Curious Question

[ShotgunDawg]

Just a question for the board.

For a high school or college football game, if the road team is driving to the game from 1 hour + away, how much time before the game is optimal for them to arrive at the stadium?

Just wants to get some thoughts

[Leroy Jenkins]

2 hrs

[Maroonthirteen]

After listening to HeavyD6 today, I figure there would be a thread on this.

IMO, it is a very easy drive to Tuscaloosa from Starkville
I don't have a problem with driving over the day of the game. Howeevr, yeah, arriving 1.5 hours before KO seems a bit late. Seems like you would be rushing through your normal routine.

[TheRef]

After listening to HeavyD6 today, I figure there would be a thread on this.

IMO, it is a very easy drive to Tuscaloosa from Starkville
I don't have a problem with driving over the day of the game. Howeevr, yeah, arriving 1.5 hours before KO seems a bit late. Seems like you would be rushing through your normal routine.

I agree. You should arrive AT LEAST 2 hours before, which is your normal routine for arriving at the stadium. Arriving 1.5 hours before KO is late

[ShotgunDawg]

After listening to HeavyD6 today, I figure there would be a thread on this.

IMO, it is a very easy drive to Tuscaloosa from Starkville
I don't have a problem with driving over the day of the game. Howeevr, yeah, arriving 1.5 hours before KO seems a bit late. Seems like you would be rushing through your normal routine.

This thread wasn't about that. This thread was about gathering information & thoughts. 1.5 hours sounds a little late, but I really don't know if it's a big deal or not.

[Maroonthirteen]

On 2nd thought, our normal pregame routine is probably 1.5 hours. Dawg walk starts approximately 2hrs before KO. It is usually a tad late starting and usually 10-15 minutes before they get to field house.

Still ARRIVING 1.5 hours prior, is cutting it close.

[NELA Dawg]

Riding in a yellow dog for an hour was the killer when I played. Now most high school teams charter nice buses. No such thing when I played.

[missouridawg]

Riding in a yellow dog for an hour was the killer when I played. Now most high school teams charter nice buses. No such thing when I played.

I used to sleep on the yellow bus before every away baseball game I played. Those things put me to sleep so easily.

[the59dawg]

After listening to HeavyD6 today, I figure there would be a thread on this.

IMO, it is a very easy drive to Tuscaloosa from Starkville
I don't have a problem with driving over the day of the game. Howeevr, yeah, arriving 1.5 hours before KO seems a bit late. Seems like you would be rushing through your normal routine.

There is no easy drive with the road construction around Gordo. Takes at least an extra 15 min to get thru there.

[Dawgbite]

There were 4-5 Mississippi State tour buses leaving campus saturday morning at exactly 8 am headed east on 82 with a MHP escort. I thought when I meet them that they were pushing it on time.

[msbulldog]

Yep the guys needed more time to get their legs back from the bus ride.

[dawgday166]

I've always thought they should treat it as a true road game ... drive over the night before and spend the night. Not sure what the difference is in routines, but I believe the team might could get more focused on the game if they treat it as a true road game. I'm not sure but it almost seems like there is a reluctance to even play the game by dragging over there at last minute.

[ShotgunDawg]

I've always thought they should treat it as a true road game ... drive over the night before and spend the night. Not sure what the difference is in routines, but I believe the team might could get more focused on the game if they treat it as a true road game. I'm not sure but it almost seems like there is a reluctance to even play the game by dragging over there at last minute.

This is kind of my thoughts as well. We have to change everything about how we prepare for that game. It's not that Bama is just better that bothers me, it's that we always play like absolute sh*& against them & just roll over. That has to change if this program is going to take the next step. Has to.

While arriving 1.5 hours before the game is a little odd & doesn't seem optimal, 1 thing like that doesn't make me frustrated. What makes me frustrated is that there just seems to be a trend of a high school, cutting corners mentality with this program at times. Our coaches wear shorts for the first game, our kickers always look like JR high kids, we arrive 1.5 hours before a HUGE SEC game, we play seniors over much more talented younger guys, we loose recruits in the Golden Triangle, having juniors make terrible decisions about going pro or not, etc. ... I'm would love to see us believe & act like we are an elite SEC program. It seems as if we just take it & don't hold ourselves to championship standards. At times, I feels like Mullen picks his spots on which games we will care about to create the easiest path to 7-8 wins, while resigning himself to not being able to compete in other games.

The cutting corners & not doing everything 100% just bothers me. Not sure why. I want a program that doesn't accept anything less than excellence & I just feel like we don't do those little things that matter most. If we want to be a championship caliber program than at least act like it.

[BrunswickDawg]

This is kind of my thoughts as well. We have to change everything about how we prepare for that game. It's not that Bama is just better that bothers me, it's that we always play like absolute sh*& against them & just roll over. That has to change if this program is going to take the next step. Has to.

While arriving 1.5 hours before the game is a little odd & doesn't seem optimal, 1 thing like that doesn't make me frustrated. What makes me frustrated is that there just seems to be a trend of a high school, cutting corners mentality with this program at times. Our coaches wear shorts for the first game, our kickers always look like JR high kids, we arrive 1.5 hours before a HUGE SEC game, we play seniors over much more talented younger guys, we loose recruits in the Golden Triangle, having juniors make terrible decisions about going pro or not, etc. ... I'm would love to see us believe & act like we are an elite SEC program. It seems as if we just take it & don't hold ourselves to championship standards. At times, I feels like Mullen picks his spots on which games we will care about to create the easiest path to 7-8 wins, while resigning himself to not being able to compete in other games.

The cutting corners & not doing everything 100% just bothers me. Not sure why. I want a program that doesn't accept anything less than excellence & I just feel like we don't do those little things that matter most. If we want to be a championship caliber program than at least act like it.

Good points. In a way, it seems like the team has adopted the same coping mechanism as the fans - "If I don't expect to win this game then I won't be let down when we lose." I admit to having used this approach any number of times while being an MSU fan. It doesn't work quite as well as whiskey, but it will do in a pinch. It's like Mullen totally gave up ever competing against Bama after the "We Believe" game in 2012.

[BB30]

Well, we could have shown up a week in advance practiced under Lord Saban himself and still lost ha. It probably was a little late and it does not make much sense as to why we didn't stay in a hotel unless it is more comfortable on the players to stay in their own beds etc get better sleep at home than in a hotel. It normally would not be a problem if it had not been an 11 am kick off. Still seems somewhat short sighted and could have been planned a little better. I knew in college I always got better rest the day before a game if it was a home series staying in my own bed. That is only reason I can think of not staying over there.

[BrunswickDawg]

Well, we could have shown up a week in advance practiced under Lord Saban himself and still lost ha. It probably was a little late and it does not make much sense as to why we didn't stay in a hotel unless it is more comfortable on the players to stay in their own beds etc get better sleep at home than in a hotel. It normally would not be a problem if it had not been an 11 am kick off. Still seems somewhat short sighted and could have been planned a little better. I knew in college I always got better rest the day before a game if it was a home series staying in my own bed. That is only reason I can think of not staying over there.

Team stays in a hotel the night before home games - which is why it doesn't make sense to drive over that AM. I know T-Town and Oxford (where we drive up day of too) suck from a hotel standpoint, maybe Lord Saban gave orders to the minions to freeze opposing teams out of local hotels?

[Liverpooldawg]

Much ado about nothing. Anywhere from 1 hour to two hours is standard for riding the yellow dog a lot farther than the distance from Starkville to Tuscaloosa. The yellow dog is not nearly as comfortable as what MSU travels in.