Did I count correctly that 31 of our first 35 games are in Mississippi?
That's amazing. I know it's usually a long home stretch to start the season, but damn, that's some strong scheduling by our Ath Dept.
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Did I count correctly that 31 of our first 35 games are in Mississippi?
That's amazing. I know it's usually a long home stretch to start the season, but damn, that's some strong scheduling by our Ath Dept.
Dp
Strong until we're 17-13 or 18-12 in the SEC and badly needing RPI boosts to host...
Count me in the group that would like to see us go on the road more often early and period. RPI is repeatedly proving to be the #1 factor in determining host sites and seeding, far more important than overall or conference record(although they coincide to an extent). We need to schedule to exploit that, rather than scheduling to get exploited by it...
Cohen is in a quandary. He chooses more home games for a huge fan base instead of RPI. But once we start winning 17 plus SEC games every year we can afford to travel more before the SEC starts. We started last year w 18 wins and you will see that more. 2014 we lost too many winnable non conf games.
BTW, biloxi shuckers already announced us playing down there in 2016, but opponent to be named later.
When is guys weekend this year?
Auburn or SC?
I'm going to wear a red and white striped sweater with a matching beanie.
The way we are scheduling is similar to LSU. I'm OK with the schedule because we are playing Arizona and San Diego OOC. Both of those teams are usually good- Arizona sucking and beating us once really hurt us on two fronts. Those teams, plus Samford, South Alabama and Memphis on the road and USM/Ole Miss at a neutral site as well as Northwestern State at home late in the season should mean our RPI will be OK.
It is sort of misleading in a way to say that we play x amount of games in Mississippi this year because we have our games in Starkville, two in Pearl, and three in Oxford. Our SEC schedule sets up very well for us IMO. At Kentucky, Arkansas, A&M, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. Tough, but we can win each of those series. Realistically, we should win at least three of those. Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Florida (SBW), and LSU all in Starkville. Again, tough but it's going to be tough on those teams to come to Starkville.
What I want us to do as far as scheduling is either schedule a power five team home and home (other than Big 10) or Cal State-Fullerton OR play in an elite tournament against three power house teams. I do consider Arizona a power five team and we played them at Tucson last year so I am OK with that.
The game in Biloxi will most likely replace the second game of the two game "Western Kentucky" series that we play every year against a mid major. My hope is that it is anyone other than USM. I want to keep that in Jackson, and I don't want to play them twice. I would much rather play South Alabama, New Orleans, or Tulane. If I had a choice, I would play LSU, but they're not going to come to our state to play an OOC baseball game against us. They're too arrogant in baseball.Quote:
Originally Posted by MsStateBaseball
I would like to see us start up a series with Tulane like we have with Memphis. I would be OK playing them either in Metarie or in the Garden District. They're rebuilding, but they should be pretty good in a couple of years.
I'm also all for adding another game at Trustmark Park as well against someone that is a mid-major like Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky, Northwestern State, etc.
Are you coming from the Grove?Quote:
Originally Posted by Political Hack
As much as I enjoy attending games, there aren't many people there for those first couple of Feb series when it's 35 degrees with a 15 mph wind. I'm willing to sacrifice one for a good RPI weekend on the road somewhere on the second or third weekend.
Going to AZ last yeah was about as safe of a bet as you can ask for, as far as an RPI boost. AZ has a lot of hardware. It didn't work out for us, but it happens. I still like the decision to do something like that. It's a good early experience for the young guys.
I wonder if there are politics involved in playing the SWAC schools. There is just no benefit in playing those teams. There are a lot of other options, and RPI matters.