MSU plays 5 teams ranked in the current top 12

[Dawg61]

this year. #1 Bama, #6 LSU, #10 aTm, #11 OSU, #12 USC. and throw in #21 UOM. Bet that 17tard in the Pac12 doesn't rip on our schedule this year. Will we finish with the #1 most difficult schedule this year?

[CadaverDawg]

We'll never hear about it if we do. But you can bet your ass if we had the weakest schedule in the league it would be everywhere you look

[Political Hack]

again, this is why Strick should never have added Okie State. It's the dumbest move since Harry and Lloyd drove to Aspen to return a brief case.

[CadaverDawg]

again, this is why Strick should never have added Okie State. It's the dumbest move since Harry and Lloyd drove to Aspen to return a brief case.

Or passing up on the Hawaiin Tropics bus. Truly dumb move

[MetEdDawg]

I still think we beat OM, but those other 4, we will win one of those. Our defense is finally close to that elite level in terms of talent, and with Dak at the helm of the offense, we have that dual threat that defenses have to scheme for in multiple ways. I think our defense has one really solid game against a big time team and our offense does enough to win it.

People might start to notice the toughness of our schedule more if we actually make ourselves relevant enough to talk about. Win a big game against a team like LSU or TAMU and they will.

[cheewgumm]

Disagree...but not going to argue it for another week. Regardless, if we ahd plaed UAB first...we would ahve won, and we'd be 2-1. Also, there would not have been an uproar about our horrible playcalling, like therre was. Hence, no pressure on the coach, no need to change.

The Ok State game was good, and I'm so happy it happened. Mullen actually ahd a quote saying something like "maybe I was a little too tight" withe the playcalling or something like that.

I contend it never gets to that point without fan uproar, which doesnt happen if we beat UAB, Alconr and barely lose to Auburn.

We needed the F up in the Ok State to show us. I'm glad it happened. I wish it could happen every year.

[CadaverDawg]

Disagree...but not going to argue it for another week. Regardless, if we ahd plaed UAB first...we would ahve won, and we'd be 2-1. Also, there would not have been an uproar about our horrible playcalling, like therre was. Hence, no pressure on the coach, no need to change.

The Ok State game was good, and I'm so happy it happened. Mullen actually ahd a quote saying something like "maybe I was a little too tight" withe the playcalling or something like that.

I contend it never gets to that point without fan uproar, which doesnt happen if we beat UAB, Alconr and barely lose to Auburn.

We needed the F up in the Ok State to show us. I'm glad it happened. I wish it could happen every year.

If we have to get our ass whipped by a good OOC opponent to get our coach's head out of his ass every year...we have a coaching problem AND a scheduling problem.

[cheewgumm]

Well, then thats what we have.

Look to last years 7-0 as a prime example.

[DownwardDawg]

Well, then thats what we have.

Look to last years 7-0 as a prime example.

Give me a shitastic 7-0 every year to start the season. I'm pretty ok with that.

[cheewgumm]

I'm not saying we have to scehdule Oregon or some other powerhouse every year...and I agree we already have a tough schedule. I'm not arguing we need a tougher schedule, because our schedule is not tough enough.

I'm saying


1) Last year was an abomination, and it's caused by playing a bunch of crappy teams early and thinking your are doing something your not. so, when you finally play someone your il-prepared and get beat over and over and over again.
2) You need to play good teams so you cant scehdule 7 wins and keep a coach that you need to get rid of. Everyone knows what I mean though most don't agree.
3) Pressure on a coach is good. It just is. They need to feel like the fanbase cares greatly about winning and feel pressure to make changes that help.
4) Playing tougher teams prepares you to play tougher teams. Unless football is the only thing in life that this doesn't apply then challenging yourself is good.

Cadaver, I think your argument is right in that if the world is a perfect place...your coaches recognize the changes needed and make them when they see them against Alcorn, but the reality is that doesn't happen. Hell, Mullen has been here for 5 years and we are still bitching about playcalling. It just doesn't happen that way, or at least it doesn;t at State that I have seen. We keep a coach too long...that is proven. and I'm not saying get rid of Mullen, just that if we need to(and we will one day), we do.



Well, then thats what we have.

Look to last years 7-0 as a prime example.

[cheewgumm]

and the accompanying 0-5 finish? I'm not.

[Coach34]

and the accompanying 0-5 finish? I'm not.

we went 1-4

[cheewgumm]

Oh yeah...still. And look, I know the argument is it was A&M, Bama, LSU, etc...I get it.

I still believe it helps.


we went 1-4

[Coach34]

If you could guarantee me 8-4 the next 5 years- I'd take it in a heartbeat. We arent going to do any better when you have 5 SEC teams in the top 12 every year

[Dawg61]

If you could guarantee me 8-4 the next 5 years- I'd take it in a heartbeat. We arent going to do any better when you have 5 SEC teams in the top 12 every year

It's not impossible just unlikely. We were oh so close to having Cam Newton. It takes an elite athlete for MSU to be beating top 12 teams most likely. With better accuracy and some added speed/quickness I think Dak has the potential to be exactly the elite athlete that would make the difference between 8-4 and 10-2. Elijah Staley supposedly ain't too shabby either. We need a STUD at WR. It's been 15 years since Eric Moulds. Can we get a great WR soon please to compliment Dak.

[Todd4State]

I'm not saying we have to scehdule Oregon or some other powerhouse every year...and I agree we already have a tough schedule. I'm not arguing we need a tougher schedule, because our schedule is not tough enough.

I'm saying


1) Last year was an abomination, and it's caused by playing a bunch of crappy teams early and thinking your are doing something your not. so, when you finally play someone your il-prepared and get beat over and over and over again.
2) You need to play good teams so you cant scehdule 7 wins and keep a coach that you need to get rid of. Everyone knows what I mean though most don't agree.
3) Pressure on a coach is good. It just is. They need to feel like the fanbase cares greatly about winning and feel pressure to make changes that help.
4) Playing tougher teams prepares you to play tougher teams. Unless football is the only thing in life that this doesn't apply then challenging yourself is good.

Cadaver, I think your argument is right in that if the world is a perfect place...your coaches recognize the changes needed and make them when they see them against Alcorn, but the reality is that doesn't happen. Hell, Mullen has been here for 5 years and we are still bitching about playcalling. It just doesn't happen that way, or at least it doesn;t at State that I have seen. We keep a coach too long...that is proven. and I'm not saying get rid of Mullen, just that if we need to(and we will one day), we do.

1. Last year was an "abomination" because we had issues between the coaches on the sideline. Fortunately, because we did schedule reasonably it gave us a chance to minimize damage which could have hurt us in the long run. Compare the Troy game from this year and last year as exhibit A.

2. If a coach isn't any good, he will prove it even with a manageable schedule. Don't believe me? See Sly Croom 2004. If we're actually losing to teams like Tulane- well then that's obviously a sign that we need to make a change. It is very conceivable that a bad coach could go 4-0 in non-confernce games and then go 0-8 in the SEC. The idea that we have to play Oregon to get rid of a coach is absurd.

3. You don't think there would be any pressure on Dan after losing the Egg Bowl last year? No pressure to get a signature win? Like someone else said, if we have to schedule a tough game for our coach to get his head out of his ass...

4. Thank God we play Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Auburn, and the rest of the SEC for eight games. What playing a manageable schedule allows you to do is get players experience, and it allows you to keep players healthy. Like Tyler, Perkins, Jay Hughes, Jamerson Love, Justin Malone- ALL whom were injured playing Oklahoma State and probably would have made a huge difference for us in the Auburn game- and probably enough of one to tip the scales in or favor. Playing Oklahoma State has in that sense cost us two losses already. The playing tougher teams makes you better is only valid IF you play in a lesser league. That's why Boise State schedules the way they do. We, however do not play in a lesser league- and in fact we play in the BEST league in America. And on top of that- our players play them EVERY single year. It's not like they have never played Alabama before- excluding the freshmen and the new JUCO players. Staying healthy and resting our players while building our depth is actually what gives us the better chance of winning against LSU and Alabama rather than playing in a meaningless game against some random top 15 team that no one cares about. Heck, our team was more fired up for Alcorn than they were for Oklahoma State.

And with your last sentence, you seem to be suggesting that we are keeping Mullen for too long? We're not going to fire a coach for essentially doing everything right up until losing the Egg Bowl. That would have been worse than Ole Miss firing Cutcliffe essentially for not recruiting the way they wanted. Even with Hud waiting in the wings.

Remember me talking about how our coaches handled our non-conference games incorrectly last year? What we saw against Troy and Alcorn was how we are SUPPOSED to handle those games. Get a big lead, and then get the back-ups in, work on things and perfecting them such as the Jameon to Dak play that went for a TD. The only time we did anything remotely like that last year was Jackson State. Troy was barely a win, we only scored 28 on South Alabama, and MTSU was a blow out only after Dan nearly bent and broke Chris for his play calling. Dan is handling the OOC games MUCH better this year. I will commend him on that- and I suspect that Bowling Green will be another blow out for us with similar actions being taken.

[Todd4State]

It's not impossible just unlikely. We were oh so close to having Cam Newton. It takes an elite athlete for MSU to be beating top 12 teams most likely. With better accuracy and some added speed/quickness I think Dak has the potential to be exactly the elite athlete that would make the difference between 8-4 and 10-2. Elijah Staley supposedly ain't too shabby either. We need a STUD at WR. It's been 15 years since Eric Moulds. Can we get a great WR soon please to compliment Dak.

Exactly- we have to have a special talent probably at QB to beat those types of teams on a consistent basis. See Michael Vick when he was at Virginia Tech. Otherwise, we are a 7-9 win team as long as we don't schedule ridiculously or have a down year because of youth or injuries. And that's not too bad to be honest with you.

[cheewgumm]

I'm not syaing we are keeping Mullen too long, in fact I say specifically that I don't think that. But we kept Croom too long.

It's unrealistic to say that teams get rid of their coaches when they win 7 or 8 games normally. You can probably name an example or two where it happens, but it is not the norm. Coaches are kept all the time for too long, because they win 7.

If you are saying it takes us losing to Tulane to get rid of a coach, I'm saying its WAYYY too long at that point. We shouild know before we lost to Maine, Tulane, or UAB.

I think Dan has been under more pressure this year since losing to OK State than he was at any point last year, even after losing to Ole Miss. This is witnessed by our offense looking EXACTLY like it did last year in the first game...crappy. We lost, then what happened. UPROAR. What did it lead to? More creative playcalling agaisnt Alcorn, then Auburn. We still lost to Aubun, but more because we took our foot off the gas.

I think that we would not have had more creative playcalling if we had beaten UAB. The outrage from the fans would not have been there.





1. Last year was an "abomination" because we had issues between the coaches on the sideline. Fortunately, because we did schedule reasonably it gave us a chance to minimize damage which could have hurt us in the long run. Compare the Troy game from this year and last year as exhibit A.

2. If a coach isn't any good, he will prove it even with a manageable schedule. Don't believe me? See Sly Croom 2004. If we're actually losing to teams like Tulane- well then that's obviously a sign that we need to make a change. It is very conceivable that a bad coach could go 4-0 in non-confernce games and then go 0-8 in the SEC. The idea that we have to play Oregon to get rid of a coach is absurd.

3. You don't think there would be any pressure on Dan after losing the Egg Bowl last year? No pressure to get a signature win? Like someone else said, if we have to schedule a tough game for our coach to get his head out of his ass...

4. Thank God we play Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Auburn, and the rest of the SEC for eight games. What playing a manageable schedule allows you to do is get players experience, and it allows you to keep players healthy. Like Tyler, Perkins, Jay Hughes, Jamerson Love, Justin Malone- ALL whom were injured playing Oklahoma State and probably would have made a huge difference for us in the Auburn game- and probably enough of one to tip the scales in or favor. Playing Oklahoma State has in that sense cost us two losses already. The playing tougher teams makes you better is only valid IF you play in a lesser league. That's why Boise State schedules the way they do. We, however do not play in a lesser league- and in fact we play in the BEST league in America. And on top of that- our players play them EVERY single year. It's not like they have never played Alabama before- excluding the freshmen and the new JUCO players. Staying healthy and resting our players while building our depth is actually what gives us the better chance of winning against LSU and Alabama rather than playing in a meaningless game against some random top 15 team that no one cares about. Heck, our team was more fired up for Alcorn than they were for Oklahoma State.

And with your last sentence, you seem to be suggesting that we are keeping Mullen for too long? We're not going to fire a coach for essentially doing everything right up until losing the Egg Bowl. That would have been worse than Ole Miss firing Cutcliffe essentially for not recruiting the way they wanted. Even with Hud waiting in the wings.

Remember me talking about how our coaches handled our non-conference games incorrectly last year? What we saw against Troy and Alcorn was how we are SUPPOSED to handle those games. Get a big lead, and then get the back-ups in, work on things and perfecting them such as the Jameon to Dak play that went for a TD. The only time we did anything remotely like that last year was Jackson State. Troy was barely a win, we only scored 28 on South Alabama, and MTSU was a blow out only after Dan nearly bent and broke Chris for his play calling. Dan is handling the OOC games MUCH better this year. I will commend him on that- and I suspect that Bowling Green will be another blow out for us with similar actions being taken.

[cheewgumm]

I'm really amazed by our fans lack of belief or faith that we can be anymore than what we are. The thought that the only way we're ever gonig to do good is to get Cam Newton. Until then let's jsut bide our time and try to senak out 7 wins. If I'm an Ole Miss fan I'm celebrating the "know your role" attitude of the State fans. Talk about pessimistic.

[Coach34]

Ole Miss has no chance to win the West either- they are in the same boat as we are

They are fortunate this year to get Vandy and Missouri- they Fla's, Georgia's, and SC's will rotate back on that schedule

[DownwardDawg]

If you could guarantee me 8-4 the next 5 years- I'd take it in a heartbeat. We arent going to do any better when you have 5 SEC teams in the top 12 every year

^^^This^^^. I'll take the 1-4 finish all say everyday if it means an 8-4 regular season. If you coach MSU to 8-4 EVERY year, we'll build a statue!!!

[cheewgumm]

Ok so we have no chance aga


Ole Miss has no chance to win the West either- they are in the same boat as we are

They are fortunate this year to get Vandy and Missouri- they Fla's, Georgia's, and SC's will rotate back on that schedule

[Dawgface]

Give me a shitastic 7-0 every year to start the season. I'm pretty ok with that.

Me too. We made it to a bowl game, that is very much in doubt this year.

[curmudgeon]

Next two year we have a shot at nine wins. If we can find a way to get to 6 wins this year it would be huge.

2014
4 cupcakes in the non-conference
Vandy and Kentucky from the East.
Should be better than Auburn and Arkansas at home
Texas A&M at home without Manzeil is beatable
LSU, Bama and Ole Miss on the road are the tough ones. Slip up and win one of those and we could have a 10-win regular season.

2015
4 cupcakes in the non-conference
Should be better than Vandy and Missouri
Auburn/Arkansas will be still beatable on the road
LSU, Bama and Ole Miss at home - the Ole Miss show should be over by then.

[Todd4State]

I'm not syaing we are keeping Mullen too long, in fact I say specifically that I don't think that. But we kept Croom too long.

It's unrealistic to say that teams get rid of their coaches when they win 7 or 8 games normally. You can probably name an example or two where it happens, but it is not the norm. Coaches are kept all the time for too long, because they win 7.

If you are saying it takes us losing to Tulane to get rid of a coach, I'm saying its WAYYY too long at that point. We shouild know before we lost to Maine, Tulane, or UAB.

I think Dan has been under more pressure this year since losing to OK State than he was at any point last year, even after losing to Ole Miss. This is witnessed by our offense looking EXACTLY like it did last year in the first game...crappy. We lost, then what happened. UPROAR. What did it lead to? More creative playcalling agaisnt Alcorn, then Auburn. We still lost to Aubun, but more because we took our foot off the gas.

I think that we would not have had more creative playcalling if we had beaten UAB. The outrage from the fans would not have been there.

Coaching changes in the past are irrelevant because we had a totally different administration and viewpoint. Say what you want about Scott, but he got rid of Stansbury when he had to, and he would get rid of Dan if he had to. Byrne fired Croom one year removed from the Liberty Bowl and LT would have NEVER done that.

If we're winning 7 or 8 games a year, why would we get rid of our coach? That's theoretically 4-0 OOC and 4-4 in the SEC. We WON the West at 5-3 in the SEC. That's the EXACT same reason why us baseball people are making fun of Ole Miss for being upset at Bianco. That's one thing you aren't getting here- if we win 8 games every year, we are eventually going to amass enough talent to go beyond that. You don't do it by scheduling a bunch of top 15 OOC teams and going 5-7 every year.

As far as losing to Tulane- let's say we have a coach that has been highly successful for 7-8 years and then all of sudden he lost the fire and got burned out. And then after that he loses to Tulane after eight years of success. If you say well, we should have fired him before that- that's hindsight. That would be like me calling LT a dumbass for not firing Jackie after 2000 after the Snow Bowl. We know now that should have happened- but there was no way for ANYONE to know that we were about to embark on three straight 2-3 win seasons.

Dan is not under more pressure solely because he lost to Oklahoma State. He's under more pressure because he finished the year out 1-4- you know the year that was in your words an "abamination" with the easy schedule, then lost the Gator Bowl horribly and then lost to Oklahoma State and then Auburn. If Dan had won the Egg Bowl and Gator Bowl to finish with 10 wins, and then lost to Oklahoma State- there wouldn't be anyone saying anything.

[Todd4State]

I'm really amazed by our fans lack of belief or faith that we can be anymore than what we are. The thought that the only way we're ever gonig to do good is to get Cam Newton. Until then let's jsut bide our time and try to senak out 7 wins. If I'm an Ole Miss fan I'm celebrating the "know your role" attitude of the State fans. Talk about pessimistic.

So, you think that beating our head against the wall and going 3-9 is going to attract Cam Newton here? Or is consistently "sneaking out" 7 wins over a ten year period more likely to attract a Cam Newton? All I know is historically speaking, we did it YOUR way for years and years in the 60's and it didn't work and got us in a massive hole of mediocrity because that's what losing does.

Doing it my way will lead to a winning culture OVER TIME. And that's what it takes to move the expectations beyond the 7-9 win territory.

I'm sorry that you think winning 8-9 games is "pessimistic"- but yet you essentially want us to sabotage our coach by losing games that are impossible to win? A guy like a Cam Newton would take us to a possible 11-12 win team- because that's the type of special talent you need to beat an Alabama or a LSU. And actually there's nothing pessimistic about thinking that a Cam Newton could take us as a "good team" to an elite championship caliber type team.

[MemphisDawg]

My 2 cents real quick.

I would rather play a tougher OOC oppenent say a mid level BCS conference team and have a tough 1st game where players skill/coaches decisions actually make a difference than play 4 cupcakes.

But that all depends on what you want out of the program. If you want to be 8-4 with losses to the only 4 teams you play and 4 wins against cupcakes and 4 wins against teams you SHOULD win just to go on and lose a bowl game to finish 8-5 then hell yeah you should cheer for 4 weak ass OOC games.

But I want us to get better and compete for it all. To do that you have to make the team face adversity. Have to put our coaches in tough spots and big games. Make our coaches earn their paycheck by winning big games. And you know what if year in and year out they can't do. Well see ya we will find someone who can.

Or we can just do what most of y'all want and win 8 games but never contend for more than that and y'all can just be happy little fans.

[Political Hack]

if we can beat a legitimate OOC opponent, we can beat a legitimate SEC opponent. There's no need to schedule those games until we start beating Bama, LSU, A&M, etc... It's stupid.

[cheewgumm]

Wait... All of you here that have this argument think then that ole miss did it the " right" way all that time, then right?

If that's the the case then how
Come they are no further along than we are? They did it YOUR way and its gotten them to the same place we are.


That you think we are supposed to " build up over time" to me is
Stupid. We ' be been playing ball for 100 yrs or so... When does the building stop?


So, you think that beating our head against the wall and going 3-9 is going to attract Cam Newton here? Or is consistently "sneaking out" 7 wins over a ten year period more likely to attract a Cam Newton? All I know is historically speaking, we did it YOUR way for years and years in the 60's and it didn't work and got us in a massive hole of mediocrity because that's what losing does.

Doing it my way will lead to a winning culture OVER TIME. And that's what it takes to move the expectations beyond the 7-9 win territory.

I'm sorry that you think winning 8-9 games is "pessimistic"- but yet you essentially want us to sabotage our coach by losing games that are impossible to win? A guy like a Cam Newton would take us to a possible 11-12 win team- because that's the type of special talent you need to beat an Alabama or a LSU. And actually there's nothing pessimistic about thinking that a Cam Newton could take us as a "good team" to an elite championship caliber type team.

[Barking 13]

The point everybody seems to be missing is, OSU was a winnable game, Auburn was a winnable game. MSU is mostly competitive in every game if all the cards fall right. In all my years as a MSU fan, there is always some little component missing that keeps us from being an elite team.... but it's getting there.. This squad is probably the most complete and talented team that I have ever seen at MSU. If they can execute and cut out the mistakes (including coaching), I think they could play with anybody..

[ShotgunDawg]

I'm not saying we have to scehdule Oregon or some other powerhouse every year...and I agree we already have a tough schedule. I'm not arguing we need a tougher schedule, because our schedule is not tough enough.

I'm saying


1) Last year was an abomination, and it's caused by playing a bunch of crappy teams early and thinking your are doing something your not. so, when you finally play someone your il-prepared and get beat over and over and over again.
2) You need to play good teams so you cant scehdule 7 wins and keep a coach that you need to get rid of. Everyone knows what I mean though most don't agree.
3) Pressure on a coach is good. It just is. They need to feel like the fanbase cares greatly about winning and feel pressure to make changes that help.
4) Playing tougher teams prepares you to play tougher teams. Unless football is the only thing in life that this doesn't apply then challenging yourself is good.

Cadaver, I think your argument is right in that if the world is a perfect place...your coaches recognize the changes needed and make them when they see them against Alcorn, but the reality is that doesn't happen. Hell, Mullen has been here for 5 years and we are still bitching about playcalling. It just doesn't happen that way, or at least it doesn;t at State that I have seen. We keep a coach too long...that is proven. and I'm not saying get rid of Mullen, just that if we need to(and we will one day), we do.

Cheewgumm, You are correct that Iron sharpens Iron, and we need to play good teams early in the season so that our coaches have time to make the necessary adjustments. However, those tough games should be Auburn + one other SEC game, but it shouldn't be an out of conference game. Last years schedule problem wasn't caused by us having a crappy out of conference schedule, it was caused by Auburn and Tennessee sucking. And since those teams don't usually suck, last years schedule was more of a circumstantial problem, and not a scheduling problem that our athletic department should attempt to fix.

[Political Hack]

why don't we just drop out of the SEC and schedule 1-12 in the preseason coaches poll every year? we got half of them this year, so we're half way there already!!!

Screw it. lets schedule the Saints too. That will make us tougher and better prepared as well. maybe we should send the kids to war in Somolia. That'll get their attention.

Repeat after me: OUR SCHEDULE IS TOUGH ENOUGH BEING IN THE SEC WEST.

[T-Dogg]

According to Sagarin MSU has the 75th toughest schedule thus far. That's only going to go up. Sitting at 2-2, I don't see how MSU can have the same win percentage going through the next eight games to get to a bowl. As much as I disagree with Hack, scheduling OSU was a bad idea.