How big is the game this weekend for MSU football 2022?

[Maroonthirteen]

Is this a must win this weekend? As far as keeping the fans engaged and on board with Leach and the program in general?

I've tended to look at the season as whole. I've thought for October as long as we go 1-3, we can salvage the season at 7-5 with a win over OM. However I'm concerned if we lose Saturday and OM wins.... oh boy.... there will be much gnashing of teeth and the Arkansas game will be very poorly attended.

What say you guys?

[TrapGame]

If we lose to both A&M and Arkansas the fan base is probably done. It's gonna be really hard to get them back.

[PikeDawg15]

The next 3 games are huge for the future of the program, the fanbase, and the support for Mike Leach

He has to win 2 of these next 3.

The A&M game is important because it kick starts the 3 game stretch before bama and it will be huge for fan support and for team confidence.

If they start this season with 2 losses to the 1st 2 sec teams you play and you expected to win those games in the pre season because you bought into year 3 air raid... boy or boy

I also think we do lose saturday because of our weakness on the Offensive Line .

Going to be very interesting

I also think Ole Miss wins saturday. kentucky aint top 10.

[Coach34]

a 1-3 October and many will be checked out by Halloween. A vet team staring at 6-6 will excite absolutely nobody

[Maroonthirteen]

I guess I should clarify. We must win Saturday to keep the fans engaged.

[msstate7]

Check out ticket prices on SeatGeek. It may be a bad crowd

[HancockCountyDog]

There is a reason that we are favored in this game.

The line keeps going up as well.

If we play just a solid game, we win. We don't have to play perfect to beat A&M, I think they have to get extremely lucky to beat us.

[Commercecomet24]

If we don't turn the ball over we win.

[R2Dawg]

Must win 2 of next 3 to have any positive vibe to continue. We already let one get away, go 1-2 the next 3 and that is 1-3 on key SEC games in a year we were supposed to make a move.

[msstatelp1]

I think it's very important after shitting the bed against LSU. We need to prove we can handle a decent team.

[Goldendawg]

Being repetitious, but anything less than 7-5 including a win over OM is a total failure. 6-6 is 2-6 in the SEC which will put us in vandy, MO, SC territory. We hype ourselves up so many years and fall on our face early in the season, usually our first SEC game. This wears fans out. It also causes more 11:00 am KO's that also has a negative effect on attendance. Beat aTm, a very good season is possible, 7 to 8 wins. Hail State!

[TrapGame]

The key to winning is making Jimbo's offense rely on Max Johnson's arm and take Achane out of the equation. We have the better offense and we need to show it.

[Captain Falcon]

The next three are equally large. A&M just happens to be first.

Like others have said, 2-1 or better against A&M, Arkansas, and UK needs to be the goal. You?ll have a bit of a reset with Bama and then a bye week afterward, so I don?t think which 2 and which 1 really matters.

[Maverick91]

The other aspect is we should win this game handedly and all State fans know this to be true. A$M is inept on offense they have only scored 9 TD offensively and that?s against a subpar FCS Sam Houston state and losing a non g5 game to App State.

Their offense is just bad! What keeps them in the conversation is the mantra that Bimbo is an offensive genius and they are loaded. Blind squirrel gets a nut in my opinion.

I honestly do not get all the love for their defense either. They have played inept offensive teams as well. The one team with a pulse on offense they played scored as much as our defensive average 21 points.

It should be a good game. But, if we lose I?m going to be as annoyed as when we lost to LSU. I just don?t see A$M as a good team. They are middle of the pact due to their talent.

[Hot Rock]

a 1-3 October and many will be checked out by Halloween. A vet team staring at 6-6 will excite absolutely nobody

1-3 October? Losing 2 of 3 to A&M, AR & KY will just show me more than I cared to admit.

1-3 does not get Leach fired but the fanbase won't care. They will bolt, at least, I will be gone and I have been one of his biggest supporters for his system. I have been patiently waiting for 3 years. The time is now. I don't need 10 wins to see it but 1-3 October ain't it either.

He could earn his way back from it but I doubt it.

[Goldendawg]

If we go 6-6 or even worse, we may have to tarp over some seating sections, (blue to match many tents in the junction), that don't sell next year.*****

[lastmajordog]

del

[HoopsDawg]

We are 4 point favorites at home. App. State has proven to be a pretty bad football team. Miami looks bad. Arkansas out played A&M but lost.

A loss Saturday would not be a good sign for Leach or the program.

[Maverick91]

We are 4 point favorites at home. App. State has proven to be a pretty bad football team. Miami looks bad. Arkansas out played A&M but lost.

A loss Saturday would not be a good sign for Leach or the program.

Facts! It comes down to discipline and execution. Limit stupid penalties, catch the balls that should be caught, and play your position. We should win well.

[Goldendawg]

We are 4 point favorites at home. App. State has proven to be a pretty bad football team. Miami looks bad. Arkansas out played A&M but lost.

A loss Saturday would not be a good sign for Leach or the program.

We were 3 point favorites against LSU at their place. Don't build me up for a big fall again!***

[EdwardDrayton]

Think the A&M game will be very telling as to what the remainder of our season will look like.

[Coach34]

We are 4 point favorites at home. App. State has proven to be a pretty bad football team. Miami looks bad. Arkansas out played A&M but lost.

A loss Saturday would not be a good sign for Leach or the program.

A&M is good on D and well-coached on D. Their DC has played Leach well the last 2 years. They will play solidly on D
A&M is going to run the ball, try to make a few throws, and force a close game.

We have to score on O then stop the run defensively and force Johnson to beat us in 3rd and long situations.

Thats what the game will come down to. I'm expecting a 23-20 type of game

[Lord McBuckethead]

This is, for me, a wait and see game. Wait and see which team comes out.

Here are the two scenarios I see.
1. We come out and execute. We play with a little more tempo, be very conscience of when we are subbing in and make their defense go base zone on us. Chip away, line up quickly and get the ball out. We need to push tempo when we get a first down. It puts the defense in a bind and we can catch them out of position or starting to jump routes. Big plays need to be made when they are there to be made.

2. We come out and play slow. We mix in too many runs that are taking us out of our rhythm like the LSU game. We drop passes. More or less, let the defense literally dictate and limit our offense. OL gets blasted once every three plays. We disappear for 1.5 quarters in the middle of the game. Defense plays well enough to win, but just gets tired. We lose the lead at the 12 minute mark of the 4th. We don?t have enough balls to get them out of the two deep safeties, not the arm strength to rocket one down the field to beat the two high deep safeties.

In my opinion, if we don?t pick up the pace just a little bit once we get our first first down of the drive, we are allowing the defense to dictate too much. I want their defense looking like ours did against LSU at the end of the 1st half. On their heels and confused after the 5th play in a row.

[Schultzy]

It?s important for our morale bc it?s you have to hold serve at home with five teams in the West being equal plus our fan base is so fragile and thinks we?re better than we really are. It looks to me like it will come down to just a few plays in 5 of our remaining conference games.

Take the under 21-17 either way

[Maverick91]

It?s important for our morale bc it?s you have to hold serve at home with five teams in the West being equal plus our fan base is so fragile and thinks we?re better than we really are. It looks to me like it will come down to just a few plays in 5 of our remaining conference games.

Take the under 21-17 either way

What about A&M and their defense makes you think we will only score 21?

[Maroonthirteen]

It?s important for our morale ........ plus our fan base is so fragile

This what I was getting at. This game is a must win in order to keep the fans engaged and the excitement of a big season.

Lose, we will have a very poor crowd for Arkansas and lose any home field advantage that may have been for the Arkansas game.

[Goldendawg]

This what I was getting at. This game is a must win in order to keep the fans engaged and the excitement of a big season.

Lose, we will have a very poor crowd for Arkansas and lose any home field advantage that may have been for the Arkansas game.

Our fan base is "Not Fragile" (thanks BTO). In fact some of the toughest in the SEC for hanging in there, but getting tired of high expectations and a mediocre return like last year. Losing to OM and then Texas Tech at a minor bowl gets old. High expectations because we were more more experienced and returned more starters than anyone in the SEC plus Leach breaks out in year 3, then LSU. Show us starting Saturday that more experienced doesn't just mean a year older. I so far have seen many of the same issues as last year. Start a continued winning streak and we can have the season most expected. Hail State!

[Maverick91]

Our fan base is "Not Fragile" (thanks BTO). In fact some of the toughest in the SEC for hanging in there, but getting tired of high expectations and a mediocre return like last year. Losing to OM and then Texas Tech at a minor bowl gets old. High expectations because we were more more experienced and returned more starters than anyone in the SEC plus Leach breaks out in year 3, then LSU. Show us starting Saturday that more experienced doesn't just mean a year older. I so far have seen many of the same issues as last year. Start a continued winning streak and we can have the season most expected. Hail State!

I have done more thinking about this year three thing. I think we need to slow that roll Texas tech he went from 7-6 7-6 to 9-5 Washington state he went 3-9 his third year. It was his fourth year where he went 9-4.

I think the whole third year thing needs to chill.

What we need is consistency. His teams at state have yet to play consistent ball. They do that it should be a really good season.

[Captain Falcon]

I will be really disappointed if our defense doesn?t play well. A&M?s offense is statistically the worst in the league and they just lost their best receiver. They?re averaging like 18 points a game against FBS opponents and that?s with a fluky defensive TD baked in.

[PGHBulldogBG]

I can forgive the LSU loss in BR at night against a team that is physical and very underrated. I still think LSU is the 4th best team in the SEC behind UGA, Bama and UT. Also, I am not the kind of fan that has extremely high expectations and thinks we should win 10 games this year. That being said, this team has enough talent and experience to beat aTm, Ark, Aub and Ole Miss. Those are 4 games I expect to win and will be extremely disappointed if we do not. aTm has a terrible offense, Ark has a bad pass defense. Auburn is just all around bad offensively and average on defense. We have to beat Ole Miss because we can’t lose to them 3 years in a row. If we pull an upset over UK, Bama or UGA that is icing on the cake, but we have to beat the other 4 SEC teams on our schedule. The season will be a disappointment if we do not do so and Leach should feel pressure if we lose to any of those teams.

[TrapGame]

I will be really disappointed if our defense doesn?t play well. A&M?s offense is statistically the worst in the league and they just lost their best receiver. They?re averaging like 18 points a game against FBS opponents and that?s with a fluky defensive TD baked in.

If our defense makes Johnson look like a first round draft pick I'm gonna be highly pissed.

[sleepy dawg]

This is it for me personally. It's not that I bought into the Air Raid year 3 thing. It's that it's year 3 in general and we have a veteran team. For any coach, if you're going to win at MSU, this is when you do it. Highly unlikely we'll ever be a consistent 10 win type of team, but every few years we aught to be able to make a run at such things. If we can't win 8+ games every few years, then we've got the wrong guy.

[Maverick91]

I can forgive the LSU loss in BR at night against a team that is physical and very underrated. I still think LSU is the 4th best team in the SEC behind UGA, Bama and UT. Also, I am not the kind of fan that has extremely high expectations and thinks we should win 10 games this year. That being said, this team has enough talent and experience to beat aTm, Ark, Aub and Ole Miss. Those are 4 games I expect to win and will be extremely disappointed if we do not. aTm has a terrible offense, Ark has a bad pass defense. Auburn is just all around bad offensively and average on defense. We have to beat Ole Miss because we can’t lose to them 3 years in a row. If we pull an upset over UK, Bama or UGA that is icing on the cake, but we have to beat the other 4 SEC teams on our schedule. The season will be a disappointment if we do not do so and Leach should feel pressure if we lose to any of those teams.

Agreed 💯 except I add Kentucky to the better beat. I just cannot see that team as a better team than us. And there is no mojo against us when we go to their house.

[BlackSailsDawg]

Is this a must win this weekend? As far as keeping the fans engaged and on board with Leach and the program in general?

I've tended to look at the season as whole. I've thought for October as long as we go 1-3, we can salvage the season at 7-5 with a win over OM. However I'm concerned if we lose Saturday and OM wins.... oh boy.... there will be much gnashing of teeth and the Arkansas game will be very poorly attended.

What say you guys?


I understood from the moment our schedule came out that it's one of those that could make us look worse even though we could be improved. Personally, I think we make it out of Oct winning 3 out of the 4 with a chance to be 4-0. What I am looking for as a fan is to be in every game and win more of those types of games than last year.

So far, we have what we should but not win that close one.

[BlackSailsDawg]

We are 4 point favorites at home. App. State has proven to be a pretty bad football team. Miami looks bad. Arkansas out played A&M but lost.

A loss Saturday would not be a good sign for Leach or the program.


The program needs to take the next step in building. Beating TAMU goes a long way towards that.

[BlackSailsDawg]

Our fan base is "Not Fragile" (thanks BTO). In fact some of the toughest in the SEC for hanging in there, but getting tired of high expectations and a mediocre return like last year. Losing to OM and then Texas Tech at a minor bowl gets old. High expectations because we were more more experienced and returned more starters than anyone in the SEC plus Leach breaks out in year 3, then LSU. Show us starting Saturday that more experienced doesn't just mean a year older. I so far have seen many of the same issues as last year. Start a continued winning streak and we can have the season most expected. Hail State!

This really isn't a year 3.