To Me The A&M Game Is Moorhead's Last Chance This Year to Get Me On Board

[ShotgunDawg]

So... as we've kind of established here: If Moorhead beats Arkansas, AC, & Ole Miss, he'll keep his job & I agree with that. MSU has never fired a coach that made a bowl game & I'm OK with that. There is a thin line between being aggressive & being stupid & I think firing a bowl coach at MSU would likely cross that line.

HOWEVER, with that being said, just beating Arkansas & Ole Miss doesn't do much to inspire hope & confidence in the future IMO. Just means that we beat two bad teams.

THEREFORE, the A&M game is really Moorhead's last chance this year to get me on board & inspire some sort of hope & belief that he COULD be the right man to lead this program going forward.

If his team shows up completely flat & out of sorts for the 3rd straight road game, when surely the coaches have been pressing the team on that all week, I'm just going to have to believe that JoMo is not capable of getting a team prepared to play on the road.

If Joe can't get his team to show the same amount of effort they played with against LSU for two straight weeks, then I'm just going to have to believe that he lacks the ability to consistently get his team to put forth the bare minimum amount of effort.

All this said, Joe's job IMO is at stake vs Ark & OM, but, if we really want to believe his firing is anything other than inevitable rather it comes in 2020 or 2021, then he needs to show that he is capable of getting his team ready to play a road game.

Change up the schedule or something. I thought Jimbo Fisher's idea of arriving at the road team's hotel on Thursday night instead of Friday was a great idea. Maybe switch things up because what we're doing doesn't work.

Big weekend Joe. Show me something

[StateDawg44]

So you gonna leave if he loses?

[ShotgunDawg]

So you gonna leave if he loses?

No, but I'll just accept his firing is a foregone conclusion & pretty much lose any hope that he can turn this around

[Churchill]

If Moorhead wins Arky, AC and OM...and he stays the only way to make him successful at MSU is to take the route LSU has gone with O. We'll have to surround his no-coaching ass with the very best staff we can afford and I ain't talking cheap. I don't like patching things together and would rather have a strong HC but this is what it is...we made a bad hire and might have to live with it for a while.

[TrapGame]

He can't just win A&M and then shit the bed with Arkansas and OM. That's too Croom.

[ShotgunDawg]

He can't just win A&M and then shit the bed with Arkansas and OM. That's too Croom.

I agree, but just beating Ark & OM, while it may allow him to keep his job, it won't exactly inspire me to buy season tickets next year.

I need to see progress. Beating OM & Ark isn't progress. It's just the avoidance of disaster. Beating A&M at A&M would be promising.

[ShotgunDawg]

I mean, 17.

I find a new way for this guy to get me on board every week it seems & he continually fails. At some point, he has to step the hell up & get this ship going

[Saltydog]

Don't get your hopes up. aTm likely kicks our ass in College Station.

[Duckdog]

I mean, 17.

I find a new way for this guy to get me on board every week it seems & he continually fails. At some point, he has to step the hell up & get this ship going
Im the same. It's aight bro we just want MSU to win.

[Duckdog]

Don't get your hopes up. aTm likely kicks our ass in College Station.

But on paper they absolutely shouldn't. What if we had Jimbo as a head coach paying all that money and had a team like that on the field??? When will aggie start demanding heads to be loped off??????

[Pipedream]

I mean, 17.

I find a new way for this guy to get me on board every week it seems & he continually fails. At some point, he has to step the hell up & get this ship going

Why is that? He's done absolutely nothing tangibly to inspire confidence. His offense sucks. He makes excuses or makes a fool out of himself in his press gatherings. He's oversold as a recruiter. He's impassionate and his teams are undisciplined. He just hasn't done anything that you can put your hands on that is providing hope. I didn't want to dislike the guy as our coach, but he's made it quite easy for people to do so.

[ShotgunDawg]

Why is that? He's done absolutely nothing tangibly to inspire confidence. His offense sucks. He makes excuses or makes a fool out of himself in his press gatherings. He's oversold as a recruiter. He's impassionate and his teams are undisciplined. He just hasn't done anything that you can put your hands on that is providing hope. I didn't want to dislike the guy as our coach, but he's made it quite easy for people to do so.

Oh, I totally agree.

However, in my heart of hearts, I'm cheering for him because I believe it's much better for our program for him to be a good coach than to have to fire him & hire someone new

[ScoobaDawg]

No, but I'll just accept his firing is a foregone conclusion & pretty much lose any hope that he can turn this around


I'm sorry but when I see your thread title.. I don't believe you. You have sworn off Joe so many times..
Just be done with him and stick with it already.

[Pipedream]

Oh, I totally agree.

However, in my heart of hearts, I'm cheering for him because I believe it's much better for our program for him to be a good coach than to have to fire him & hire someone new

If I'm being totally honest, for the long term success/health of the program, we need a new coach. However that happens, I don't really care. There is a crapshoot nature to hiring football coaches. We crapped out on this one. Sooner we get some new dice, sooner we'll have another opportunity to win. Does going 6-6 really help us at all? We'll have no real momentum and everyone that can make an honest assessment of Moorhead will know we didn't beat a single good football team this season. Hell, we could have gone 8-4 and not beaten a single good football team this season, but at least you'd feel like he can win the games he's supposed to.

[Liverpooldawg]

We ain't beating A&M so by by.

[StateDawg44]

No, but I'll just accept his firing is a foregone conclusion & pretty much lose any hope that he can turn this around

Just poking at you.

I won't use A&M as my metric but his coaching performance in all of the remaining games will. He doesn't have much margin for error though.

A&M was a question mark all of the offseason. He's already got two strikes this season. If his 3rd comes to AR, AC, or OM it will be hard for him to have momentum from the fans going into 2020.

[Commercecomet24]

I hope we win just so we'll have something else to talk about on the board other than the many ways joe sucks lol

[TrapGame]

I'm sorry but when I see your thread title.. I don't believe you. You have sworn off Joe so many times..
Just be done with him and stick with it already.

Yeah, when I see Gun giving Joe another-another chance I think of:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQXmVOZtWyVDS2RMxWn0RZxHvfkOtHiw o-hd3cgHIQ8TEYQGC5E&s

[HancockCountyDog]

I honestly believe beating Arkansas and the bears will allow him to keep his job. I don't even think it will be a close call. Everyone wanted Mullen fired going into the egg bowl in 2013 (maybe not everyone, but a lot of people) beating the bears will alleviate a lot of pressure on him.

Throw in an above average freshman QB and that can be sold to the fan base.

Its not the season any of us wanted, but we are not firing a coach that beats the bears and goes to a bowl. It is not happening.

[ShotgunDawg]

I honestly believe beating Arkansas and the bears will allow him to keep his job. I don't even think it will be a close call. Everyone wanted Mullen fired going into the egg bowl in 2013 (maybe not everyone, but a lot of people) beating the bears will alleviate a lot of pressure on him.

Throw in an above average freshman QB and that can be sold to the fan base.

Its not the season any of us wanted, but we are not firing a coach that beats the bears and goes to a bowl. It is not happening.

I think everyone agrees that he'll keep his job by beating OM & Ark. I don't think that's up for debate.

However, if he only beats Ark & OM, even though he'll keep his job, I don't think there will be much momentum going into 2020

[Commercecomet24]

Yeah, when I see Gun giving Joe another-another chance I think of:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQXmVOZtWyVDS2RMxWn0RZxHvfkOtHiw o-hd3cgHIQ8TEYQGC5E&s

Dude that's hilarious!

[HancockCountyDog]

I think everyone agrees that he'll keep his job by beating OM & Ark. I don't think that's up for debate.

However, if he only beats Ark & OM, even though he'll keep his job, I don't think there will be much momentum going into 2020

A lot of that will depend on recruiting. A lot of momentum can be gained through recruiting. I don't follow it as closely as I used to, but I'm not seeing a highly rated in state class this year so I'm not sure that is possible.

Also - beating the shit out of the bears can really help momentum, assuming Shrader plays well.

[ShotgunDawg]

A lot of that will depend on recruiting. A lot of momentum can be gained through recruiting. I don't follow it as closely as I used to, but I'm not seeing a highly rated in state class this year so I'm not sure that is possible.

Also - beating the shit out of the bears can really help momentum, assuming Shrader plays well.

Just like beating the shit out of them did last year*

[biggun]

So has anyone else noticed how bad we play on the road??? We are not beating A&M in College Station. Period.

[HancockCountyDog]

Just like beating the shit out of them did last year*

People were happy after the egg bowl - I know I was. Now he squandered a lot of that good will by losing to Iowa, but after the egg bowl last year, I don't think anyone was beating the drum to fire him. If they were, it was a small one.

[Todd4State]

For me it’s over. Poor discipline doesn’t translate well into turning it around. Even if we go 6-6.

[DogsofAnarchy]

I think Ark is the only game we could win in those 3.

[Scared_Hitless]

Sadly at the weekly PC when Joe said we have improved as a passing team thus the offense was working, I almost spit my drink out. Yes passing has improved slightly by like 10 yards per game. Everything else is in the shitter. Passing had nowhere to go but up. I enjoy watching Garret play so I will be watching and cheering for the Dogs as always, but damn at some point we need to go drop 40 on somebody to inspire any type of confidence this is ever going to work.

To restore any faith we need to win Saturday. Then thump Ark and OM by the tune of 40ish to 20ish. And play Bama with some fight.

[Dawg2003]

I just don't see how we can score more than 2 TDs, and that won't be enough.

[ShotgunDawg]

I just don't see how we can score more than 2 TDs, and that won't be enough.

Maybe, I could see us scoring 24 on A&M. We'd have to win like a 24-17 or 24-21 type game.

[Really Clark?]

Sadly at the weekly PC when Joe said we have improved as a passing team thus the offense was working, I almost spit my drink out. Yes passing has improved slightly by like 10 yards per game. Everything else is in the shitter. Passing had nowhere to go but up. I enjoy watching Garret play so I will be watching and cheering for the Dogs as always, but damn at some point we need to go drop 40 on somebody to inspire any type of confidence this is ever going to work.

To restore any faith we need to win Saturday. Then thump Ark and OM by the tune of 40ish to 20ish. And play Bama with some fight.

13th in the league passing last year and we have jumped all the way to 13th in the league this year ahead of Kentucky who is having play a WR at QB. Yeah!! We stayed the same!! You're right yardage has come up this year

[Dawgfan77]

Maybe, I could see us scoring 24 on A&M. We'd have to win like a 24-17 or 24-21 type game.

The issue I see is that bee will give up a ST play and a drive killing penalty.

[Tbonewannabe]

People were happy after the egg bowl - I know I was. Now he squandered a lot of that good will by losing to Iowa, but after the egg bowl last year, I don't think anyone was beating the drum to fire him. If they were, it was a small one.

I 100% agree with this. I think most people were behind him after beating UM and the fire he showed after the game. Most of that was lost when we laid an egg in the Outback bowl and let a great defensive effort turn into a L. We win that game and we also finish in the top 15 which hasn't happened that often. Instead we looked extremely flat although not as bad as UT. I think a lot of people got a bad taste from just how unprepared we looked after a month off.

[Tbonewannabe]

13th in the league passing last year and we have jumped all the way to 13th in the league this year ahead of Kentucky who is having play a WR at QB. Yeah!! We stayed the same!! You're right yardage has come up this year

We also traded a UK from last year with a top 25 defense to top 53 this year. We also traded UF for a dumpster fire UT. This is a really bad trend if you take everything into consideration.

[Tbonewannabe]

Sadly at the weekly PC when Joe said we have improved as a passing team thus the offense was working, I almost spit my drink out. Yes passing has improved slightly by like 10 yards per game. Everything else is in the shitter. Passing had nowhere to go but up. I enjoy watching Garret play so I will be watching and cheering for the Dogs as always, but damn at some point we need to go drop 40 on somebody to inspire any type of confidence this is ever going to work.

To restore any faith we need to win Saturday. Then thump Ark and OM by the tune of 40ish to 20ish. And play Bama with some fight. And win a bowl game.

This is where I am at. Even with these things happening, I will just be waiting next year for the other shoe to drop. It would take a good offense next year for me to actually be back on the wagon with Moorhead.

[Really Clark?]

We also traded a UK from last year with a top 25 defense to top 53 this year. We also traded UF for a dumpster fire UT. This is a really bad trend if you take everything into consideration.

And Auburn Pass Def was 58th last year...68th this season. LSU Pass D was 38th last year...70th this season. USM is 113th vs the pass this season. To be fair though KST has jumped all the way to 5th this year from 91st last year.

[Tbonewannabe]

And Auburn Pass Def was 58th last year...68th this season. LSU Pass D was 38th last year...70th this season. USM is 113th vs the pass this season. To be fair though KST has jumped all the way to 5th this year from 91st last year.

And we had most of those at home also this year. There is just not any real progress being made when you take all of the factors into consideration. You can look at some specific stats that have improved but overall the offense just isn't improving like we were lead to assume.

[Percho]

If I'm being totally honest, for the long term success/health of the program, we need a new coach. However that happens, I don't really care. There is a crapshoot nature to hiring football coaches. We crapped out on this one. Sooner we get some new dice, sooner we'll have another opportunity to win. Does going 6-6 really help us at all? We'll have no real momentum and everyone that can make an honest assessment of Moorhead will know we didn't beat a single good football team this season. Hell, we could have gone 8-4 and not beaten a single good football team this season, but at least you'd feel like he can win the games he's supposed to.

How will you feel about JM if we do go 8-4?

That is still possible, isn't it?

How will you feel?

[shoeless joe]

That ship has sailed

[MadDawg]

Oh, I totally agree.

However, in my heart of hearts, I'm cheering for him because I believe it's much better for our program for him to be a good coach than to have to fire him & hire someone new

Could not agree more.

[Jack Lambert]

I swear we were having the same discussion about another coach in in 2013 when we barely beat Bowling Green, KY, got our back ends handed to us by LSU and again in 2016 when we lost to S Alabama and BYU.

[Commercecomet24]

Oh, I totally agree.

However, in my heart of hearts, I'm cheering for him because I believe it's much better for our program for him to be a good coach than to have to fire him & hire someone new

Maybe your best post ever. I'm at this exact point myself. That hope meter is running on empty though

[Commercecomet24]

I swear we were having the same discussion about another coach in in 2013 when we barely beat Bowling Green, KY, got our back ends handed to us by LSU and again in 2016 when we lost to S Alabama and BYU.

I know there were posts on here in 2013 about halfway through the season about former players and boosters wanting dan out and were going to the ad and pres about it, then Dak happened .

[Todd4State]

How will you feel about JM if we do go 8-4?

That is still possible, isn't it?

How will you feel?

I would feel like I did about Jackie in 1996. I would understand keeping him but I would be leery. He would still need to make changes at S&C and special teams.

[Tbonewannabe]

I swear we were having the same discussion about another coach in in 2013 when we barely beat Bowling Green, KY, got our back ends handed to us by LSU and again in 2016 when we lost to S Alabama and BYU.

That team seemed to compete with almost everyone though. Lost 21-3 to a good Ok St team with Russell going down I believe. Lost at AU 24-20, home vs LSU 59-26 (OBJ and Landry at WR), at #4 USCe (34-16) Dak's mom passed away, at #18 A&M (Manziel enough said) 51-41, home vs Bama (20-7).

I think if this team competed against our teams like that then we probably aren't as upset. None of those teams are UT level bad either.

[Jack Lambert]

That team seemed to compete with almost everyone though. Lost 21-3 to a good Ok St team with Russell going down I believe. Lost at AU 24-20, home vs LSU 59-26 (OBJ and Landry at WR), at #4 USCe (34-16) Dak's mom passed away, at #18 A&M (Manziel enough said) 51-41, home vs Bama (20-7).

I think if this team competed against our teams like that then we probably aren't as upset. None of those teams are UT level bad either.

I am not disagreeing but we saw the same stuff on the boards that year. The hate was the same for Mullen. I remember it and I remembering having the same feeling of not wanting to come onto the boards.

[R2Dawg]

So... as we've kind of established here: If Moorhead beats Arkansas, AC, & Ole Miss, he'll keep his job & I agree with that. MSU has never fired a coach that made a bowl game & I'm OK with that. There is a thin line between being aggressive & being stupid & I think firing a bowl coach at MSU would likely cross that line.

HOWEVER, with that being said, just beating Arkansas & Ole Miss doesn't do much to inspire hope & confidence in the future IMO. Just means that we beat two bad teams.

THEREFORE, the A&M game is really Moorhead's last chance this year to get me on board & inspire some sort of hope & belief that he COULD be the right man to lead this program going forward.

If his team shows up completely flat & out of sorts for the 3rd straight road game, when surely the coaches have been pressing the team on that all week, I'm just going to have to believe that JoMo is not capable of getting a team prepared to play on the road.

If Joe can't get his team to show the same amount of effort they played with against LSU for two straight weeks, then I'm just going to have to believe that he lacks the ability to consistently get his team to put forth the bare minimum amount of effort.

All this said, Joe's job IMO is at stake vs Ark & OM, but, if we really want to believe his firing is anything other than inevitable rather it comes in 2020 or 2021, then he needs to show that he is capable of getting his team ready to play a road game.

Change up the schedule or something. I thought Jimbo Fisher's idea of arriving at the road team's hotel on Thursday night instead of Friday was a great idea. Maybe switch things up because what we're doing doesn't work.

Big weekend Joe. Show me something


I agree with this. 6-6 and he stays as he should but still doesn't mean we are clear of any issues.

[PMDawg]

Yeah, when I see Gun giving Joe another-another chance I think of:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQXmVOZtWyVDS2RMxWn0RZxHvfkOtHiw o-hd3cgHIQ8TEYQGC5E&s

I mean, isn't this the VAST majority of State fans every fall Saturday for the entirety of their adult lives? :)

[TrapGame]

I mean, isn't this the VAST majority of State fans every fall Saturday for the entirety of their adult lives? :)

Yep. I'll dog cuss Joe like sailor if he's here next year. But by the time August rolls around I'll thoroughly convince myself we'll go 8-4 and the offense will be MUCH improved.

It's tough up here on Broke Dawg Mountain.

[NCDawg]

I would feel like I did about Jackie in 1996. I would understand keeping him but I would be leery. He would still need to make changes at S&C and special teams.

Joe Lee Dunn saved Sherrill's job after his 1-7 SEC record.

[Todd4State]

Joe Lee Dunn saved Sherrill's job after his 1-7 SEC record.

Yep. And we’ll see if Garrett Shrader can save Joe. And maybe Shoop to an extent.

[Commercecomet24]

Yep. I'll dog cuss Joe like sailor if he's here next year. But by the time August rolls around I'll thoroughly convince myself we'll go 8-4 and the offense will be MUCH improved.

It's tough up here on Broke Dawg Mountain.

You on a roll today. They're a lot of us right there with you on Broke Dawg Mountain.

[dawgday166]

I mean, 17.

I find a new way for this guy to get me on board every week it seems & he continually fails. At some point, he has to step the hell up & get this ship going

He can win out and I won't be back on board. He'd have to prove to me next year that he can see the improvements we need to make in advance, whether by watching practice or film, and adjust before the fan base gets pissed off.

So far he only has had a sense of urgency when we're pissed. We've had pathetic performances and nothing changes till we get pissed. Trust is broken and it'll take some work to win me back.

[Maroonthirteen]

I mean, isn't this the VAST majority of State fans every fall Saturday for the entirety of their adult lives? :)

Moms side of the family is from Alabama. Dad went to State. Why God.... why did I choose MSU? Most Saturdays since 2014.

[99jc]

What's amazing to me is how much optimisim some of you can work yourself up to between Saturdays. After the Texas A&M beat down this weekend you all will go into full meltdown mode again! Remember that little white speck on top of a pile of chicken shit is still chicken shit! Moorhead is what he is a nice guy that isnt worth a damn as a head coach end of story!

[CoachT14]

I swear we were having the same discussion about another coach in in 2013 when we barely beat Bowling Green, KY, got our back ends handed to us by LSU and again in 2016 when we lost to S Alabama and BYU.

I completely understand where you are coming from in saying this. But there's a several glaring differences between those seasons and the one we currently are in.

1. Mullen had already built up a bunch of good will with the fan base because of success, Moorhead has not.
2. Mullen had pretty much exceeded expectations every year up until the bowl game in '12 and '13 itself, so far Moorhead hasn't even come close to meeting expectations. On average 8-5 is a good year for us, but anyone who thinks that team should've had less than 10 wins barring extenuating circumstances is fooling themselves. It's two straight years of disappointment no matter how some people here or even Moorhead try to spin it. For all the crap Mullen did when he was always looking for jobs, he never disappointed two years in a row.

Now Moorhead can help himself with beating A&M this weekend, but his track record doesn't bode well for that coming to fruition. I would easily walk back a hair if he can actually show consistency in effort for two weeks in a row, but I'm not betting on it.

[timotheus]

When will the 2 weeks of consistency in effort begin? I am expecting the A&M game to sort of resemble the UT game in Knoxville. The main difference being Schrader will start. I want to see if Joe can actually exploit the weakness of the Defense and how our O line performs will go a long way in determining this.