Strickland apologizing for a tough first game

[cheewgumm]

If we have gotten to the point that our ad has to apologize("that one is on me") for scheduling a good team, then the battle is lost. So we are goingto be a school that does not embrace chances to play the best teams? Rather, we want to beat up on Alcorn, and feel like we are good before getting dismantled by good teams. I am disappointed in our fans and our ad for posting that . I dont think Greg Byrne would be caught dead posting that .

[HancockCountyDog]

If we have gotten to the point that our ad has to apologize("that one is on me") for scheduling a good team, then the battle is lost. So we are goingto be a school that does not embrace chances to play the best teams? Rather, we want to beat up on Alcorn, and feel like we are good before getting dismantled by good teams. I am disappointed in our fans and our ad for posting that . I dont think Greg Byrne would be caught dead posting that .

Also, that was not a good team.

An 8 win big XII team at best. That is what pisses me off more than anything. We should have easily won that game. We are much more talented than OSU.

[Political Hack]

and I'm the asshole for blaming him????

At least he man'd up. I'll give him a few brownie points for that.

[Gordon Gekko]

At least he man'd up. I'll give him a few brownie points for that.

I disagree, I was not in favor of the game to begin with but the AD publically apologizing for scheduling OSU makes us look like bitches. We were just as talented as they are, we have every chance to win with a halfway competent offense.

[FlabLoser]

I'd like to apologize for giving a damn in the off season. It wasn't worth it.

The quality opponent had not much to do with our loss. Our offense wasn't ready to play period.

That was the kind of shitastic performance that makes people not care anymore.

[MarketingBully01]

Not a good team? They are going to go undefeated with that schedule. I love the fact that because we held OSU to 21 they suck as a team. You guys need to get a grip with this crap. If OSU ends up playing Alabama for the national championship, this will be the biggest dumbassery overreaction from a fanbase in the history of everything.

[blacklistedbully]

Not a good team? They are going to go undefeated with that schedule. I love the fact that because we held OSU to 21 they suck as a team. You guys need to get a grip with this crap. If OSU ends up playing Alabama for the national championship, this will be the biggest dumbassery overreaction from a fanbase in the history of everything.

Dumbassery is watching your team score just 3 points against a team not respected for their defense, and think that the fanbase is overreacting when they get supremely pissed and demand something different than the same, tired, pathetic, proven-ineffective offense.

If you want to feel good about the way we performed on defnese against what may turn out to be a great offense, then fine. Hell, I feel like that about our defense. But the issues with our offense are OUTRAGEOUS, partly because it's a continuation of that crap that didn't work last year. How can we, as fans not be pissed off about this? It appears our coaching staff is either too inflexible to make the necessary adjustments and/or is perhaps just not up to the task.

Give Collins, Turner & Townsend medals. I'm cool with that. But this pile of crap we call our offense is, well, offensive. That is Dan's bailiwick. The man makes $3 million a year with us, and has been given everything he has asked for. We have a right to expect much. much more. That's not to say he has to beat every ranked team we play, but he has got to stop giving us this same pathetic crap of an offensive scheme. He's GOT to make some changes or be held accountable. It goes with the paycheck.

[civildawg]

I'd like to apologize for giving a damn in the off season. It wasn't worth it.

The quality opponent had not much to do with our loss. Our offense wasn't ready to play period.

That was the kind of shitastic performance that makes people not care anymore.

Exactly, I bet the crowd is less than stellar this weekend. I've talked to a lot of guys that don't even want to go and I'm not excited about going either. We could beat acorn 50 to 0 and I wouldn't care because we truly know just how bad we are already. Mullen didnt change the offense from last year, what makes you he's going to change it in the middle of the season?

[Dawgface]

I disagree, I was not in favor of the game to begin with but the AD publically apologizing for scheduling OSU makes us look like bitches. We were just as talented as they are, we have every chance to win with a halfway competent offense.

+1. What a pathetic thing to post on twitter.

[Coach34]

Also, that was not a good team.
.

My ass- that team will win at least 10 games this year

[Negative Waves]

My ass- that team will win at least 10 games this year

Agreed. Looking at their schedule, they'll easily be 9-0 going into the Texas game and will probably be no worse than 10-2 at the end of the season. Some of y'all need to take your blood pressure meds and calm down. If we lose to Auburn, Troy, and BG, then blow a gasket.

[cheewgumm]

the fact that they are going to win 10 is what makes it most frustrating.

We could have won and haved as much talent.

So with the same talent, we are looking at 4-8 and they are looking at 10-2.

[HereComesTheSpiral]

the fact that they are going to win 10 is what makes it most frustrating.

We could have won and haved as much talent.

So with the same talent, we are looking at 4-8 and they are looking at 10-2.

This statement spells out coaching problems, not talent problems.

[ShotgunDawg]

the fact that they are going to win 10 is what makes it most frustrating.

We could have won and haved as much talent.

So with the same talent, we are looking at 4-8 and they are looking at 10-2.

Wrong, we have better talent than OSU. Player for player we were the better team. Our problem is completely about coaching.

And yes, college football is a completely different sport depending on what conference you are in.

[Todd4State]

To me, this game was a complete epic fail. I'm not scared to play tough teams- you know like Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M and occasionally Georgia, Florida.

We have to know our place and where we are as a program. When we get to where we are winning 8-9 consistently- and we aren't doing that yet- we shouldn't play a game like this. The exposure was limited at best- all anyone talked about outside of Mississippi was Oklahoma State. The stadium was half full and when they showed the "great moments" from each program- OSU shows Barry Sanders getting the Heisman. We show us winning the Independence Bowl. Seriously?

And this isn't about just getting to 6-6. This is about turning a 6-6 team into an 8 win team, and when we have a special season an 8-9 win team into a 10-11 win team. If we keep winning like that, we will elevate our program- BUT it takes time to do it. At MSU, our leadership thinks that having two-three good seasons and it's time to act like Alabama. Try more like 10 years.

[cheewgumm]

Alcorn and Valley.

Done and done. Are then better? Nope.

We are gonig to be better at the end of this year, because we were exposed yesterday. Luckily this year, we didn't have to wait 7 games to be exposed. We were given a gift and got it in gme 1. Now we can try to get better knowing we have to.

[cheewgumm]

We didn't lose becuase we "weren't ready" as a program. We lsot because our coaching sucked.

[cheewgumm]

One more thing and I'll shut up.

We should embrance the challenge as a program of playing and trying to beat big time teams.

We have tried, forever to this point the other way...and it has not worked. Why not accept the challenge, be honest with where we are early and face it. We can then move forward. As it is, we don't move forward, and if we are just trying to manipulate our way to 8 wins that is a mistake in my opinion. I'd rather do it the Florida State way...anytime, anywhere. But our program has to accept that and our players have to believe it. Then we have to taeke chances on the field and play to win. Not play to lose by a little.

We're not Bama, so what. Let's play big teams and go for it. Try to block punts, throw it deep, take chances. Play to win. Let's not manipulate 8 wins...let's get 8 wins.

[Will James]

if we are just trying to manipulate our way to 8 wins that is a mistake in my opinion. .

I agree. Beating up weak teams and getting killed by those with a pulse does nothing for me as a fan just because 8 of those teams suck.

[Ghost of Hank Flick]

I took these comments from Strick like he was trying to take the bullet for Mullen, because so many are pissed right now. The LAST thing he wants is a completely divided fanbase where half the season ticket holders have lost faith in Mullen when we're about to open a stadium expansion.

But it's an absolutely stupid thing to post on twitter. He's either saying we aren't ready to play a team like that or we shouldn't play a team like that. If its the latter then I'm not sure what we're doing as a football program.

Part of me thinks Strick is completely fine with 6-6 for eternity and Mullen has reached his coaching ceiling. Part of me thinks the exact opposite. We will learn a lot this year, should be interesting.

[War Machine Dawg]

I took these comments from Strick like he was trying to take the bullet for Mullen, because so many are pissed right now. The LAST thing he wants is a completely divided fanbase where half the season ticket holders have lost faith in Mullen when we're about to open a stadium expansion.

But it's an absolutely stupid thing to post on twitter. He's either saying we aren't ready to play a team like that or we shouldn't play a team like that. If its the latter then I'm not sure what we're doing as a football program.

Part of me thinks Strick is completely fine with 6-6 for eternity and Mullen has reached his coaching ceiling. Part of me thinks the exact opposite. We will learn a lot this year, should be interesting.

I'm really starting to think Strick is LT 2.0 but with a little personality. You're right about one thing, though: We're at a crossroads with the direction of our program and it'll be interesting to see where we go from here.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

+1. Ghost you nailed it. I keep hearing it takes time to build the program. We are not South Alabama, we have been playing football for 110 years for Pete's sake. Mullen is in his fifth year and its still the same BS on offense. Last year Dak should have been elevated to starter with Russell on the bench as backup. With Dak's broader skill set and some creativitiy from the coaching staff this offense could make some noise. But after Saturday it looks like it the same old 17en deja vu all over again.

[sbcmortgageman]

If we have gotten to the point that our ad has to apologize("that one is on me") for scheduling a good team, then the battle is lost. So we are goingto be a school that does not embrace chances to play the best teams? Rather, we want to beat up on Alcorn, and feel like we are good before getting dismantled by good teams. I am disappointed in our fans and our ad for posting that . I dont think Greg Byrne would be caught dead posting that .

Piss poor. If we gotta apologize for that then we'll always be a joke. WTH Scott?

[Vandownbytheriver]

I'm really starting to think Strick is LT 2.0 but with a little personality. You're right about one thing, though: We're at a crossroads with the direction of our program and it'll be interesting to see where we go from here.

If he has more personality I'd hate to see a boring son of a bitch.

[Todd4State]

One more thing and I'll shut up.

We should embrance the challenge as a program of playing and trying to beat big time teams.

We have tried, forever to this point the other way...and it has not worked. Why not accept the challenge, be honest with where we are early and face it. We can then move forward. As it is, we don't move forward, and if we are just trying to manipulate our way to 8 wins that is a mistake in my opinion. I'd rather do it the Florida State way...anytime, anywhere. But our program has to accept that and our players have to believe it. Then we have to taeke chances on the field and play to win. Not play to lose by a little.

We're not Bama, so what. Let's play big teams and go for it. Try to block punts, throw it deep, take chances. Play to win. Let's not manipulate 8 wins...let's get 8 wins.

Have you not noticed that the national media doesn't pay attention to small semantics like who we actually play? Recruits also don't pay attention to that either. They just look at the bottom line. If we win 8 games a year consistently and are in a bowl and we do it over a long period of time- think ten years- then we will build a reputation as a "winning program". That's what most players want to do- and that's how we build a good reputation in state. It takes time to do that. We are in year five of Dan. We aren't supposed to be "there"- (think 9-10 win level)- yet. Heck, we are just now about to get the stadium enclosed and our facilities up to date.

Alcorn and Valley in the same season? I know you are exaggerating. Why not have an OOC schedule of:

Either JSU, Alcorn or Valley provided Valley gets their act together.

Alumni road trip game- Tulane, Memphis (BCS conference now I believe), UAB, or South Alabama.

A service academy which would be a game that would pretty much draw well every single year, and be a likely win- Army, Navy, or Air Force. We could do a home and home which would mean an alumni trip game either to New York City, Washington DC, or Colorado in September. Of course, we should schedule the year after we go on the road to play someone like Tulane.

Sun Belt team for homecoming or play a game with USM.

That is what I am advocating. Each would draw a crowd as good or better than what we did in Houston and lead to a likely win. Each would also not kill our team for SEC play. In two out of the three D-I options, I'm talking about us playing a likely bowl team unless we are playing Army or a really bad Sun Belt team.

As far as the team and emotion and exposing weaknesses and things like that- last year that was TOTALLY on Dan. We actually had our weaknesses exposed by the Sun Belt teams- remember Troy? South Alabama? First half of MTSU? A competent coach would have used those games as opportunities to correct issues and correct flaws and Dan simply did not. That is out of my control and everyone else except for the head coach. That doesn't mean we should schedule Oregon. It means Dan should get his act together.

And what do you mean playing a manageable schedule hasn't worked? We went to the Gator Bowl. When we were playing Oregon, Georgia Tech, Houston, West Virginia and now Oklahoma State- how did that turn out for us? Since 2000, we have won ONE of those games. That was against Houston when their QB was hurt and we had one of our better seasons and teams in school history.

I, for the life of me do not understand why MSU fans put down our accomplishments. Well, we won 8 games but they really weren't "quality wins" so we aren't that good. And meanwhile Ole Miss has a worse SEC record than us and beats two SEC West teams that were down plus us in a rivalry game at home and they are somehow "on the rise"?

[Todd4State]

+1. Ghost you nailed it. I keep hearing it takes time to build the program. We are not South Alabama, we have been playing football for 110 years for Pete's sake. Mullen is in his fifth year and its still the same BS on offense. Last year Dak should have been elevated to starter with Russell on the bench as backup. With Dak's broader skill set and some creativitiy from the coaching staff this offense could make some noise. But after Saturday it looks like it the same old 17en deja vu all over again.

We are actually over 110 years old as a program, but sadly we have been managed poorly for much of that time. Because of that we are having to build ourselves out of the hole rather than from the ground up like South Alabama. It is what it is.

[Bent Bulldawg]

I do agree that it was a lame thing to tweet. Apologizing for scheduling a recognized program? BS. It was, however, manning up and trying to accept some fault, deserved or not. Beats what Koenning did. He blames the players.

[Jack Lambert]

Well this message board officially became like the others. Bunch of dumb ass men crying like little girls. MSU was not going 12 and 0 if we had won or lost. It's one game that we were picked to lose. Please wait at lest until we have a losing season before starting this fire the coach crap. I had enjoyed this board up until this thread.

[JOHNHEVESYMADE]

I don't know how we lost our recipe for success which many schools do in order to make post season play. You schedule 4 cupcakes and try and find 2 conference wins along the way. The SEC is the best conference in the nation, why try and make our schedule tougher? What good does it do to play oklahoma state, lose decisively, and lose 4 starters in the process? Why not schedule a C-USA team and then have momentum going into the SEC schedule. Now we are in a position where if we lose to Auburn then Mullen's seat will start getting hot. I hated the decision to schedule Oklahoma State in the first place and I never thought it made sense. I am beyond livid at Scott Stricklin for his decision to schedule this game and it has come back to backfire completely.

[blacklistedbully]

Well this message board officially became like the others. Bunch of dumb ass men crying like little girls. MSU was not going 12 and 0 if we had won or lost. It's one game that we were picked to lose. Please wait at lest until we have a losing season before starting this fire the coach crap. I had enjoyed this board up until this thread.

This is complete & utter BS. While I can agree that calling for Mullen to be fired right now is ridiculous, what the vast majority of posters I've read here are pissed about is the apparent return to a failed offensive scheme from last year that resulted in just 3 points against one of the truly bad BCS conference defenses. Posters are pissed and demanding change because we can all see that we appeared to roll out the same, frustrating, predictable, unproductive offensive scheme we did last year. We are pissed and vocal because we simply could not believe that Mullen would do something THAT stupid. And that is on Dan. He is the HC.

Dan had MONTHS to address this situation. How can you expect fans to not be angry & vocal about seeing that big, stinking pile of horseshit Dan & Les put on the field Saturday? I truly believe if we'd have just shown something significantly different, and not painfully predictable, as it was last year, our fans would not be pissed off like this even if we'd got handled. But when we see this same old shit again, after months to prepare, it makes you lose faith in Dan's ability to get the job done.

I've been a HUGE fan of the *cough**cough**cough**cough**cough**cough**cough*, and will always be grateful for all they've done to get our program upgraded, build excitement, expectations, etc. But Dan would probably be the first to say it's his responsibility to live up to those increased expectations. It was obvious to everyone we needed to make some changes on both sides of the ball from last year. What Mullen has shown us so far is he wants to stick with that failed scheme on offense. Why? What on God's green earth could make Dan think last year's scheme was ok to run this year? I simply cannot fathom it.

[M.Fillmore]

Todd4State is right. Bottom line numbers are what counts.
Here is my dream schedule
1. In state SWAC school
2. Savannah State
3. Elon
4. South Alabama

We play in the SEC, take every win we can until it consistently hurts us in the BCS bowl slotting. And that may never happen.

[cheewgumm]

I disagree. Last year was a perfect example...7-0. Then bomb.

Better to find out that you really suck, so you can fix it. I don't want to be known as the team that is afraid to play anybody.

[Coach34]

I disagree. Last year was a perfect example...7-0. Then bomb.

Better to find out that you really suck, so you can fix it. I don't want to be known as the team that is afraid to play anybody.

We played Auburn and Tennessee in those 7 games- it wasnt like we expected 7 candy games.

Sub Ok State with South Alabama, and we will still play Auburn and LSU in our first 7 games.

[drunkernhelldawg]

This is almost a no-brainer to me: We had the ability to win, and if we had won, we would have got more out of it than we do beating a cupcake. I'm glad we played them. WTF is ss even talking about apologizing. Cringe worthy.

[Todd4State]

I disagree. Last year was a perfect example...7-0. Then bomb.

Better to find out that you really suck, so you can fix it. I don't want to be known as the team that is afraid to play anybody.

Again, that is on the coaches more than the schedule. If they had used the schedule last year properly, we would have been able to see our weaknesses, identify and correct them, and still gotten a win. You don't correct that by playing USC, Notre Dame, Florida State, and Boise State for homecoming. That's something that Dan has to correct on his own or our AD and big boosters will correct it for him eventually.

As far as being the team that is "afraid" to play anybody- we had a schedule very similar to the one I suggested in 2010 and 2011 and no one said anything other than maybe a few Ole Miss fans- which is ironic because they are where I got the idea from when Tuberville was their coach. Last year was really the only year I remember anyone saying anything about it. But again, if you look at my model of scheduling, we have it set up so that we are playing at least one bowl team a year and up to three a year depending on how things play out. No one is going to criticize us for playing a service academy- I can guarantee you that.

Don't concern yourself with criticism. EVERY team in the country is criticized in some form or fashion. If you don't believe me- even Alabama is criticized for "processing out" players. Notre Dame is criticized for not being in a conference. Etc. If we were in C-USA, I would actually advocate the total opposite- that we play good BCS teams for four games, but the fact is we are in the SEC and we have to play Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M and we have to also play Auburn and Arkansas which while down are programs with large fan bases and are not down for long, plus a rivalry game with Ole Miss, and then we have to play an average Kentucky team and then someone from the SEC East and odds are good that the second SEC East opponent is someone like Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, or Tennessee.

[Todd4State]

This is almost a no-brainer to me: We had the ability to win, and if we had won, we would have got more out of it than we do beating a cupcake. I'm glad we played them. WTF is ss even talking about apologizing. Cringe worthy.

Well, it cost us a home game for starters. We didn't really benefit from any exposure because all anyone in the media talked about was Oklahoma State. I'm not even sure if we sold out our ticket allotment- it was close.

We would have been better off playing Tulane in NOLA- we would have sold the same amount of tickets if not more, our guys would have gotten to play in a NFL stadium, and we would be 2-0 going into Auburn.

I think Scott knows that there was a lot of criticism aimed at him for playing this game, and he took a chance and it pretty much blew up in our face.

[maroonmania]

Well, it cost us a home game for starters. We didn't really benefit from any exposure because all anyone in the media talked about was Oklahoma State. I'm not even sure if we sold out our ticket allotment- it was close.

We would have been better off playing Tulane in NOLA- we would have sold the same amount of tickets if not more, our guys would have gotten to play in a NFL stadium, and we would be 2-0 going into Auburn.

I think Scott knows that there was a lot of criticism aimed at him for playing this game, and he took a chance and it pretty much blew up in our face.

Todd, I agree with everything you posted on this. And to add, those that necessarily think having our weaknesses shown to us early in the season will help us in the long run, well we will just have to wait and see about that. Last year AL exposed us in the 8th game and we seemed to never recover. We lost all of our confidence and swag after that game and acted like we were shellshocked the rest of our games for the most part. I certainly hope this punch in the mouth to start the season doesn't cause the team this year to start playing without any confidence and begin a downward spiral.

[BhamDawg]

This is almost a no-brainer to me: We had the ability to win, and if we had won, we would have got more out of it than we do beating a cupcake. I'm glad we played them. WTF is ss even talking about apologizing. Cringe worthy.

Exactly. This has nothing to do with scheduling a tough opponent and everything to do with coaching. After a quarter and half of crap, Gundy and Co tried something different by putting Walsh in and running the read option and using formations we had not seen. Meanwhile, Mullen and Co continued with said crap for another full quarter until his hand was forced and even then it was only slightly better crap. All i ever hear from Mullen is execution this, clean some things up that. How about make some changes and try different things. We had the talent and ability to win this game.

[Todd4State]

Todd, I agree with everything you posted on this. And to add, those that necessarily think having our weaknesses shown to us early in the season will help us in the long run, well we will just have to wait and see about that. Last year AL exposed us in the 8th game and we seemed to never recover. We lost all of our confidence and swag after that game and acted like we were shellshocked the rest of our games for the most part. I certainly hope this punch in the mouth to start the season doesn't cause the team this year to start playing without any confidence and begin a downward spiral.

Exactly, but we were actually exposed IMO against Troy. We just did nothing to correct those weaknesses except in the off season on the defensive side of the ball. What SHOULD have happened is the week of the South Alabama game we should have looked at the film, decided to bring more pressure on defense, switch some people around at linebacker and then implemented more variety on offense with slants, screens, etc. But that didn't happen and we wasted that opportunity.

And if you do the same things over and over and the players never have success because what you are doing isn't working, or maybe they lose faith in the coaches because they won't change- that contributes greatly to a loss of confidence. Especially if they are getting ripped on twitter and message boards over it.

But you are right- just because we played Oklahoma State and got our tails beat- that doesn't mean that all of a sudden we are going to start fixing things on either side of the ball. A coach should be able to identify problems no matter the quality of the opponent.

[cheewgumm]

"It's just Troy. We probably just are running vanilla stuff against them." So you don't get to the point of pressure being applied to the coacheslike you have now. I would bet that at no poiont last year were our coaches under as muhc presure as is building right now. In a perfect world Todd is right, they fix it becuase they know it's broken becuase they are coaches and it doesn't matter who we play. But that jsut doesn't happen. Our season last year and game 1 this year is exhibit A.

Now I guarantee there is tremendous pressure on the coaches after that offensive showing against OK State. This very much reminds me of C34's crusade agaisnt Stansbury. Pressure brings positive change. And there wil be changes for the better and we'll be better than we would have if we had played the below schedule. You get better by playing food teams, not crappy ones.

A good example fo me will be Louiville this year. If they win 10, or go undefeated, I and many in college football will go "meh". Just like if we schedule :

ARMY
Alcorn
UAB
South Alabama
USM
Kentucky
Vandy

and win 7. Response will be "meh.

Only difference is we nkow now, what would normally take us 8 games to figure out.

[cheewgumm]

I'm not saying we planned on playing 7 panzies last year, but we did.

But some on this board are advocating that we do, and I think that is a mistake.

[cheewgumm]

Sorr,y I had one more comment on this note from Todd:

But you are right- just because we played Oklahoma State and got our tails beat- that doesn't mean that all of a sudden we are going to start fixing things on either side of the ball. A coach should be able to identify problems no matter the quality of the opponent.[/QUOTE]


The differecne is we lost and the fans are irate. If we had beat Troy barely this past weekend, everyone would have chalked it up to "We played vanilla, becasue it's Troy." and we would have won, so nobody would have cared so much. In this one, we could have won, wiht very little imagination and we didn't. So, fans are irate and now the pressure is on. There will be changes that we never made last year.

[M.Fillmore]

I'm not saying we planned on playing 7 panzies last year, but we did.

But some on this board are advocating that we do, and I think that is a mistake.

It is not possible to be in the SEC-West and play seven pansies a year.

[Todd4State]

Sorr,y I had one more comment on this note from Todd:

But you are right- just because we played Oklahoma State and got our tails beat- that doesn't mean that all of a sudden we are going to start fixing things on either side of the ball. A coach should be able to identify problems no matter the quality of the opponent.


The differecne is we lost and the fans are irate. If we had beat Troy barely this past weekend, everyone would have chalked it up to "We played vanilla, becasue it's Troy." and we would have won, so nobody would have cared so much. In this one, we could have won, wiht very little imagination and we didn't. So, fans are irate and now the pressure is on. There will be changes that we never made last year.[/QUOTE]


Are you kidding me? So now we should play teams like Oklahoma State so that our fans can see how bad we are? You are either severely overestimated the power that message board fans have with administration or severely underestimating our fans football IQ.

You do realize that you are talking about Mississippi State fans who constantly look for anything to bitch about correct? I've seen us beat people 56-0 and the complaining is almost as bad as it is in a loss sometimes. After every Sun Belt or SWAC team that we beat, there were PLENTY of people complaining. Sure, some like Coach were saying it was because we were vanilla or whatever- but how is that really any different than someone saying "hey, OSU is a great team- we'll be fine?" But even those that said that we were just being vanilla were being critical of the offense.

The fans aren't irate just because we lost. They are irate because there is a distinct pattern of a lack of adjustment- one that ironically showed itself in the Sun Belt games that we played. But that wasn't apparent up until last year really. People like Coach that were saying that we were just being vanilla were primarily basing that observation off of Dan's first three years which were successful and we showed some creativity in years one and two and had an injured o-line in year three.

Even with an easy schedule we made changes. Ask Chris Wilson. It's just that Dan didn't make all of the changes he should have made. Again, that's not because it wasn't apparent- how many people called for Les's head LAST year? I think it's something else- and it has nothing at all to do with the schedule.

[cheewgumm]

Are you kidding me? So now we should play teams like Oklahoma State so that our fans can see how bad we are? You are either severely overestimated the power that message board fans have with administration or severely underestimating our fans football IQ.

** Absolutely we should paly good teams early to see that we either suck, or we don't, and yes so our fans can see. Our fans are more upset right now than at any point in our 7-0 pre-season last year. I don't think a message board leads to change, but fans being upset does. I tihnk our offense will be much more aggressive for the rest of the year than it was on Saturday because of oen thing- the fans are pissed.


You do realize that you are talking about Mississippi State fans who constantly look for anything to bitch about correct? I've seen us beat people 56-0 and the complaining is almost as bad as it is in a loss sometimes. After every Sun Belt or SWAC team that we beat, there were PLENTY of people complaining. Sure, some like Coach were saying it was because we were vanilla or whatever- but how is that really any different than someone saying "hey, OSU is a great team- we'll be fine?" But even those that said that we were just being vanilla were being critical of the offense.

** Being critical and somewhat complaining are different than calling for a coordiinators head. Saying the offense is vanilla doesn't make change happen. Calling for the OC's head does.

The fans aren't irate just because we lost. They are irate because there is a distinct pattern of a lack of adjustment- one that ironically showed itself in the Sun Belt games that we played. But that wasn't apparent up until last year really. People like Coach that were saying that we were just being vanilla were primarily basing that observation off of Dan's first three years which were successful and we showed some creativity in years one and two and had an injured o-line in year three.

** The fans let it slide to a degree if we win. You're syaing yourself that it showed itself in teh Sunbelt games. Are you saynikg the fans were as upset after the Sunbelt game as they are now? I'm saying they were not. They aer moer upset now. It's a matter of degree and this one is much hotter, which is good IMO.

Even with an easy schedule we made changes. Ask Chris Wilson. It's just that Dan didn't make all of the changes he should have made. Again, that's not because it wasn't apparent- how many people called for Les's head LAST year? I think it's something else- and it has nothing at all to do with the schedule.[/QUOTE]

** I don't think people were calling for Wilson's head until we played good teams and got rolled. If they were I'll concede that point. but I'm saying the real heat is turned up through embarrassment, which is good and happens when you play good teams, not when you play and beat Alcorn.

Also,. I'm not saying all this to pick a fight wiht you, todd...just your particulayr points in this case.