Another GREAT reason for playing OK State first...

[cheewgumm]

If we had played Jackson State first, then Alcorn...we'd be 2-1, heading to Troy...so 3-1.

Great, right?

We would have chalked this up to "ooohh so close" instad of being properly pissed, like we are.

WE would sneak out 7 wins, and move on. Playikng decent teams means we dont keep coaches longer than we should becuase they win 7 against the SWAC or MHSAA teams.

[Jacksondevildog]

Winning 7 games while playing SWAC teams that results in me being in Nashville for a bowl game and our team practicing for an extra month is better than winning 5 while watching Ole Miss win 9 and play in Florida. If that's the math formula that we have to use to be a consistent winner, than we need to master it.

9 > 5

Bowl > No Bowl

The alligator mouth eats the biggest and best one.

[CadaverDawg]

Sorry, but since I figure Scott has balls the size of Mullen and we won't be getting rid of him any time soon.....I would rather be 2-1 and staring at a bowl game.

[cheewgumm]

Ok, well we know where and who we are then. I guess clarity is better than agreement.

[bluelightstar]

Winning 7 games while playing SWAC teams that results in me being in Nashville for a bowl game and our team practicing for an extra month is better than winning 5 while watching Ole Miss win 9 and play in Florida. If that's the math formula that we have to use to be a consistent winner, than we need to master it.

9 > 5

Bowl > No Bowl

The alligator mouth eats the biggest and best one.

I'd hate to see what we'd look like without all the extra bowl practices

[msstate7]

I'd hate to see what we'd look like without all the extra bowl practices

Last time we didnt get bowl practice we won 9 games.

[Todd4State]

If we had played Jackson State first, then Alcorn...we'd be 2-1, heading to Troy...so 3-1.

Great, right?

We would have chalked this up to "ooohh so close" instad of being properly pissed, like we are.

WE would sneak out 7 wins, and move on. Playikng decent teams means we dont keep coaches longer than we should becuase they win 7 against the SWAC or MHSAA teams.

Honestly, I'm not so sure that we would win six had we not played Oklahoma State. Yes, we might start out 3-1 but if we finish 5-7, people are still going to be "properly pissed", and of course that's still no bowl. Much like people were "properly pissed" last year. Heck, I'm not so sure we will beat Troy and Bowling Green at this point either.

You don't make coaching changes in September anyway unless you are Texas apparently- so how we feel as a fan base in September is moot.

Again, you grossly underestimate how critical State fans are of their team- which is shocking considering the tone of sixpackspeak. See last week- we had plenty of people complaining about the o-line after we destroyed Alcorn. If there is any fanbase that is rational and can find something wrong with their team, it's MSU fans.

The fact that our fans were pissed all off season after an eight win season pretty much proves you totally wrong about our fans.

And heaven forbid we should have winning seasons every year and actually build our program over the long term and finally move out of the basement of the SEC. But oh no- Ole Miss fans might make fun of our easy schedule! No we should be what we "deserve". That's the same thinking that has held us back since the 1950's. But some fans like you apparently never learn.

[Todd4State]

Sorry, but since I figure Scott has balls the size of Mullen and we won't be getting rid of him any time soon.....I would rather be 2-1 and staring at a bowl game.

And if we keep winning, then we have the dreaded possibility of losing Dan because he is attractive to another school.** There is more than one way to get rid of a coach- and there's certainly a way to do it without firing him. But, of course Dan has to actually win to do it that way.

[cheewgumm]

You build by winning menaingful games.

This is where we differ. And fans were not pissed like they are now after our 8 win season last year. I don't remember anyone callinf for Dan's job.

I dont care what others think about our schedule. But your not good jsut becasue you beat Alcorn by 70. And you can beat them and Jackson State from now until 2050 and you wont be any better. You can win 7 and the coach can keep his job and you can pretend you are building your program. Unless you call winning 7 games by scheduling horrbile teams that you outmatch as building, then you're really not building anything ecept for a crap shack with no foundation.



Honestly, I'm not so sure that we would win six had we not played Oklahoma State. Yes, we might start out 3-1 but if we finish 5-7, people are still going to be "properly pissed", and of course that's still no bowl. Much like people were "properly pissed" last year. Heck, I'm not so sure we will beat Troy and Bowling Green at this point either.

You don't make coaching changes in September anyway unless you are Texas apparently- so how we feel as a fan base in September is moot.

Again, you grossly underestimate how critical State fans are of their team- which is shocking considering the tone of sixpackspeak. See last week- we had plenty of people complaining about the o-line after we destroyed Alcorn. If there is any fanbase that is rational and can find something wrong with their team, it's MSU fans.

The fact that our fans were pissed all off season after an eight win season pretty much proves you totally wrong about our fans.

And heaven forbid we should have winning seasons every year and actually build our program over the long term and finally move out of the basement of the SEC. But oh no- Ole Miss fans might make fun of our easy schedule! No we should be what we "deserve". That's the same thinking that has held us back since the 1950's. But some fans like you apparently never learn.

[Todd4State]

Ok, well we know where and who we are then. I guess clarity is better than agreement.

We can know where and who we are and still go to a bowl and progress the program. All of this "getting what we REALLY deserve" stuff is retarded. Boise State doesn't even do what you are suggesting.

Contrary to popular belief and past history, we CAN fire Dan after a bowl season. Especially since we have raised our expectations as a program especially with regards to history. It can happen here and it has happened at other places as well. Head coaches have to win and they also maybe more importantly have to keep the big boosters happy. And who you beat is a very big part of that.

[cheewgumm]

I give up.

Don't worry though after that uproar, you'll get your way. I'm sure Stricklin will NEVER schedule a decent team again. If he did he'd be a fool, if our fans actually want to play crappy teams.

Hell, when Jackie was here we played Texas, Ok State, not sure how else...I'd have to look back. I'd argue our program was more "built" then than it is now. Seemed to work for him.

[Todd4State]

You build by winning menaingful games.

This is where we differ. And fans were not pissed like they are now after our 8 win season last year. I don't remember anyone callinf for Dan's job.

I dont care what others think about our schedule. But your not good jsut becasue you beat Alcorn by 70. And you can beat them and Jackson State from now until 2050 and you wont be any better. You can win 7 and the coach can keep his job and you can pretend you are building your program. Unless you call winning 7 games by scheduling horrbile teams that you outmatch as building, then you're really not building anything ecept for a crap shack with no foundation.


Are Ole Miss, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Arkansas, and then whomever we play in the East not significant games? That's why we don't have to schedule Oklahoma State- there are ample opportunities because of the conference that we are in. Just because Dan doesn't win those games- that doesn't mean make the schedule more difficult. Our fans "know what we are" and are well aware of what Dan has and hasn't done despite the schedule- remember the "well, Dan hasn't beat anyone in the West other than Ole Miss" crap on sixpack for like two years?

In college football, national prominence is judged by bowls and championships. Simply put the more bowls you go to, the better your national perception and prestige is. It's really not that hard of a concept. ESPN can barely keep us and Michigan State straight- you think they actually know what our schedule has looked like over the past year- or even last week? All anyone looks at is the bottom line. If we go consistently over a long period of time- as I have consistently said ten years- we will get better and better. And we'll also be able to get better coaches eventually as well because again- we've increased our national prestige. And newsflash- we don't have any National prestige because we've been scheduling people like Oklahoma State for years and years and getting our team beat up and making it more difficult for them unnecessarily.

The problem you have is you think we can't make any coaching changes if we keep going to bowls- and that is simply not true.

What do you mean no one was talking about firing Dan? People have been talking about Hud for how long now? Have you missed the "how long before Dan is on the hot seat threads?" You're acting like everyone thinks that Dan is awesome because he has gone to bowls and somehow can't see his faults.

[CadaverDawg]

You build by winning menaingful games.

This is where we differ. And fans were not pissed like they are now after our 8 win season last year. I don't remember anyone callinf for Dan's job.

I dont care what others think about our schedule. But your not good jsut becasue you beat Alcorn by 70. And you can beat them and Jackson State from now until 2050 and you wont be any better. You can win 7 and the coach can keep his job and you can pretend you are building your program. Unless you call winning 7 games by scheduling horrbile teams that you outmatch as building, then you're really not building anything ecept for a crap shack with no foundation.

I think it is hilarious that you talk about "beating meaningful teams if you want to build your program long term", and then use Jackie's wins as examples....and then you look at what we had after Jackie, and it was CROOM! That long term build didn't last very long.

Teams like Virginia Tech and Oregon helped build their programs by scheduling a little tougher but that's because they played in weaker conferences so their conference alone wasnt getting it done. OURS CAN! We could have scheduled South Alabama instead of OSU...all but guaranteed a bowl game....AND gained prestige by beating teams like Auburn, LSU, Bama, Sourh Carolina, Arkansas, A&M, and Ole Miss. The only reason people think tougher OOC games would help is bc we're not beating the teams I just listed. So what makes you think we'll beat an OSU?? And how does losing to them help?? It just makes no sense.

You can win big games EVERY year when you play a SEC schedule. So don't be stupid and schedule additional tough games when you already are guaranteed 6-8 per year. Meanwhile Oregon plays 2 tough Pac12 teams and a weak Tennessee and people like you think they stepped up and played a tough schedule...but that's not the reality of the situation.

[Todd4State]

I give up.

Don't worry though after that uproar, you'll get your way. I'm sure Stricklin will NEVER schedule a decent team again. If he did he'd be a fool, if our fans actually want to play crappy teams.

Hell, when Jackie was here we played Texas, Ok State, not sure how else...I'd have to look back. I'd argue our program was more "built" then than it is now. Seemed to work for him.

Jackie's problem a lot of the times was he would actually lose to people like Louisiana-Monroe and Memphis. Those two Texas teams we beat- one went 5-6 and the other went 6-5. They had a big "name"- but they really weren't that good. Oklahoma State finished 5-6 both years we played them- and they beat us once. We also beat a 7-4 Baylor team that didn't go to a bowl. In other words, Jackie's OOC schedule at that time wasn't really all that difficult either. We just had a little bit better fortune- similar to Ole Miss playing Texas tonight. We also went 0-2 against Oregon and 1-1 against BYU- the BYU team we beat went 6-6.

That's a major risk you take when you schedule a big name team- you might be getting Texas 2005, or you might be getting Texas 2013. There's no way to know. So, a lot of times you either end up facing someone that is a lot better than you think they were going to be and you have another killer game on the schedule or you end up playing a team that isn't as good as you thought they might be, and you basically accomplish the same net result as playing Troy and beating them. So, you might as well schedule Troy and save yourself the headache and the money.

Everyone is dealing with that- that's why you've seen all of these pre-season kickoff classics come into existence in recent years.

[Todd4State]

I think it is hilarious that you talk about "beating meaningful teams if you want to build your program long term", and then use Jackie's wins as examples....and then you look at what we had after Jackie, and it was CROOM! That long term build didn't last very long.

Teams like Virginia Tech and Oregon helped build their programs by scheduling a little tougher but that's because they played in weaker conferences so their conference alone wasnt getting it done. OURS CAN! We could have scheduled South Alabama instead of OSU...all but guaranteed a bowl game....AND gained prestige by beating teams like Auburn, LSU, Bama, Sourh Carolina, Arkansas, A&M, and Ole Miss. The only reason people think tougher OOC games would help is bc we're not beating the teams I just listed. So what makes you think we'll beat an OSU?? And how does losing to them help?? It just makes no sense.

You can win big games EVERY year when you play a SEC schedule. So don't be stupid and schedule additional tough games when you already are guaranteed 6-8 per year. Meanwhile Oregon plays 2 tough Pac12 teams and a weak Tennessee and people like you think they stepped up and played a tough schedule...but that's not the reality of the situation.

But...but...but...if we go to a bowl we'll have to keep Dan and our fans will think we're good!

This coming off of the most unhappy 8 win season ever.

I've always felt like the playing tougher opponents will help you against other tougher opponents was coachspeak at least to a degree. When you play in the SEC, unless you are playing just all freshmen- it probably makes even less of a difference.

[Dawgface]

I'd hate to see what we'd look like without all the extra bowl practices

LOL, good point.

[Political Hack]

y'all act like a new coach will land us in the national championship hunt. That will NEVER happen under this administration. Period. The ninja could've made it happen with Mullen. Strick can't or won't, I can't tell the difference and I'm not sure it matters.

Bowl games are our goal. do everything to ensure that, including playing Starkville academy if we have to.