Are our bowl hopes on the line Saturday?

[Schultzy]

Looking at the schedule, unless we win Saturday at Auburn we will have to win at Arkansas in order to get to six wins.
This is assuming the three non conference wins as well as Kentucky and Mississippi. Don't get me wrong, accomplishing that is not far fetched but most likely is going to be the only path.

Actually, LSU looks like the most likely in the major upset category if we dare to get really hopeful.

[maroonmania]

Yes, I think so, and therefore I feel the season is on the line Saturday. If you think about it between this Saturday and the LAST 2 games of the season there is nothing but games we SHOULD win or SHOULD lose. Should win includes Troy, BG and KY. Should lose includes LSU, AL, TA&M and SC. We don't really get to another toss up game until we play @Ark (23 Nov) and then followup it up with another toss up in the Egg Bowl. So if we lose against Auburn our backs are against the wall to beat Ark and OM in back to back games to end the year just to get to 6 wins unless we pull a major upset somewhere AND have no slip ups against a team we should beat along the way.

[EAVdog]

from here on out.

[Rick Danko]

No question, yes. Lose and prepare to save money from your budget during bowl season.

[Johnson85]

We have 5 very winnable games to get to bowl eligibility other than Auburn, but if we can't beat Auburn, I don't think there is any reason to think we will be able to sweep Troy, Bowling Green, and Ole Miss.

And if we only got 5 yards per carry against Alcorn, I don't think there is realistically anybody we can upset. Our defense may keep us in some games, but at some point, you have to score.

[gravedigger]

I'd say yes. Not because we COULDNT get 5 more wins, but because I think it will be like a chair getting pulled out from under us.

I think our players know they can beat Auburn even if our fans are wary of the chances. The question is will they come out with the fire in their belly to overcome the mistakes? I'm leaning yes at the moment, but only because I think that Dak will be the primary for the game no matter who starts. I don't think Tyler can stand there and take another hit even if that type of offense works best against Auburn. What I'd like to see is a qb with a run pass option on every play a pass is called. Screw worrying about whether Dak or Tyler or Damien gets hurt. Time to get less conventional with this offense and force defenses to over commit and make them pay.

The worse thing about this next game is that our wr's last mental image of a HORRIBLE Alcorn secondary. As bad as Auburn can be in that part of the game, they cannot be worst than Alcorn. We will have to play with energy and spirit as if it is the game that will get us to the bowl. If not, they will take it from us.

[Goat Holder]

I don't think there's any doubt at this point. Our remaining toss-ups would be Arkansas and Ole Miss to go along with 4 should-wins. Realistically, split the toss-ups and we are 5-7. This game is our season as far as bowl eligibility.

[Jack Lambert]

i think Texas A &M is more open to a up set. They do not have the same defense they had last year and our defense is much improved and better coached. Plus they got a idiot at QB and you never know what stupid move he is going to make.

[Political Hack]

if we can't beat this Auburn team on the road, we've got possibly 1 road win all year.

[BeastMan]

It almost is a must win but not quite. Lose this and it would make Kentucky, Arky, and OM must wins. Neither road is easy so I would like this one b/c it leaves room for 1 stumble. Lose this and there is zero room for error.

[Political Hack]

we're two weeks into the season discussing whether six wins is possible.

Thank you Scott Stricklin.

[Goat Holder]

we're two weeks into the season discussing whether six wins is possible.

Thank you Scott Stricklin.

Dude, give it up with the scheduling stuff. It's not that big a deal. Field a team worth a shit after 5 years and we'd easily beat Auburn and Arkansas in the condition they are in, even on the road. I didn't want to play OSU either, but it's starting to sound like whining. It's ONE year out of 5 that we didn't have 4 cadavers in the OOC. And our 2015 sked will be just as easy as 2014, so 1 out of 5.

And regarding that, we should be on Greg Byrne's ass for scheduling f*cking Southern. Stricklin goes out of his way to schedule easy.

[Political Hack]

yes, because its ok to schedule a loss you can't absorb just for money once every five years.

[SignalToNoise]

Dude, give it up with the scheduling stuff. It's not that big a deal. Field a team worth a shit after 5 years and we'd easily beat Auburn and Arkansas in the condition they are in, even on the road. I didn't want to play OSU either, but it's starting to sound like whining. It's ONE year out of 5 that we didn't have 4 cadavers in the OOC. And our 2015 sked will be just as easy as 2014, so 1 out of 5.

And regarding that, we should be on Greg Byrne's ass for scheduling f*cking Southern. Stricklin goes out of his way to schedule easy.

I'm with Goat on this one.

[gravedigger]

Me too.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Make that 4 votes. I was at the OSU game and the Okie's weren't unstoppable monsters. If our offense had executed and our coaches had given them the tools to win we would have walked out of Reliant with a win. The team and coaches hold their fate in their hands not Stricklin and the schedule.

[It_Could_Happen]

I think arkansas and auburn both depend on which team they have show up. Arkansas in the first week looked very impressive and looked like shit this week. Auburn looked shaky in the first week and looked pretty good this week. It's a roll of the dice on both

[KennyPowers2]

Make that 4 votes. I was at the OSU game and the Okie's weren't unstoppable monsters. If our offense had executed and our coaches had given them the tools to win we would have walked out of Reliant with a win. The team and coaches hold their fate in their hands not Stricklin and the schedule.

This guy said it best. We do have the players to succeed, maybe not Alabama or lsu standards, but a 7-8 win team yes. I'm not going to blame our AD because we scheduled a hard team to open the year. Hell we should have went over there and manhandled those pussies but we didn't. We called shitty plays for 80% of the game; our defense played their hearts and we lost. I'm gonna be pissed off if we start TR against auburn. He can't handle the game, period. We need a steady dose of Dak and our stable of Rb's ( particularly Jrob). Pass when it's right and set it up. I'm a ****ing retard ex offensive lineman and I know better than to run the shit we have put on the field in our losses lately. You heard it here first, if TR plays most of this game we will lose.

[ckDOG]

Absolutely. This is a key game for bowl eligibility. We win this game and we are looking solid. Lose and we are behind the 8 ball.

[Hypnodawg]

Dude, give it up with the scheduling stuff. It's not that big a deal. Field a team worth a shit after 5 years and we'd easily beat Auburn and Arkansas in the condition they are in, even on the road.

This

[fishwater99]

I think it's a must win for Mullen to keep the fan-base behind him and for a Bowl..
This is year 5 and it appears we are on the decline with 2010 being Mullen's best year at 9-4.

@ Auburn ??
Troy Win
LSU Loss
B. Green Win
UK Win
@ USC Loss
@ A&M Loss
Bama Loss
@ Ark Win ?
Bears Loss ?

[SignalToNoise]

I think it's a must win for Mullen to keep the fan-base behind him and for a Bowl..
This is year 5 and it appears we are on the decline with 2010 being Mullen's best year at 9-4.


Yep those were my thoughts at the end of 2012. 2010 We caught breaks. Beat programs that have big names (UGA, Florida, Michigan) but all were in disarray. Still, a 9 win season in the SEC is nothing to scoff at and I'd gladly take it again, but since then it seems like we've regressed every year.

[Goat Holder]

I will say that I'd much rather do a home/home with Iowa State/Kansas State/Purdue/Oregon State/NC State type teams. I don't particularly like scheduling this opening day bowl games against big time teams, especially if we aren't ready to go. But it's just one game out of five years. Let's wait and see if it ACTUALLY keeps us from going bowling. If it does, yeah it sucks, but damn we have every chance in the world to win the games.

[Bully13]

Looking at the schedule, unless we win Saturday at Auburn we will have to win at Arkansas in order to get to six wins.
This is assuming the three non conference wins as well as Kentucky and Mississippi. Don't get me wrong, accomplishing that is not far fetched but most likely is going to be the only path.

Actually, LSU looks like the most likely in the major upset category if we dare to get really hopeful.

I think a loss will let even the sheep know we suck uhGAIN and there will be no hope for 6

[DawgInMemphis]

Looking at the schedule, unless we win Saturday at Auburn we will have to win at Arkansas in order to get to six wins.
This is assuming the three non conference wins as well as Kentucky and Mississippi. Don't get me wrong, accomplishing that is not far fetched but most likely is going to be the only path.

Actually, LSU looks like the most likely in the major upset category if we dare to get really hopeful.

Call me crazy, but A&M looks very beatable. You win in this league with defense, and their defense has been horrid through the first two weeks. I know the game is in College Station, but I don't think it's an automatic L at all for us.

[Political Hack]

A&M isn't that good, but they'll be 8-1 when we roll into Kyle Field. I think they're going to have all of the momentum at that point and we're going to be in the middle of a gauntlet.

Comparing their schedule to ours shows you how bad we screwed ourselves this year. It's just stupid.

[HereComesTheSpiral]

A&M isn't that good, but they'll be 8-1 when we roll into Kyle Field. I think they're going to have all of the momentum at that point and we're going to be in the middle of a gauntlet.

Comparing their schedule to ours shows you how bad we screwed ourselves this year. It's just stupid.
Why do we continuously back load our schedule, is this Slives doing?

[Coach34]

Just to add-

Texas A&M turned down a game and payday with Louisville to open this season- and kept their nobody sweet meat win vs Rice to begin the season

[Goat Holder]

And they are also taking scrutiny because of that. At the very minimum, they should be playing Texas on Thanksgiving weekend every year. They have no reason to schedule 4 cadavers with the current state of their program.

[Coach34]

And they are also taking scrutiny because of that. At the very minimum, they should be playing Texas on Thanksgiving weekend every year. They have no reason to schedule 4 cadavers with the current state of their program.

Texas wont play them

[601Dawg]

yes, because its ok to schedule a loss you can't absorb just for money once every five years.

Im curious just how much out athletic dept made for the Texas Kickoff classic? There was only like 35K fans there, I honestly belive we would have done just as good with a UAB or Tulane to open the season at home with 55K

[601Dawg]

Just to add-

Texas A&M turned down a game and payday with Louisville to open this season- and kept their nobody sweet meat win vs Rice to begin the season

They know that playing the SMU's and Rices of the world get them W's and if they want to contend for the SEC they cant schedule tough OOC games b/c they already have Bama, LSU, etc on their schedule.

[SnakePlissken]

Im curious just how much out athletic dept made for the Texas Kickoff classic? There was only like 35K fans there, I honestly belive we would have done just as good with a UAB or Tulane to open the season at home with 55KHas anyone seen the actual $ we got? I thought the majority went into the SEC til and we just got an extra share when they disbursed the money at the end of the year. I don't think we got to pocket the whole payday but I could be wrong

[Hypnodawg]

They know that playing the SMU's and Rices of the world get them W's and if they want to contend for the SEC they cant schedule tough OOC games b/c they already have Bama, LSU, etc on their schedule.

Not true in so many ways.
1. Loosing an OOC game in no way effects winning the SEC.
2. Assuming you meant contend for the NC, Schedule cupcakes for OOC and even going undefeated in the SEC may not get you in the NC (ask Auburn).
3. Schedule a real team for OOC and you can afford to loose a game and get in the NC.

I'm tired of this whining crap. Schedule games people want to see. No one wants to see MSU vs. UAB and the money wouldn't have been close. MSU vs. UAB would have been on ESPN3, not ESPN/ABC. If we have no chance of winning our bowl game, we shouldn't be in the damn thing. I have no desire to us play like we did vs. NW again.

COMPETE FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS! There is no championship to be had playing Alcorn.

[Bothrops]

I will say that I'd much rather do a home/home with Iowa State/Kansas State/Purdue/Oregon State/NC State type teams. I don't particularly like scheduling this opening day bowl games against big time teams, especially if we aren't ready to go. But it's just one game out of five years. Let's wait and see if it ACTUALLY keeps us from going bowling. If it does, yeah it sucks, but damn we have every chance in the world to win the games.

This ^^^^

[Johnson85]

yes, because its ok to schedule a loss you can't absorb just for money once every five years.

OK St. was only a loss because we were terrible. If we had seen how good Ok St. was going to be, I'd hope that everybody would have wanted to schedule them. A big win against a team that's not that good. If our team is as bad as it looked against Ok St., then it doesn't matter, we're probably going to lose to two out of four of Auburn, Ole Miss, Troy, and Bowling Greene. If our team is as good as it should be, then we're still going bowling. Ok St. turned out to be exactly the type team we should schedule. Mediocre team with good name recognition and from a big name conference.

[Coach34]

Im curious just how much out athletic dept made for the Texas Kickoff classic? There was only like 35K fans there, I honestly belive we would have done just as good with a UAB or Tulane to open the season at home with 55K

We got a 2MM guarantee to go- TV set it up and is where most of the money came from

[C222]

Call me crazy, but A&M looks very beatable. You win in this league with defense, and their defense has been horrid through the first two weeks. I know the game is in College Station, but I don't think it's an automatic L at all for us.

Crazy.

[Bothrops]

Call me crazy, but A&M looks very beatable. You win in this league with defense, and their defense has been horrid through the first two weeks. I know the game is in College Station, but I don't think it's an automatic L at all for us.

You don't have to win with defense if you have Johnny Manziel on your team.

[Political Hack]

I like seeing us play good teams in bowl games.

[C222]

I like seeing us play good teams in bowl games.

Seriously. I'll never understand the crowd that wants to schedule harder OOC games.

[Goat Holder]

I like seeing us play good teams in bowl games.

So does Stricklin. He's said so at every Alumni Association stop he's made. That is why blaming this on Stricklin is ignorant. It's 1 out of 5 years, and we got a good pay day. Not too bad.

[maroonmania]

I like seeing us play good teams in bowl games.

Heck, I just like seeing us in bowl games. I don't really care who we play in them. I'm afraid the OSU game may end up costing us a bowl this year. Will likely find out Saturday because if we can't win at Auburn our bowl hopes will be on life support.

[Coach34]

Anything less than 6-6 with the team we have is unacceptable

[Goat Holder]

If we can't beat Auburn I don't know that we'll beat Arkansas or Ole Miss. So that extra win might only have amounted to the 5th win behind Troy, Bowling Green, Kentucky and Alcorn. And seeing how we'll be flat vs. Troy after an Auburn win or loss, we may get clipped there, especially if Auburn beats us.

[Todd4State]

So does Stricklin. He's said so at every Alumni Association stop he's made. That is why blaming this on Stricklin is ignorant. It's 1 out of 5 years, and we got a good pay day. Not too bad.

Which is why scheduling Oklahoma State made even less sense.

[maroonmania]

At some point we've just got to man up, no excuses, and beat someone worth a shit. In retrospect, we really haven't done that in the past 2 seasons. ITS TIME AND IT NEEDS TO START SATURDAY! Time for Mullen to start delivering on that 2.6 million dollar contract of his.

[Todd4State]

Not true in so many ways.
1. Loosing an OOC game in no way effects winning the SEC.
2. Assuming you meant contend for the NC, Schedule cupcakes for OOC and even going undefeated in the SEC may not get you in the NC (ask Auburn).
3. Schedule a real team for OOC and you can afford to loose a game and get in the NC.

I'm tired of this whining crap. Schedule games people want to see. No one wants to see MSU vs. UAB and the money wouldn't have been close. MSU vs. UAB would have been on ESPN3, not ESPN/ABC. If we have no chance of winning our bowl game, we shouldn't be in the damn thing. I have no desire to us play like we did vs. NW again.

COMPETE FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS! There is no championship to be had playing Alcorn.

I believe our game got a 2.2 rating from Nielson. For reference, Ole Miss/Vandy got 2.7. In other words, even from an exposure standpoint, it was an epic fail.

[Hypnodawg]

I believe our game got a 2.2 rating from Nielson. For reference, Ole Miss/Vandy got 2.7. In other words, even from an exposure standpoint, it was an epic fail.

Your comparison is 2 SEC schools, Thursday night game, with one being hyped by the media to no end. And what was the rating on playing Alcorn?

EDIT: And your numbers are wrong. Ole Miss/ Vandy was 1.9. Talk about an epic fail.

[HereComesTheSpiral]

E
Your comparison is 2 SEC schools, one being hyped by the media to no end. And what was the rating on playing Alcorn?

EDIT: And your numbers are wrong. Ole Miss/ Vandy was 1.9. Talk about an epic fail.
And one team being primetime Thursday night, not having to compete with Bama-VT and Penn State -Syracuse.

[Political Hack]

OM/Vandy is a crap SEC matchup just like UK/MSU. That's why those games get Thursday night slates. It's a smart move by the ADs and the SEC.

A middle of the pack SEC team scheduling the Big 12 favorite on opening Saturday when you've got several other kickoff games with more interesting match ups is dumb.

And "YES" because of game 1, our bowl hopes are absolutely on the line Saturday.

[Hypnodawg]

E
And one team being primetime Thursday night, not having to compete with Bama-VT and Penn State -Syracuse.

You got me quoted before I could add this nugget in