chef dixon
10-06-2013, 03:06 PM
I was watching the Washington-Stanford game last night and was really impressed with how good Washington is this year, especially after remembering that they went 0-12 just a few years ago. It got me looking into the job Steve Sarkisian has done over there. I'd say our football programs were in similar situations when each coach took over in 2009.
Since then, its been pretty similar year by year results:
09: MSU 5-7, UW 5-7
10: MSU 9-4, UW 7-6
11: MSU 7-6, UW 7-6
12: MSU 8-5, UW 7-6
Now this season we are hoping for just another bowl game, and they have seemingly made a jump to compete with the big boys in their league. They really outplayed Stanford on the road, but came up just short. I know its still early in the season but I think they go on to have a 10 win season.
I was looking at our squad and trying to see when or if we could ever make this next level rise under Mullen, or really anyone for that matter. As far as comparable differences between programs, they have recruited, on average, about 10 spots better than us since 2009, depending on what website you look at. The obvious thing to consider is that we play in the toughest division in CFB, but I think we can all agree that the PAC12 is a pretty good league this season. Judging by a lot of the knee-jerk reactions from fans after last nights loss, I can't really tell what everyone's preseason expectations were for us, but I never thought this would be a year where we had a chance to make some noise. We lost so many key players on both sides of the ball. With that said, the way we are playing this year with so many young players and a QB we should have confidence in, I think the bar is set next year for Mullen. For me, it has to be a UW-esque jump or else I'll finally be convinced the ceiling is reached with Dan.
Since then, its been pretty similar year by year results:
09: MSU 5-7, UW 5-7
10: MSU 9-4, UW 7-6
11: MSU 7-6, UW 7-6
12: MSU 8-5, UW 7-6
Now this season we are hoping for just another bowl game, and they have seemingly made a jump to compete with the big boys in their league. They really outplayed Stanford on the road, but came up just short. I know its still early in the season but I think they go on to have a 10 win season.
I was looking at our squad and trying to see when or if we could ever make this next level rise under Mullen, or really anyone for that matter. As far as comparable differences between programs, they have recruited, on average, about 10 spots better than us since 2009, depending on what website you look at. The obvious thing to consider is that we play in the toughest division in CFB, but I think we can all agree that the PAC12 is a pretty good league this season. Judging by a lot of the knee-jerk reactions from fans after last nights loss, I can't really tell what everyone's preseason expectations were for us, but I never thought this would be a year where we had a chance to make some noise. We lost so many key players on both sides of the ball. With that said, the way we are playing this year with so many young players and a QB we should have confidence in, I think the bar is set next year for Mullen. For me, it has to be a UW-esque jump or else I'll finally be convinced the ceiling is reached with Dan.