So Mark Schlabauch(sp?) comments on the SECW on Finebaum...

[CadaverDawg]

He said it's basically Alabama and Auburn, with A&M in 3rd. He said, "personally I think Ole Miss is overrated at #14...and Mississippi State obviously showed their true colors this past weekend against UAB, giving up that many points to them"

Perception is reality, gentlemen. Thanks, Dan.

[EAVdog]

He said it's basically Alabama and Auburn, with A&M in 3rd. He said, "personally I think Ole Miss is overrated at #14...and Mississippi State obviously showed their true colors this past weekend against UAB, giving up that many points to them"

Perception is reality, gentlemen. Thanks, Dan.

I guess we should just pack it in, Mark Schlabaugh has spoken.

[Esmerelda Villalobos]

This is Dans best team. If he cant win 7-9 games with this group, it may not happen.

I personally think we are fine. We are just a 9 in a girl group full of 10s

It really didnt matter if we won 49-0 both games. The test is lsu. That shows whether we and dak are for real. The nation will be watching that night game. You win that game to take the next step. Something we havent done since 98-00.

You can talk but now it is time to walk.

[CadaverDawg]

This is Dans best team. If he cant win 7-9 games with this group, it may not happen.

I personally think we are fine. We are just a 9 in a girl group full of 10s

It really didnt matter if we won 49-0 both games. The test is lsu. That shows whether we and dak are for real. The nation will be watching that night game. You win that game to take the next step. Something we havent done since 98-00.

You can talk but now it is time to walk.

Yea. I just get tired of knowing we're better, but media only looking at a score, so everybody thinks we suck. I know "winning cures all", but how realistic is it for us to beat LSU at Tiger Stadium at night? Possible, yes...but not highly likely. So if we lose, we're just the same ole MSU....yet we're really not. We could be a Top 25 team this year, yet still lose to 4 Or 5 West teams because they are Top 20. It's the nature of the beast that is the SECW. I guess that's why I want more style points...so that if we do fall short against the Bama's and LSU's....we can still have somewhat of a decent perception because we destroyed everybody else on our schedule. Lose to the big boys now though, and we were just a "bad team taking advantage of an easy schedule" in America's eyes.

We really need to, and can, beat LSU, Auburn, A&M, this year....I just think it's bull shit that beating one of those Top 10 teams is the only way we can get a little respect.

[MetEdDawg]

Schlabach can suck it and so can everyone else who is saying how much Dan sucks. We better a decent UAB team by 13 after playing our second team defense 8 or 9 full drives and switching QBs the first 7 drives. Does anyone really think teams are going to score on 3 75 yard or more passing plays again this year?

Anyone who bothered watching the game (which I guarantee Schlabach didn't) saw our safeties playing close to the line of scrimmage to stop the run with CBs on an island. Vanilla and predictable. I mean who would really do that against a decent team??

Screw perception. I don't give a crap if we beat UAB by 13 or 130 if I know how to analyze a football game to determine how good we are. We played poorly, we swapped out personnel like we were beating USM by 35 in the 3rd quarter, and we were up by 20 with 2 minutes left. I mean seriously. Anyone that didn't see how superior we were to UAB doesn't get it. Not saying we are world beaters, but we were way better than UAB and Mullen knew that and made personnel changes and switches accordingly.

Why get Damien reps in the 4th of a 35 point blowout? Pointless. Why get 2nd team guys reps in the 4th quarter of a 35 point blowout? Pointless. They will be counted on in legit game situations and Mullen got them some of that. Beating UAB by 13 or 50 doesn't mean anything. If we win games, the polls will reflect that regardless.

[cheewgumm]

I'm tried of every year bitching about how we dont get respect and us NEVER coming through. That is what has to happen, we have to end it by beating LSU, and Auburn, and A&M, and Ole miss University.

No offnese, as I bitch about it too...I'm tired of us not coming through with a win more.

[mstatefan91]

It's the hole we dig ourselves every single year when we play teams like UAB the way we do. Pile on top of that that we typically give out in the second half against the LSU's and Bamas so the score always gets lopsided and there's our national perception in a nutshell. I wish Dan would have jumped all over the opportunity to blow UAB out, but that's obviously not a priority to him and the result is the damage to our reputation going into Death Valley.

[TrapGame]

Yeah, and if we had the starters in for three quarters on UAB and beat them 63-17 but lose to LSU 31-14 what would he be saying then. Mark's showing his true colors of pathetic sports journalism.

[CadaverDawg]

Schlabach can suck it and so can everyone else who is saying how much Dan sucks. We better a decent UAB team by 13 after playing our second team defense 8 or 9 full drives and switching QBs the first 7 drives. Does anyone really think teams are going to score on 3 75 yard or more passing plays again this year?

Anyone who bothered watching the game (which I guarantee Schlabach didn't) saw our safeties playing close to the line of scrimmage to stop the run with CBs on an island. Vanilla and predictable. I mean who would really do that against a decent team??

Screw perception. I don't give a crap if we beat UAB by 13 or 130 if I know how to analyze a football game to determine how good we are. We played poorly, we swapped out personnel like we were beating USM by 35 in the 3rd quarter, and we were up by 20 with 2 minutes left. I mean seriously. Anyone that didn't see how superior we were to UAB doesn't get it. Not saying we are world beaters, but we were way better than UAB and Mullen knew that and made personnel changes and switches accordingly.

Why get Damien reps in the 4th of a 35 point blowout? Pointless. Why get 2nd team guys reps in the 4th quarter of a 35 point blowout? Pointless. They will be counted on in legit game situations and Mullen got them some of that. Beating UAB by 13 or 50 doesn't mean anything. If we win games, the polls will reflect that regardless.

Umm, nobody said Dan "sucks". But some of us DO care about perception, because we're tired of our lack of it hurting us in recruiting, and getting things like Gameday on campus that would help to promote our program. Perception matters.

[mstatefan91]

Schlabach can suck it and so can everyone else who is saying how much Dan sucks. We better a decent UAB team by 13 after playing our second team defense 8 or 9 full drives and switching QBs the first 7 drives. Does anyone really think teams are going to score on 3 75 yard or more passing plays again this year?

Anyone who bothered watching the game (which I guarantee Schlabach didn't) saw our safeties playing close to the line of scrimmage to stop the run with CBs on an island. Vanilla and predictable. I mean who would really do that against a decent team??

Screw perception. I don't give a crap if we beat UAB by 13 or 130 if I know how to analyze a football game to determine how good we are. We played poorly, we swapped out personnel like we were beating USM by 35 in the 3rd quarter, and we were up by 20 with 2 minutes left. I mean seriously. Anyone that didn't see how superior we were to UAB doesn't get it. Not saying we are world beaters, but we were way better than UAB and Mullen knew that and made personnel changes and switches accordingly.

Why get Damien reps in the 4th of a 35 point blowout? Pointless. Why get 2nd team guys reps in the 4th quarter of a 35 point blowout? Pointless. They will be counted on in legit game situations and Mullen got them some of that. Beating UAB by 13 or 50 doesn't mean anything. If we win games, the polls will reflect that regardless.

It does mean something if we have 1 SEC loss and get voted out of the playoff because "well they didn't beat UAB very convincingly."

Not saying that's in the cards this year, but it's the truth of the matter if we ever do make it that far up.

Also what Cadaver said ^

[msstate7]

I bet players from every team watch these same shows that drive this board crazy. I hope they do bc no one is taking our team seriously. You think lsu's young players are saying we better take state seriously? Nope bc everyone tells them how much we suck. We'll get our respect in 2 weeks. Mark it down

[ShotgunDawg]

The media doesn't watch our games, and that's really the extent of it. Schlabach is right, MSU did show their true colors against UAB: their 2nd team QB isn't very good, their #2 defense got burned a number of times, and their field goal kickers suck. Schlabach's problem isn't that he said MSU showed their true colors, his problem is he doesn't know what colors the true colors are because he didn't watch the game to see which players were on the field.

We can go round and round till we turn blue in the face, but media perception matters. Do you think it helps out recruiting for someone like Schlabach to say that?

[msstate7]

It does mean something if we have 1 SEC loss and get voted out of the playoff because "well they didn't beat UAB very convincingly."

Not saying that's in the cards this year, but it's the truth of the matter if we ever do make it that far up.

Also what Cadaver said ^

If we win the sec, we're in. If we don't, we're not. Uab game won't affect that

[FlabLoser]

I got burned out during the offseason over people's subjective opinions about football teams. Don't care anymore.

Just win and the rest handles itself.

[msstate7]

I got burned out during the offseason over people's subjective opinions about football teams. Don't care anymore.

Just win and the rest handles itself.

Exactly. All the hype for USCe sure helped them with aTm

[CadaverDawg]

Exactly. All the hype for USCe sure helped them with aTm

Yet they're still ranked ahead of us after a blowout loss and a shitty performance vs ECU

[Coach34]

He said it's basically Alabama and Auburn, with A&M in 3rd. He said, "personally I think Ole Miss is overrated at #14...and Mississippi State obviously showed their true colors this past weekend against UAB, giving up that many points to them"

Perception is reality, gentlemen. Thanks, Dan.

beat LSU and that shit don't matter

[mstatefan91]

If we win the sec, we're in. If we don't, we're not. Uab game won't affect that

Say that one loss comes in the SEC championship to a two loss SEC East team. What then? If that was Alabama and the game was close, they'd still make it in because of National perception. Most likely, not us because the committee would look at that game and the UAB game and say that our team has weaknesses and played above their actual talent level throughout the season. We would be considered lucky like Auburn

Remember, it's a committee voting on it this now. Not the BCS. In some ways, I wish they had kept the BCS and taken the top 4-8 teams and placed them in a playoff.

[msstate7]

Yet they're still ranked ahead of us after a blowout loss and a shitty performance vs ECU

They earned that the previous few years by beating good teams not by running up score on bad ones

[ShotgunDawg]

Yet they're still ranked ahead of us after a blowout loss and a shitty performance vs ECU

This

It's mind boggling. The way this stuff works. We finish ahead of Ole Miss every year in the West standing and, like clock work, every year the media picks Ole Miss ahead of us.

[msstate7]

Say that one loss comes in the SEC championship to a two loss SEC East team. What then? If that was Alabama and the game was close, they'd still make it in because of National perception. Most likely, not us because the committee would look at that game and the UAB game and say that our team has weaknesses and played above their actual talent level throughout the season. We would be considered lucky like Auburn

Remember, it's a committee voting on it this now. Not the BCS. In some ways, I wish they had kept the BCS and taken the top 4-8 teams and placed them in a playoff.

Then the uab game will be all but forgotten. Did auburn get punished for beating wash st 24-17 last year?

[mstatefan91]

I'm not saying that beating weaker teams by a lot is the only factor that's keeping us out of the rankings. Obviously, not consistently beating the big boys (or ever at all) is hurting us more. However, Ole Miss doesn't consistently beat the big boys but their perception is far better than ours. Why? Because they typically take care of the weaker teams and don't have very many uh ohs against teams to which they are superior.

Note: I'm not saying that TSUN has done a great or convincing job this season (especially against Boise) but at the end of the day, most sportscasters only look at the final score and they did beat them 35-13.

[msstate7]

This

It's mind boggling. The way this stuff works. We finish ahead of Ole Miss every year in the West standing and, like clock work, every year the media picks Ole Miss ahead of us.

Would you trade the preseason prediction for the postseason result?

[mstatefan91]

Then the uab game will be all but forgotten. Did auburn get punished for beating wash st 24-17 last year?

That was the BCS. Don't have that this year. That's my point. We are actually trying to impress people (the committee)

I should say that we should be trying to impress people because last week's performance certainly didn't impress anybody fan/non-fan alike

[msstate7]

We're 2-0, we've got a really good football team, we've got our best recruiting class maybe ever shaping up, and a really cool stadium. Can't we enjoy it? Does the NR by our name really outweigh the good right now?

[TheRef]

That was the BCS. Don't have that this year. That's my point. We are actually trying to impress people (the committee)

I should say that we should be trying to impress people because last week's performance certainly didn't impress anybody fan/non-fan alike

Stay undefeated through the season while being in the SEC, I guarantee you'll have a spot in the 4-team playoff. Doesn't matter who you play in the offseason this season.

[Bully Dee Williams]

beat LSU and that shit don't matter

This! All day, every day. Who gives a crap what the scores of our games were? We won the game. Schlabach didn't watch our games. He doesn't know our team. Screw him and the rest of the media.

Guys, I have come to expect us to be the underdog being a lifelong MSU bulldog. I don't mind having a chip on my shoulder. All that matters is winning.

[MetEdDawg]

It does mean something if we have 1 SEC loss and get voted out of the playoff because "well they didn't beat UAB very convincingly."

Not saying that's in the cards this year, but it's the truth of the matter if we ever do make it that far up.

Also what Cadaver said ^

So we could beat everyone except Bama and you think a 13 point victory against UAB week 2 would keep us out of a playoff??? That's extremely short sighted and prisoner of the moment. Your perception at the end of the year is generated on the field against GOOD teams, not bad teams. No one will give a crap how we played against UAB if we run the table against LSU, TAMU, and Auburn.

I'm fine with people not being happy about how Mullen handled Saturday. But don't say that if we go 11-1 it may cost us a playoff spot. Even college football isn't that messed up.

[engie]

It all takes care of itself on the field. I don't understand discussing it incessantly this week.

And the "it hurts recruiting" line is funny -- when constantly obsessing over it takes a footnote and makes it a headline, essentially guaranteeing that it is seen and noticed by way more people -- thus perpetuating the cycle. Playing deep and young players is just as easily a positive recruiting pitch as it is a headline hindrance.

Dan made some mistakes -- but it wasn't him that had the corners on islands and getting burned. Ultimately, it just doesn't f'n matter. This was our "noncon scare" that comes every single year when a subpar team racks up yards against our flat defense. Only this year, our offense scored at will and the game was still never in doubt.

I STILL KNOW WHAT WE ARE. LSU IS GOING TO FIND OUT ON SATURDAY NIGHT DOWN THERE RIGHT ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE COUNTRY AND I'M GOING TO BE THERE TO SEE IT. Mark Schl;ao9u342 isn't shaping my perception for me -- and he isn't shaping perception for anyone else in the SEC either. Coming out party t-minus 11 days in Baton Rouge.

[Tough Dawg]

All we can do is: Wait and See.

These guys get paid to be "talking heads", and their opinion is only has important as you make it.

[mstatefan91]

So we could beat everyone except Bama and you think a 13 point victory against UAB week 2 would keep us out of a playoff??? That's extremely short sighted and prisoner of the moment. Your perception at the end of the year is generated on the field against GOOD teams, not bad teams. No one will give a crap how we played against UAB if we run the table against LSU, TAMU, and Auburn.

I'm fine with people not being happy about how Mullen handled Saturday. But don't say that if we go 11-1 it may cost us a playoff spot. Even college football isn't that messed up.

I'm not saying that it will keep us out of the playoff 100%. I was trying to prove a point that it could potentially keep us out since it is a human committee this season. That's all.

Obviously, if we win out in the SECW then we should be in no matter what, but it's up to the committee. Not a computer

That being said, I'm not that worried about this past Saturday. I will be worried if we follow it up again with another lackluster performance against USA though

[CadaverDawg]

I'm not saying that beating weaker teams by a lot is the only factor that's keeping us out of the rankings. Obviously, not consistently beating the big boys (or ever at all) is hurting us more. However, Ole Miss doesn't consistently beat the big boys but their perception is far better than ours. Why? Because they typically take care of the weaker teams and don't have very many uh ohs against teams to which they are superior.

Note: I'm not saying that TSUN has done a great or convincing job this season (especially against Boise) but at the end of the day, most sportscasters only look at the final score and they did beat them 35-13.

Bingo

[Coach 57]

This ain't college basketball! Good grief! There'll be PLENTY of chances for us to prove our "true colors" in the coming weeks ahead I assure you! It's what we LEARN from now till then that will make the difference. Slow down, breathe and let the coaches do what they are PAID to do. We'll be ready as "aunt Betty" come LSU watch!

[msstate7]

That being said, I'm not that worried about this past Saturday. I will be worried if we follow it up again with another lackluster performance against USA though

I agree with this. I wanna see a better performance from our defense, Williams, kickers, and Lewis this week

[bluelightstar]

As stated in another thread, beating LSU obviously would solve itself. Problem is, that's probably unlikely to happen. Then you have a loss to LSU and a 13-point win over UAB. You have to blow these types of teams off the map.

[Dawgfan77]

So FSU beats the 1AA power the Citadel 37-12 and the press is drinking the kool aid but we beat an improved UAB by 13 with a late score in garbage time that got the score to 13 and our true colors are shown. Just trying to follow slabach logic Every team has a bad game to lesser teams each year hopefully we had ours sat

[Drugdog]

This ain't college basketball! Good grief! There'll be PLENTY of chances for us to prove our "true colors" in the coming weeks ahead I assure you! It's what we LEARN from now till then that will make the difference. Slow down, breathe and let the coaches do what they are PAID to do. We'll be ready as "aunt Betty" come LSU watch!

Good point and nice to see you back on the board.

[Todd4State]

Here's the thing about perception for those who may not remember the late 90's. When we were winning the West and then winning 10 the next year with the number one defense in the country- we STILL didn't get any respect from the media. And we were beating people like Bama, Auburn, Arkansas was good then and we beat them for the West, Kentucky was dangerous, and then we beat Florida in 2000. They just bashed our schedule for being easy- despite the fact we played Oklahoma State and a decent Memphis team that treated us like a rival.

And then what about the perception after we hammered Michigan in the Gator Bowl?

Honestly, I think a lot of Ole Miss's perception is because of the Manning's. The fact of the matter is the Manning's are relevant and are associated with Ole Miss. That's something we don't have right now- someone in the NFL/football world that is our "face". Maybe Dak can become that. But people in the media meet Archie and hear stories and they think "Well, gee- that's a nice guy, he went to Ole Miss, maybe I'll pull for them a little bit".

It all ties together- I'm not saying us not beating UAB worse has no effect on our perception, but we hammered USM 49-0 and it didn't change anything either.

[Todd4State]

As stated in another thread, beating LSU obviously would solve itself. Problem is, that's probably unlikely to happen. Then you have a loss to LSU and a 13-point win over UAB. You have to blow these types of teams off the map.

We will have other opportunities including LSU- A&M, Auburn at home, Alabama on the road come to mind. Actually it might be good that A&M is better than most people thought in that way because it's another highly ranked opponent.

[MSUDawg4Life]

He said it's basically Alabama and Auburn, with A&M in 3rd. He said, "personally I think Ole Miss is overrated at #14...and Mississippi State obviously showed their true colors this past weekend against UAB, giving up that many points to them"

Perception is reality, gentlemen. Thanks, Dan.

Is that perception though? Did he "perceive" that we played backups extensively? Or did he assume that the starters played the whole game and the score itself represents our "reality"? Or is that just an uninformed opinion?

I'm thinking that's just another uninformed opinion and has no bearing on how good our team is at all.

[bluelightstar]

And then what about the perception after we hammered Michigan in the Gator Bowl?

We burned the media hard after this, honestly. We had plenty of hype going into the 2011 season -- probably driven by the Gator Bowl. We were #16 when we went to Auburn in 2011 and considered a dark-horse for the SEC West.

And we all know Dan screwed around in this game -- playing 1As and 1Bs and all that stuff. The voters and national media and all that just see MSST 47 UAB 34.

[mstatefan91]

Here's the thing about perception for those who may not remember the late 90's. When we were winning the West and then winning 10 the next year with the number one defense in the country- we STILL didn't get any respect from the media. And we were beating people like Bama, Auburn, Arkansas was good then and we beat them for the West, Kentucky was dangerous, and then we beat Florida in 2000. They just bashed our schedule for being easy- despite the fact we played Oklahoma State and a decent Memphis team that treated us like a rival.

And then what about the perception after we hammered Michigan in the Gator Bowl?

Honestly, I think a lot of Ole Miss's perception is because of the Manning's. The fact of the matter is the Manning's are relevant and are associated with Ole Miss. That's something we don't have right now- someone in the NFL/football world that is our "face". Maybe Dak can become that. But people in the media meet Archie and hear stories and they think "Well, gee- that's a nice guy, he went to Ole Miss, maybe I'll pull for them a little bit".

It all ties together- I'm not saying us not beating UAB worse has no effect on our perception, but we hammered USM 49-0 and it didn't change anything either.

I agree until the end. But also note for instance that in the 90's there wasn't the internet and a lot of our games were not aired on television. Yes I know we beat the big boys, but I would also say that those big boys were considered to be having down years. We also lost in the SEC championship against Tennessee. Win that and people would have to have at least a little respect for our program.

About the end of your post, USM/UAB games were never going to shift us in the positive direction because of what they did last season. In people's minds, UAB is the same UAB and a good team should have beaten them by 30 or more. We beat them but by only 13. Therefore, we are the same old MSU in the media's mind.

Granted if we do beat LSU in BR, then perception will literally change over night, but we will have to follow that up by beating A&M/Auburn or winning one and keeping it close in the other.

[EAVdog]

We're 2-0, we've got a really good football team, we've got our best recruiting class maybe ever shaping up, and a really cool stadium. Can't we enjoy it? Does the NR by our name really outweigh the good right now?

Thank You.

[BulldogBear]

I bet players from every team watch these same shows that drive this board crazy. I hope they do bc no one is taking our team seriously. You think lsu's young players are saying we better take state seriously? Nope bc everyone tells them how much we suck. We'll get our respect in 2 weeks. Mark it down


"I like it like that"

[preachermatt83]

This is Dans best team. If he cant win 7-9 games with this group, it may not happen.

I personally think we are fine. We are just a 9 in a girl group full of 10s

It really didnt matter if we won 49-0 both games. The test is lsu. That shows whether we and dak are for real. The nation will be watching that night game. You win that game to take the next step. Something we havent done since 98-00.

You can talk but now it is time to walk.

I don't understand... Dan has won 7 games every year here but one. Are you saying you are satisfied with 7 with the best team he has had here? 7 wins this year should result in a big ole pink slip. Anything less than 9 wins is a disappointment. period.

[Goat Holder]

Perception is reality at the end of the season, gentlemen.

FIFY.

Not sure why you always bitch like a 4 year old girl when I post something like this (http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?20179-Nick-Fitzgerald&p=239659#post239659), but you've been pretty much trashing Mullen all week. As if that helps the program.

Grow up son, your estrogen has been leaking lately.

[Goat Holder]

Here's the thing about perception for those who may not remember the late 90's. When we were winning the West and then winning 10 the next year with the number one defense in the country- we STILL didn't get any respect from the media. And we were beating people like Bama, Auburn, Arkansas was good then and we beat them for the West, Kentucky was dangerous, and then we beat Florida in 2000. They just bashed our schedule for being easy- despite the fact we played Oklahoma State and a decent Memphis team that treated us like a rival.

And then what about the perception after we hammered Michigan in the Gator Bowl?

Honestly, I think a lot of Ole Miss's perception is because of the Manning's. The fact of the matter is the Manning's are relevant and are associated with Ole Miss. That's something we don't have right now- someone in the NFL/football world that is our "face". Maybe Dak can become that. But people in the media meet Archie and hear stories and they think "Well, gee- that's a nice guy, he went to Ole Miss, maybe I'll pull for them a little bit".

It all ties together- I'm not saying us not beating UAB worse has no effect on our perception, but we hammered USM 49-0 and it didn't change anything either.

You're dead wrong.

We didn't get respect in 1999 because our schedule WAS easy. All those teams turned out to not be good. We had a chance to go undefeated and we blew it against Bama and Arkansas. Our own damn fault. We won some big games in 97 and 98, but lost some too. We had all the hype in the world in 2000 after going 10-2 and fell on our face. We've never dealt with success well.

After we beat down Michigan, we were hyped beyond belief for 2011. And we failed to live up to it.

For the thousandth time, Ole Miss got hype because they beat Texas and LSU.

At this point, I don't really care if they hype us. We need to beat somebody good to get hype. We can't fake it any longer. We've lived off the bowl streak long enough.

[CadaverDawg]

FIFY.

Not sure why you always bitch like a 4 year old girl when I post something like this (http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?20179-Nick-Fitzgerald&p=239659#post239659), but you've been pretty much trashing Mullen all week. As if that helps the program.

Grow up son, your estrogen has been leaking lately.

I know you want to try to make this thread about you, Goat. You needing some attention, little fella?

[engie]

As stated in another thread, beating LSU obviously would solve itself. Problem is, that's probably unlikely to happen. Then you have a loss to LSU and a 13-point win over UAB. You have to blow these types of teams off the map.

Why is it unlikely to happen? What has LSU done to make us fear them this year? Melvin Gordon ran all over them before he got hurt. JRob and Dak are going to do the same -- and they are going to take this game personally against their "home" school in their "home" state.

We've got alot going for us in that game and we matchup dang well against them this year....

[Dawgcentral]

I honestly don't know why we get Damian in there before the game is in hand. But I can tell he needs work in pressure situations.

We're one play away from him being our starting QB. We do know that Dak had some sort of slight ankle/foot injury. How many more games will we have in which Damian can face an inferior opponent while the game is still undecided?

Dak came in and basically put the game away in the 3rd quarter. And yes, we only won a game by 13 that should have been decided by 4 TDs. But we had some secondary busts that I think (hope), will be corrected. Hell, those were for the most part dead on passes by the UAB QB, while some were actually covered quite well, and the corner tried to get the turnover instead of safely batting it down.

We played to win, no doubt. But we also played to develop players. We have to do this because we don't have a bunch of 4-5 star back ups. We have to DEVELOP players since we can't afford the cost of players that other schools can outright purchase.

Crap people, we hired CDM to do something rarely done at MSU. Win the damn SEC and build a national power. I'm more concerned about our placekicking than I am national respect. The respect will come when we have enough energy to take the 4th quarter from the upper echelon of the SEC.

[Schultzy]

Until we beat Lsu or Bama again anywhere we aren't going to be respected nationally or regionally. Tsun's win over LSU last year is why they are more highly thought of than us (or trusted to have a higher ceiling than us). At some point you have to win one against those for anyone to care at all about your program.

Eta: outside of your own fan base.

[Chip]

Just win, bitches. And it will take care of itself.

[Liverpooldawg]

I don't understand... Dan has won 7 games every year here but one. Are you saying you are satisfied with 7 with the best team he has had here? 7 wins this year should result in a big ole pink slip. Anything less than 9 wins is a disappointment. period.

7 wins is what most not wearing maroon colored glasses expect from us this year. Just sayin.

[dawgs]

Barely beating bowling green, Kentucky, and Arkansas is why we had no respect compared to ole miss going into this season.

[maroonmania]

Until we beat Lsu or Bama again anywhere we aren't going to be respected nationally or regionally. Tsun's win over LSU last year is why they are more highly thought of than us (or trusted to have a higher ceiling than us). At some point you have to win one against those for anyone to care at all about your program.

Eta: outside of your own fan base.

Exactly, if you want NATIONAL respect, you can't get that by ONLY beating teams you are suppose to beat. And that is really all we've done under Mullen to be blount. Our best wins were OM in 09 and FL in 10 but that was 4 and 5 years ago. We have to break through and beat someone of note in the division this year if we want to get the respect we think we deserve.

[MarketingBully01]

beat LSU and that shit don't matter

This in spades and what this could have done is make LSU overlook us. They are an extremely young team and if they overlook us it could be an MSU blow out over LSU. They had to over come a 24-7 deficit to Wiscy and the only reason they were able to come back was 40% of Wiscy's DL that shut them down got hurt. A close game to UAB may have woke us up and might have made LSU overlook as well. I think another team that will overlook us will be A&M especially if they come in undefeated.

[MarketingBully01]

Why is it unlikely to happen? What has LSU done to make us fear them this year? Melvin Gordon ran all over them before he got hurt. JRob and Dak are going to do the same -- and they are going to take this game personally against their "home" school in their "home" state.

We've got alot going for us in that game and we matchup dang well against them this year....

LSU's DL is soft and their biggest weakness on defense.

[blacklistedbully]

7 wins is what most not wearing maroon colored glasses expect from us this year. Just sayin.

BS. No way in hell Mullen and staff are thinking 7 wins is the floor this year. No way the players are thinking that. If you think 7 wins is acceptable this year, with this team, in this SEC West, you are the one who is fooling yourself.

It does not take a "homer" to expect at least 9 wins this year. Rather, it takes an extreme pessimist to think less than that is good. We have 2 wins and still have:
UK
UPig
Tenn-Martin
Vandy

That alone should get us to 6 wins. I can't believe anybody here would think it's at all acceptable to win only 1 of the actually challenging games on our schedule with this team.

"Maroon-colored glasses" my ass!