Mike Huganin says

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Originally Posted by ShotgunDawg

I understand what you are saying, but I feel that this is the MSU attitude that we have to get rid of.

To me it is ingrained in MSU to people to believe that you earn what you get, and, if you don't earn it, then you shouldn't get it.

The problem with this attitude is that we play in the SEC West and earning anything is extremely tough and not something that we can depend on year in and year out.

Some other teams in our conference don't earn anything either, but they still get a ton of positive publicity because they promote themselves, even if delusional, and have created a positive perception of themselves to the average on-looker. This helps out of state recruiting immensely.

We are MSU people, and I am an MSU person. Overall, I think the way we think the way we think does more good for us than bad, but I think it hurts us in this case. In order to take the next step with our football program, we must do better with out of state recruiting, and, in order to do that, we must create a better perception of ourselves outside this state.

Agree or disagree, that's the way I see it. Some of the complaining that I and others do on this site may seem a little over the top, and certainly rubs many people with the "Salt of the earth, MSU attitude" the wrong way. I get it..., but I also see it as necessary.

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I also want us to improve our national perception, and I also agree that "hype" and "marketing" is a big part of that. But obviously we can only control so much; complaining about journalists or the rankings of other teams does nothing to further our national brand.

And on the topic of hype... I promise you that "no hype" is better than "undeserved hype, followed by being exposed". You want to constantly be meeting or exceeding expectations. With this in mind, there is really nothing good that can come from high rankings this early in the season (Think 2012 for us).

RougeDawg - I just read your post as well. You make fair points. I would just say that workplace performance is almost always measured subjectively, and that's how opinions/polls are being formed currently in week 3. BUT - by the end of the season, the cream rises to the top and the polls start to reflect the results on the field.

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Originally Posted by RougeDawg

^^^This^^^. I'll give a comparable situation to those of you in the "if we earn it, it will come" and "everything will work itself out" crowd.

How many times have you seen the less qualified underperforming coworker get a promotion over a more qualified performing worker, because the underperfoemer promoted themselves by putting on a front in the presence of those who can make a difference and influence their career paths? I see it all the time ad most times it worke out for the person because they never stay in one position long enough to screw it up. They just keep the momentum as keep people talking positively about them. Same thing with our football program. Winning (being productive) only takes you so far as perception. Sometimes you have to promote your accomplishments for others to take notice. In turner they will repeat your accomplishments to others at their level and you will move up (gain national respect and preseason rankings, and I turn improve recruiting). Rinse and repeat as you have a top level business(program).

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Great post Rouge.

I know I get bashed on this website for complaining about us not being ranked, but we should be and it's ashamed that MSU people haven't complained more about it. Sure we have holes on our team, but so does most of the other teams in the top 25.

Whether you believe it or not, we are one of the best 25 college football teams in the country and it's wrong that we aren't given credit for such. A kid from Illinois, North Carolina, California, etc.. doesn't watch our games and thus don't know that we have problems. All they see is that we are ranked and our highlights are on Sportscenter because we are in the top 25. Then, when they get a letter in the mail from MSU, they is some familiarity and instant respect for that offer.

MSU people must understand the time period in which we exist and promote our positives, and down play our negatives. Don't be an MSU fan like Bo Bounds that clearly doesn't get it and focuses all his energy on accentuating our negatives. Look at MSU football as business that we are all running. We need publicity and promotion. We need to fight for it and call people out when they aren't getting us fair credit.

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Originally Posted by ShotgunDawg

Don't be an MSU fan like Bo Bounds that clearly doesn't get it and focuses all his energy on accentuating our negatives.

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What benefit exactly does Bo get for "accentuating our negatives"? Or does he just do it for kicks? Is predicting us to lose to LSU, a team we have lost to FOURTEEN TIMES IN A ROW, being negative?

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Originally Posted by RougeDawg

No we would not. Period. Did we gain anything last year playing OKSt, except a L and multiple key injuries?

We don't overly promote our program like another program in our state does. We don't hold press conferences every time Chris Jones takes a massive dump. We don't throw our 4 of 5 out every interview like someone does their "recruiting classes" during most national interviews. Perception is reality and our perception gets knocked because we don't overly promote all of the great players and accomplishments we have had recently. We address them if asked about it, but do not go above and beyond to overly promote our program like others do. That is the reason dipshit media peolle don't know how good we are and why we aren't a top 15 team right now. Nothing less, nothing more.

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There are positives and negatives for both. We play in the West- do we really need to schedule another Big 5 opponent? vs. Our fan base getting pissed no one "respects" us because we play UAB and USM.

In the grand scheme you are probably correct. Schedule the cupcakes and get the W's now. Just by being in the West we'll end up having a tough SoS.

My original post had some slight sarcasm to it. I'm torn on the issue really.

Side note- I regret saying that many on this board do not know what they are talking about. Most have a pretty high football IQ. It's just the OM thing that really pisses me off. I think talking about that program and comparing ourselves to them will always be our kryptonite.

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Originally Posted by LiterallyPolice

I also want us to improve our national perception, and I also agree that "hype" and "marketing" is a big part of that. But obviously we can only control so much; complaining about journalists or the rankings of other teams does nothing to further our national brand.

And on the topic of hype... I promise you that "no hype" is better than "undeserved hype, followed by being exposed". You want to constantly be meeting or exceeding expectations. With this in mind, there is really nothing good that can come from high rankings this early in the season (Think 2012 for us).

RougeDawg - I just read your post as well. You make fair points. I would just say that workplace performance is almost always measured subjectively, and that's how opinions/polls are being formed currently in week 3. BUT - by the end of the season, the cream rises to the top and the polls start to reflect the results on the field.

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I agree, but by the middle of a season a recruit may have already formed a perception and made up his mind, based off of overly hyped over ranked teams, that got where there were ranked for no actual results and all marketing. This is where it can hurt us. We deserve the recognition over some of the now and preaseason top 25 teams. Everything surrounding your program effects everything else. There are multiple parts of the entire program. If one weakens, the entire thing weakens. Our perception is being weakened because we have not done what other programs have done and are doing to market and promote their program. We can influence this area but apparently our admin is not ok with "tooting our own horns" to benefit the program like others.

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Originally Posted by RougeDawg

Our perception is being weakened because we have not done what other programs have done and are doing to market and promote their program. We can influence this area but apparently our admin is not ok with "tooting our own horns" to benefit the program like others.

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Ehhh, I think you are overstating this. I am sure that there are some things that we could do to better promote our program, but that is not what is keeping us out of the Top 25 or from getting preseason hype. I think that we are Top 25 team, but the reality is that, on the field, we didn't do enough last year and we haven't done enough this year to get respect from the voters. We barely made it to a bowl last year, and that was with a 1 point win over Bowling Green, a 6 point win over Kentucky, and an overtime win over Arkansas. If we had beaten any of Auburn, Bama, LSU, Texas A&M or Oklahoma State, then we would have had a lot more hype coming into the season. And so far this season, we haven't beaten anybody and we gave up 34 points to UAB, so it really isn't very hard to understand why we haven't grabbed the attention of the people that vote in the polls.

And whether you like it or not, last year OM beat a #6 ranked LSU and then went into Austin and beat the brakes off of an 8 win Texas team.....that is what is what drove their preseason hype/Top 25 ranking. And they have moved up in the rankings because they have taken care of business by hammering everybody they have played and because a number of teams ahead of them have lost. In other words, they are ranked where they are today due to things they have done on the field, not because of any marketing campaigns.

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Originally Posted by b.mcadams

Wow. Some of you are looking at this the wrong way.

Mike was saying something positive about our program. And you take one phrase that compares us to OM and run with it. Who cares if we aren't as well known as any school he would have said. He's saying we have a good D. Take the positives and ignore the negatives.

If we take care of business everything will work out in the end. I've read this board for months, most of ya'll have no clue what your talking about and your obsession of OM clouds your rationale. I'll admit mine gets clouded at times as well, but damn guys... we aren't playing OM on Saturday. We are playing LSU.

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I agree. Bo Bounds does suck though. Not because he doesn't hype up MSU, but just because he sucks.

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Originally Posted by sandwolf

Ehhh, I think you are overstating this. I am sure that there are some things that we could do to better promote our program, but that is not what is keeping us out of the Top 25 or from getting preseason hype. I think that we are Top 25 team, but the reality is that, on the field, we didn't do enough last year and we haven't done enough this year to get respect from the voters. We barely made it to a bowl last year, and that was with a 1 point win over Bowling Green, a 6 point win over Kentucky, and an overtime win over Arkansas. If we had beaten any of Auburn, Bama, LSU, Texas A&M or Oklahoma State, then we would have had a lot more hype coming into the season. And so far this season, we haven't beaten anybody and we gave up 34 points to UAB, so it really isn't very hard to understand why we haven't grabbed the attention of the people that vote in the polls.

And whether you like it or not, last year OM beat a #6 ranked LSU and then went into Austin and beat the brakes off of an 8 win Texas team.....that is what is what drove their preseason hype/Top 25 ranking. And they have moved up in the rankings because they have taken care of business by hammering everybody they have played and because a number of teams ahead of them have lost. In other words, they are ranked where they are today due to things they have done on the field, not because of any marketing campaigns.

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You make valid points but we beat them, without our best player for 50 minutes last year after they beat all those "powerhouses". Fact of the matter is they have not done anything that much different than we have over the last 16 games, with us winning the head to head, yet we are 16-20 spots behind them in rankings, and not even knocking on door preseason. Something different occurred along the path from the beginning of 2013 and present day that impacted how each program is being "perceived" at the moment, and it damn sure didn't happen on the actual field of play. I'm guessing you didn't read any of the articles and quotes from people who were saying OM should be a preseason ranked team. They damn sure didn't talk about an 8-5 record. The recurring theme amongst every off season article and interview had something to do with recruiting classes. Recruiting classes, might I add, that are now a shell of their signing day selves. People perceived an elevated talent level at OM, even though they've lost a few of their top signees from their last 2 classes. The perception was heavily influenced by what had happened in February.

Most insecure fanbase ever.

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Originally Posted by b.mcadams

There are positives and negatives for both. We play in the West- do we really need to schedule another Big 5 opponent? vs. Our fan base getting pissed no one "respects" us because we play UAB and USM.

In the grand scheme you are probably correct. Schedule the cupcakes and get the W's now. Just by being in the West we'll end up having a tough SoS.

My original post had some slight sarcasm to it. I'm torn on the issue really.

Side note- I regret saying that many on this board do not know what they are talking about. Most have a pretty high football IQ. It's just the OM thing that really pisses me off. I think talking about that program and comparing ourselves to them will always be our kryptonite.

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Good post. I do think there is a natural rivalry aspect to our talking about OM. Then there is the attitude like the OM t-shirt from a few years ago, "Ole Miss - We're not snobs, we're just better than you." MSU will never produce a t-shirt like that. Yes, such attitude irritates us. We should do more of Jackie's philosophy, "call them Mississippi, largely ignore them, and kick their butts." Some people are consumed by them, but they have their share who are consumed by us.