ESPN composite team rankings listed here

[Coach34]

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Has us listed 9th, just slightly behind SC- 5th in the West- way ahead of Auburn and UPig.

[mic]

http://imageshack.us/scaled/large/593/ihnc.png


Has us listed 9th, just slightly behind SC- 5th in the West- way ahead of Auburn and UPig.

so we have 2 LB on the Butkus Adward list and our 2nd string is probably as strong as it has ever been yet we are 7 on this list.. Rebs are 3.?? the mother ship's love fest for the rebs continues..
Nice work ESPN.. way to do your research..

[messageboardsuperhero]

So ESPN says UM is tied for the fourth most talented team in the SEC? Ahead of A&M and USCe and tied with UGA? Is that a ****ing joke? They are all over that Freeze dick. I hope to God they fall flat on their ass against Vandy on week 1.

[Coach34]

Franklin gets alot of love also- that game is huge for both coaches careers

[The Croom Diaries]

It's amazing how OM went from no talent and zero depth to right up there with the big boys in the span of just 12 months.*

I did my own D-line rankings over the weekend and I came up with almost the same thing, although I think they have LSU a little high and us a little low.

[Bullmutt]

Not totally on-subject, but ESPN has come to regard themselves as "too big to fail" due to their lack of, up to now, viable competition. Many of their people seem to do almost no homework before they write/speak and offer up some rather assinine opinions. The fact that they seem to place more value on political correctness than legitimate sports observation is also hurting them in the eyes of many- myself included. It seems to me the stage may be set for another savvy network to make a serious push for the "sports dollar" by adopting a more disciplined and focused approach.

Granted, the power ESPN has accumulated by virtue of their current monopoly and recent conference-networking agreements would make that very difficult, but they seem to have developed the kind of arrogant and overreaching approach that could ultimately leave them vulnerable to such a move.

Who agrees/disagrees?

[maroonmania]

It's amazing how OM went from no talent and zero depth to right up there with the big boys in the span of just 12 months.*

I did my own D-line rankings over the weekend and I came up with almost the same thing, although I think they have LSU a little high and us a little low.

With Nutt it was more like wasted talent and some attrition. Orgeron and Nutt both recruited well and most all of their classes were ranked ahead of ours by most services so they've never lacked for talented players in Oxford. Now Freeze has taken things to another level recruiting-wise based on what I'm seeing. He's following a consensus Top 10 class with what looks to be at minimum a Top 20 class and what will in all likelihood be a Top 15 class. In fact Freeze is doing right out of the gate what I was hoping Mullen and staff could start doing after the consecutive bowl trips, umpteen sellout crowds and facility upgrades. But its pretty obvious Mullen and staff will never recruit at that level and it doesn't help with the drag our compliance department puts on our efforts. Hate to say it but looking down the line it at least appears OM is going to have the potential for a higher ceiling than us because they appear to be collecting more elite players than us.

[The Croom Diaries]

Without looking I'd say OM has been rated higher than us in probably 8 of the last 10 years. So what. They've also only had two good seasons, and it was when the West was down. They recruit a bunch of knuckleheads that have a lot of stars but most of them either never see the field or flop. Hugh Freeze may be different but I don't know why any MSU fan would want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[blacklistedbully]

With Nutt it was more like wasted talent and some attrition. Orgeron and Nutt both recruited well and most all of their classes were ranked ahead of ours by most services so they've never lacked for talented players in Oxford. Now Freeze has taken things to another level recruiting-wise based on what I'm seeing. He's following a consensus Top 10 class with what looks to be at minimum a Top 20 class and what will in all likelihood be a Top 15 class. In fact Freeze is doing right out of the gate what I was hoping Mullen and staff could start doing after the consecutive bowl trips, umpteen sellout crowds and facility upgrades. But its pretty obvious Mullen and staff will never recruit at that level and it doesn't help with the drag our compliance department puts on our efforts. Hate to say it but looking down the line it at least appears OM is going to have the potential for a higher ceiling than us because they appear to be collecting more elite players than us.

I just don't see OM recruiting having any significant advantage over us, even if and when their classes are 15 to 20 spots ahead of ours in the so-called rankings. The actual difference in skill or potential per player is going to be miniscule to the point that attitude, team-chemistry and coaching could more than make up any difference. Now the Alabama's and LSU's of the SEC are a different story, as they have cream-of-the-crop across the board and on the bench. Their difference is significant and a real challenge to overcome. Dan & staff are countering this with redshirting and JUCOs. We're counting on those redshirts to develop into players that could compete for playing time at the Bama's & LSU's by the time they're in their second & third year of playing. We won't be nearly as deep, but we just might get deep enough to compete and justifiably believe we can beat anybody in most years given a better game-plan and the right bounces.

[messageboardsuperhero]

We have a winning record against them over the last 20 years, and how many times have we out recruited them in the rankings in that same time period? Maybe a few? Hugh Freeze may be different, but what proof is there that this will be any different? Hell, even last year in their best recruiting year ever with all the connections they had, they still finished 3rd in the division and only about 10 spots ahead of us. I'm not conceding anything to those punks. Especially when all their recruits went to Oxford to party it up with Marshall and Denzel.

[Coach34]

exactly- all their recruiting is doing is possibly setting them up to be an 8-9 win team. And that is if it keeps up.

Please dear Lord let Thanksgiving get here so alot of this panic crap will subside

[maroonmania]

I just don't see OM recruiting having any significant advantage over us, even if and when their classes are 15 to 20 spots ahead of ours in the so-called rankings. The actual difference in skill or potential per player is going to be miniscule to the point that attitude, team-chemistry and coaching could more than make up any difference. Now the Alabama's and LSU's of the SEC are a different story, as they have cream-of-the-crop across the board and on the bench. Their difference is significant and a real challenge to overcome. Dan & staff are countering this with redshirting and JUCOs. We're counting on those redshirts to develop into players that could compete for playing time at the Bama's & LSU's by the time they're in their second & third year of playing. We won't be nearly as deep, but we just might get deep enough to compete and justifiably believe we can beat anybody in most years given a better game-plan and the right bounces.

Well it will all play out over time but in all the decades that I have kept up with recruiting OM has NEVER, I repeat NEVER, had a class ranked in the Top 10 by multiple sites until last year. In years past their very best classes, though still normally ranked ahead of us, might barely crack the Top 20 if that. And they have certainly never had back to back consensus Top 15 type classes in their history. If that plays out this year we will just all have to see what Freeze can do because that would be uncharted territory for ANY MS university to have back to back classes ranked that high. And HOW they are doing it is not nearly as important as the fact that they do appear to be doing it again. I'm still shook up at how close they came to stealing Chris Jones from us last year. Hey, I'll be the first one to admit I'm definitely a little concerned.

[The Croom Diaries]

You aren't the first to say he is concerned, you are about the 1,000th. But even if you are nervous, why admit it unless you have a productive way to change the current course? What is your solution? If you don't have one than just create your own propaganda against them or keep quiet. I think it's been said a few times before but perception absolutely matters and our own people shaking in their boots isn't helping anything. If you dont have a way to fix the perceived problem then put a positive spin on it and let's band together to fight them rather than sitting around wondering what to do while they are charging.

[maroonmania]

You aren't the first to say he is concerned, you are about the 1,000th. But even if you are nervous, why admit it unless you have a productive way to change the current course? What is your solution? If you don't have one than just create your own propaganda against them or keep quiet. I think it's been said a few times before but perception absolutely matters and our own people shaking in their boots isn't helping anything. If you dont have a way to fix the perceived problem then put a positive spin on it and let's band together to fight them rather than sitting around wondering what to do while they are charging.

Ok, I will just shutup on the topic then. It is what it is at this point. None of us on this board can recruit for our staff and even if any of us did try to help then ol' Bracky would be there to hunt us down. And relatively speaking I do agree our depth of talent right now is probably as good as its ever been even if we are still missing some elite players we need, my only concern is that the amount of talent in the SEC we are up against just continues to go through the roof.

[The Croom Diaries]

Ok, I will just shutup on the topic then. It is what it is at this point. None of us on this board can recruit for our staff and even if any of us did try to help then ol' Bracky would be there to hunt us down. And relatively speaking I do agree our depth of talent right now is probably as good as its ever been even if we are still missing some elite players we need, my only concern is that the amount of talent in the SEC we are up against just continues to go through the roof.

Bracky can't find everyone. He is a doufus. We aren't so far off. We are like South Carolina in a lot of ways. If we can find a way to get a few elite players like you say we can really make some noise. I think that is coming, we just need to get a big win or two. Our biggest recruiting tool is going to be what we do on the field. It's always been that way.