MSU record in SEC history

If memory serves, Rick Cleveland wrote an article describing at least two powerful om lawyer’s that killed a move to merge the schools. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure he did.

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Originally Posted by memsu06

Heck just 20 years ago Starkville, MS didn't have much going on. USM, Ole Miss, Alabama all had better supporting towns. Starkville is easily 1-3 hours from everything.

I had a CO-OP job while I was at MSU in Hattiesburg, MS so at least I got to experience USM (where I would have preferred to go if not for engineering).

Starkville has made vast improvements since I was there 20 years ago, so today it wouldn't be as bad for a college student.

I believe we could have been a powerhouse in the SEC if all 3 major universities combined into one.

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Oxford want ugh 20 years ago either. They stepped it up quickly however.

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Originally Posted by War Machine Dawg

The real mistake was to have 3 major universities, one for each area of the state. Northern Miss was for the Delta and North MS. We're the Central MS school. And of course USM is the Southern MS school. We should've had one major university that was centrally located. Stops the infighting, splitting of resources, etc. But the elitists of the Northern Miss ilk didn't want anything to do with the commoners studying icky subjects like ag and engineering, thus we doomed all the schools in MS to suck forever. The wounds are too deep on all sides to ever unite and merge, although that's absolutely what needs to happen if we ever wanted to be a real competitor with the blue bloods.

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Is USM still considered a "major university"? Their enrollment was way below MSU and Ole Miss if I remember correctly.

Having a bunch of directional universities in Louisiana and Alabama doesn't really affect LSU, Alabama, and Auburn.

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Originally Posted by lastmajordog

If memory serves, Rick Cleveland wrote an article describing at least two powerful om lawyer’s that killed a move to merge the schools. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure he did.

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I don't think that would work anyway. Neither MSU or Ole Miss fans want their school to be "shut down" so the only logical way to do it would be to build a "neutral" campus somewhere like Jackson.

Both schools have a vastly different on campus culture too. MSU has a lot more in state students and Ole Miss has a lot more out of state students. Both schools have been well established for over 100 years now so- building new facilities would be massively expensive and insane to pull off. Like all of MSU's engineering stuff.

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Originally Posted by RockyDog

For those of you that didn't know MSU football existed prior to Danny Two Gloves, here is a brief recap of why we have a losing record historically in the conference. Prior to 1992, MSU had no balanced schedule in the SEC.

For the 1970 thru 1979 seasons, we hosted a total of 3 SEC opponents in Starkville. We hosted Vanderbilt and Mississippi in 1971. We hosted Vandy again in 1973 and hosted Auburn in 1978. That is IT. We either played on the road or in Jackson for the remainder of our SEC schedule.

In 1972, we went 1-6 in the SEC. That consisted of hosting Auburn in Jackson and SIX SEC road games.

From 1980 thru 1989 we hosted on campus the following: zero in 80. Vanderbilt in 81. Georgia, Auburn LSU in 82.Florida in 83. Kentucky, Auburn LSU in 84. Florida in 85. Florida, Auburn, and Alabama in 86. UT in 87. Georgia, Alabama, LSU in 88. Vanderbilt in 1989.

And for the final gift before SEC expansion, Larry Templeton SOLD 2 home games against Florida: 1989 in Tampa and 1991 in Orlando.

Think about those things when you look at MSU's history. For an entire decade we played 4 total conference games in our home stadium. We were the SEC whipping boy and our administration did nothing to change that perception for the time that most of us have existed on this earth.

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What's your point?

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Having a bunch of directional universities in Louisiana and Alabama doesn't really affect LSU, Alabama, and Auburn.

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Alabama and Louisiana have about 2MM more people than Mississippi does- basically 67% more people. Huge difference

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Originally Posted by confucius say

Tuscaloosa and Auburn both off of major interstates. Oxford 20 minutes from one.
Florida has 7 times the people as Mississippi.

It's been fairly recent that 25 was even four lanes. Mississippi fan legislators fought that for years.

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That makes sense

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Alabama and Louisiana have about 2MM more people than Mississippi does- basically 67% more people. Huge difference

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Yeah, the lack of growth compared to the rest of the South is a glaring issue. Mississippi actually lost population between 2010 and 2020, and is estimated to have continued to drop over the last 3 years - and has a little over 2.9 million residents.
Only state in the South losing population. Meanwhile, Alabama in the 2010s gained 300,000 people to push over 5 million. Arkansas has passed MS in population too.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Is USM still considered a "major university"? Their enrollment was way below MSU and Ole Miss if I remember correctly.

Having a bunch of directional universities in Louisiana and Alabama doesn't really affect LSU, Alabama, and Auburn.

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Technically they are. Directionals don't count. They aren't promoted the same way Bama, Auburn and LSU are. Kids don't dream of playing for UAB or ULM. Plus both of those states have significantly bigger populations than MS. The population of MS is tiny compared to the other SEC states. We're not much more populous than the Dakotas, Wyoming, Utah, etc. We could have a functioning directional/HBCU system and one major university without any real problems, but 2.5 big universities is a killer.

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Originally Posted by sleepy dawg

What's your point?

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If you don?t care move on, asshole. It?s not difficult.

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Originally Posted by RockyDog

If you don?t care move on, asshole. It?s not difficult.

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I'm serious, what's your point? Everybody knows we have a shitty history. Is it just to continue to make sure everyone is aware we sucked? Is to temper expectations b/c we've always sucked and shouldn't expect good things? I legit don't know what point you're trying to get across here.

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Originally Posted by sleepy dawg

I'm serious, what's your point? Everybody knows we have a shitty history. Is it just to continue to make sure everyone is aware we sucked? Is to temper expectations b/c we've always sucked and shouldn't expect good things? I legit don't know what point you're trying to get across here.

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I think his point is, pointing to our history of not being that successful consistently in football, there were other factors than we just suck.

Not many SEC teams would be successful if almost all your games are played on the road. We are closer to middle of the pack since the playing field was "leveled".

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

I think his point is, pointing to our history of not being that successful consistently in football, there were other factors than we just suck.

Not many SEC teams would be successful if almost all your games are played on the road. We are closer to middle of the pack since the playing field was "leveled".

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Thanks for clarifying for me. That makes sense.

They started improving during and after Eli. That's when alums started buying condos there. And Khayat started spending a lot on landscaping the campus.

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Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg

Yeah - I was off. It was 1932-1958 playing 25 games.

The SEC royally screwed us regardless

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They screwed us but they also basically kept our athletic department's doors open.

Yep. Kind of like how USM is an FBS school but doesn't really challenge State or OM for recruits other than maybe baseball.

That and the other facts presented are absolutely crazy.

Plus we would have an all-time winning record if it weren't for the bogus forfeits in the 1970s.