA, Troy and ULM. Going to be hard for USM at this point to play much of any SEC team anymore and stay competitive in it. They at least used to attract some players because they had a "winning tradition" in CUSA but that is fading as well.

[AlSwearengen]

usm fans used to always see us going 5-6, 4-7, etc. with a winning season sprinkled in here and there. At the time, they were having good years (record wise) in CUSA before louisville, cincy, etc. became somewhat relevant and left. They were going 8-3 and we were going 4-7 and that is all they saw. The didn't take into account who we were playing, nor do they understand the toll it takes on a team to have to play in the SEC.

I quit discussing sports with them a long long time ago. It will make you crazy.

[DudyDawg]

They have an entire sub forum dedicated to ole miss and state.....

[BulldogBear]

Seems to me like a lot of them still have the mentality of the 80's and early 90's where they were essentially on equal footing with MSU and OM as a football program and could give us fits. They did have the really good year a few years back before the bottom fell out for them but, in general, over the last few years, the talent level has risen so dramatically all across the SEC while a lot of the talent USM used to reel in is now going to places like ULL, USA, Troy and ULM. Going to be hard for USM at this point to play much of any SEC team anymore and stay competitive in it. They at least used to attract some players because they had a "winning tradition" in CUSA but that is fading as well.

I think they experienced the perfect storm from underwater, or in other words, as a bad thing. Their collapse came at the worst possible time as they have no value to a bigger conference from a TV set point of view. All they had going for them was that they were a mid major that had sustained football success. To some degree on the midmajor lever, football relevance can be right there with TV potential. That's because when you are dealing with smaller schools and markets, football relevance IS TV potential. They got left out of the latest round of expansion because they are no longer relevant. It's sad, but with the emergence of MSU/UM and the SEC, they will stay just another directional school. It's over.

[Bully13]

I think they experienced the perfect storm from underwater, or in other words, as a bad thing. Their collapse came at the worst possible time as they have no value to a bigger conference from a TV set point of view. All they had going for them was that they were a mid major that had sustained football success. To some degree on the midmajor lever, football relevance can be right there with TV potential. That's because when you are dealing with smaller schools and markets, football relevance IS TV potential. They got left out of the latest round of expansion because they are no longer relevant. It's sad, but with the emergence of MSU/UM and the SEC, they will stay just another directional school. It's over.....agreed on all except the sad part

[Steakonastick]

The worst thing to ever happen to usm was hudspeth at ull and south alabama going d1. Their recruting base was southern lousiana, Mississippi, south alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. Hudspeth has locked down lousiana and gets majority of state and the bears left overs. While south Bama is getting all the coast kids.

If I was AD I'd drop football to what used to be d-2 and concentrate all my money on basketball and baseball. Oak Grove and Petal have nicer facilities then usm. And both aren't in debt.

[TrapGame]

I know a guy that's an Texas A&M grad and best friends with Fedora's brothers who all coach Texas HS FB. Fedora wanted one of his brothers to be his OC but his brother made way more as a HS coach in TX than he would have as OC at USM. In fact, his brother's HS stadium in TX has more people on a Friday night than USM's has ever had on any Saturday afternoon. Fedora hated being at USM. I give Monken two more seasons tops and he's gone too.

[Johnson85]

It's like most of them have realized that USM has no chance to compete at the highest level going forward.


I think they have for the most part. I hear lots of whining about how it's just luck that MSU and UM ended up in the SEC (which I assume is correct) but I'd say there has been a pretty big shift even in the last 7 years. I think when they were agitating to fire Bowers, they thought he was holding them back. I think a lot of delusion came back towards the end of Fedora's run, but it'd be hard to be a semi-serious football fan and not realize that a beat up and fairly mediocre State team had no problem handling a UAB team that gave them fits.

Now that being incompetent is apparently frowned upon at UM and MSU, it seems unlikely that there will be another Boone or Templeton to allow USM to keep any delusions about competing with SEC teams.

[War Machine Dawg]

I was at the Tulane game you speak of in 2006. I haven't given it much thought but that could be the low water mark of the Croom era to me, if not Maine because it was early.

Gotta agree with this, Bear. That Tulane team was actually worse than Maine as a whole. They had been gutted by post-Katrina transfers. But they had a good QB and Matt Forte. Still, even with those guys, that was a team you're supposed to beat. And they DOMINATED us. We scored a late TD to make it look closer, but they absolutely kicked our ass up and down the field all night. Easily the worst loss of the Crxxm Error, so far as I'm concerned.

[DownwardDawg]

I think are they are headed to Div 2 (or whatever it's called these days). If the super conferences take shape, and it looks like that will happen, USM is completely left out. It will be the end of their program as far as D1.

[TrapGame]

Gotta agree with this, Bear. That Tulane team was actually worse than Maine as a whole. They had been gutted by post-Katrina transfers. But they had a good QB and Matt Forte. Still, even with those guys, that was a team you're supposed to beat. And they DOMINATED us. We scored a late TD to make it look closer, but they absolutely kicked our ass up and down the field all night. Easily the worst loss of the Crxxm Error, so far as I'm concerned.

The infamous "Thanks for the check!" game. I listened on the radio and threw my hat against the wall several times that night.

[maroonmania]

I think they have for the most part. I hear lots of whining about how it's just luck that MSU and UM ended up in the SEC (which I assume is correct) but I'd say there has been a pretty big shift even in the last 7 years. I think when they were agitating to fire Bowers, they thought he was holding them back. I think a lot of delusion came back towards the end of Fedora's run, but it'd be hard to be a semi-serious football fan and not realize that a beat up and fairly mediocre State team had no problem handling a UAB team that gave them fits.

Now that being incompetent is apparently frowned upon at UM and MSU, it seems unlikely that there will be another Boone or Templeton to allow USM to keep any delusions about competing with SEC teams.

Well, it was more than just luck. Its the fact that OM had a 50+ year head start on USM while MSU had a 30+ year head start on them. In fact, USM had only been around for about 20 years when the SEC was founded, and at the time only as a teacher's college.

[starkvegasdawg]

Gotta agree with this, Bear. That Tulane team was actually worse than Maine as a whole. They had been gutted by post-Katrina transfers. But they had a good QB and Matt Forte. Still, even with those guys, that was a team you're supposed to beat. And they DOMINATED us. We scored a late TD to make it look closer, but they absolutely kicked our ass up and down the field all night. Easily the worst loss of the Crxxm Error, so far as I'm concerned.

It was at that game my future wife found out about my passion for MSU football. One play that I will always remember is we had a long catch and run (60+ yards) and when our WR was being tackled fumbled the football which was promptly recovered by Tulane and returned about 70 yards back down the field. I was not a pleasant person to be around.

[Pollodawg]

USM should have made the bid to jump for a more relevant conference those last couple of seasons under Fedora, and especially after 2011 when they won double digits. They were appealing then as a tough, mid-major with a decent history. But they didn't parlay their success into anything, and no one wants them anymore. The days of USM being a "powerhouse" in any conference are over. They days of USM even being "relevant" are kaput as well.

[jimbo352]

I feel bad for them, because most of their fans don't realize they just got permanently left behind, like forever... With the new SEC network money, and possible mega conferences, they will never sniff success against either MSU or TSUN... It happened to a smaller extent about 10+ years ago when the SEC blew up. Now, the door is being slammed shut. Not only are they broke, they play in a shit conference that no recruits want to attend. If they do get a decent recruit that we wanted, it's for very specific reasons... Mostly, it's because we signed someone better...

[maroonmania]

USM should have made the bid to jump for a more relevant conference those last couple of seasons under Fedora, and especially after 2011 when they won double digits. They were appealing then as a tough, mid-major with a decent history. But they didn't parlay their success into anything, and no one wants them anymore. The days of USM being a "powerhouse" in any conference are over. They days of USM even being "relevant" are kaput as well.

Well the problem is that even though USM's football program has been reasonably successful over the years, from a TV marketing standpoint Mississippi in general is just not very appealing due to low population and low income. And then on top of that with USM you are talking about the D1 program in Mississippi with the smallest fanbase. Doesn't make for a lot of attractive options for USM.

[Bothrops]

They definitely got left behind. C-USA wasn't terrible until all the top tier schools left it. Louisville, then UCF, Houston, and ECU leaving has killed that league. USM was regarded among those programs as recently as 2011. Sad.

[War Machine Dawg]

It was at that game my future wife found out about my passion for MSU football. One play that I will always remember is we had a long catch and run (60+ yards) and when our WR was being tackled fumbled the football which was promptly recovered by Tulane and returned about 70 yards back down the field. I was not a pleasant person to be around.

Know what you mean. My friends & I were students at the time. I was so pissed at the way we were playing and how predictable our offense was, I was making fun of our ineptitude to keep from totally losing it. One of my buddies didn't take to kindly to that approach. Words were exchanged. It wasn't pretty.

[gtowndawg]

I think are they are headed to Div 2 (or whatever it's called these days). If the super conferences take shape, and it looks like that will happen, USM is completely left out. It will be the end of their program as far as D1.

And by merge I mean, they cease to exist and that becomes a research campus for good ole MSU. We double the size of our school and give their fans something to finally cheer for and be part of.

[M.Fillmore]

You want some depressing reading- check this out.

http://eaglepost.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37648

It's funny how many of their fans refer to C-USA as C-DOA.

[RougeDawg]

Re: State Game Seating?

Postby eagle83 ? Mon Jul 28, 2014 3:27 pm

laureleagleson wrote:

eagle83 wrote:

laureleagleson wrote:You da man, Scott! Thanks! You going to the game?



Yep me and the wife will be there.



Nice! We might have to get a tailgate together.


Sounds good. I'll be the one wearing a neutral colored shirt, fake beard, and sunglasses, while hanging my head in shame.

I'd invite this guy to our tailgate...

[Johnson85]

Well, it was more than just luck. Its the fact that OM had a 50+ year head start on USM while MSU had a 30+ year head start on them. In fact, USM had only been around for about 20 years when the SEC was founded, and at the time only as a teacher's college.

Did not realize they were that far behind. Even with a 50 and 30 year head start, nobody at UM or MSU had the vision to fight the existence of USM as anything other than a satellite campus? I guess the university landscape was a lot different then but shit that seems like it should have been a no brainer.

[Johnson85]

USM should have made the bid to jump for a more relevant conference those last couple of seasons under Fedora, and especially after 2011 when they won double digits. They were appealing then as a tough, mid-major with a decent history. But they didn't parlay their success into anything, and no one wants them anymore. The days of USM being a "powerhouse" in any conference are over. They days of USM even being "relevant" are kaput as well.

They were not appealing even then. They are the third draw in a state with under 3 million people. A decade of 6 to 8 win seasons in the CUSA doesn't change that. The only reason USM was able to be relevant for so long was that UM and MSU were incompetently managed. But the kind of conference that could help catapult USM ahead of MSU and UM (if any conference other than the SEC could do it) was not going to come knocking on USM's door, so they really didn't have any value to any major conference.

[BulldogBear]

They were not appealing even then. They are the third draw in a state with under 3 million people. A decade of 6 to 8 win seasons in the CUSA doesn't change that. The only reason USM was able to be relevant for so long was that UM and MSU were incompetently managed. But the kind of conference that could help catapult USM ahead of MSU and UM (if any conference other than the SEC could do it) was not going to come knocking on USM's door, so they really didn't have any value to any major conference.

We're just talking about Big East/American or expanded MWC. They missed their chance to stay at that second level so to speak. Now, they're just another directional score no more of a threat to us and Ole Miss than ULM, Arkansas State, UAB, etc. C-DOA is now just sort a Sun Belt/MAC 2.0

[Johnson85]

We're just talking about Big East/American or expanded MWC. They missed their chance to stay at that second level so to speak. Now, they're just another directional score no more of a threat to us and Ole Miss than ULM, Arkansas State, UAB, etc. C-DOA is now just sort a Sun Belt/MAC 2.0

I agree with that. WHen I read the comment I was responding to I inferred that he was talking about being desirable to a big 5 conference, but that's not really what it said.

[BulldogBear]

Mid-majors can have spurts of something akin to relevance and that is one of the many thing that IMO make college sports a better product than the pro alternative. But, I see that being very difficult now for USM to have one of those spurts without some sort of significant paradigm shift in college football that somehow puts them in a better position.

[thf24]

Mid-majors can have spurts of something akin to relevance and that is one of the many thing that IMO make college sports a better product than the pro alternative. But, I see that being very difficult now for USM to have one of those spurts without some sort of significant paradigm shift in college football that somehow puts them in a better position.

The thing about most of those successful mid-majors in football is that there isn't a major football school in the same region that will pull most of the local talent by default. The fact that there are two in USM's makes it almost impossible for USM to have one of those spurts in the foreseeable future. As Johnson already said, a major factor that allowed them to grab any relevance at all over the past few decades is the sustained horrible management of our and OM's programs during that time period.

[Johnson85]

The thing about most of those successful mid-majors in football is that there isn't a major football school in the same region that will pull most of the local talent by default. The fact that there are two in USM's makes it almost impossible for USM to have one of those spurts in the foreseeable future. As Johnson already said, a major factor that allowed them to grab any relevance at all over the past few decades is the sustained horrible management of our and OM's programs during that time period.

Also, if you look at a lot of the good mid-majors, they are not situated anything liek Southern. Boise State is the primary draw in a state with almost 2 million people and also poached a lot of california players. Fresno State is in california, a state with a huge population even though Fresno is well down the pecking order. BYU has the mormon angle. Utah St. is one of two major public schools in a state with a population of almost 3 million. Nevada is in a state with a population of >2.75M and donsn't have to deal with a dominant in state school (much less two of them). So. Illinois is in a state with almost 13M people. Bowling Green and Miami Ohio are in a state with a population of almost 12M and until Cincinatti came on didn't have a strong second state school to deal with.

The only thing USM has going for it is being in the Southeast, so it has access to much better recruits than a pure population comparison would lead you to believe, but historically has benefitied from mismanagement by MSU and UM, and a neighboring State that has actively held down its secondary universities. Now State and UM are not terribly managed and ULL has managed to establish itself as a second choice to LSU rather than USM. I just don't see how USM does anything other than have occasioanlly strong teams for the conference they're in, which won't be top 25 (or top 35? 40?) teams.