Gameday Atmosphere

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Originally Posted by R2Dawg

This thread is what happens anytime a program is losing. It has to be this other stuff. Not saying to not do some other stuff but let the main thing be the main thing. Put the big rocks in the jar first. Whatever analogy you like.

Just win and all is good. We could play in a cow pasture in a top 5 team and fans would show up in hay wagons to watch and never complain - AKA baseball - leftfield lounge. WBB when Vic was here. Why did we pack the Hump? Just win.

Why are fans showing up to womens soccer? Because we are #1 and a threat to win a NC. People like winners. Why there are so many sidewalk Bama fans. This ain't complicated.

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That analogy says it all.

Imagine how our stadium would look had we beat Texas, Georgia and A&M. It would be packed. Even after our pathetic losses. If you want people to show up, put on a show. Not many shitty movies have great ratings no matter how nice and flashy the theater is.

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Originally Posted by viverlibre

They did away with Col Reb on the sidelines and him as their mascot, so yeah, I say they disassociated with Col Reb. Our fan base would NEVER move past that.

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Yes, they did get rid of Col. Reb and I said as much but you had said that they disassociated with the term "Rebels" which they most definitely have not.

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Originally Posted by MBDawg601

Imagine how our stadium would look had we beat Texas, Georgia and A&M. It would be packed. Even after our pathetic losses. If you want people to show up, put on a show. Not many shitty movies have great ratings no matter how nice and flashy the theater is.

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For the love of God how many times do we have to get past “just win” to get asses to occupy metal. Our entire problem is that we aren’t a good football team and will not be one next year. HOWEVER, we need people to buy in to what Lebby is selling and show up despite the fact that there’s a better than 75% chance that we are ass. So assuming we’re ass on the field what do you do to attract people to be there? I’m not trying to be condescending but do you understand what I’m trying to say here? Like does it make a little bit of sense?

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Originally Posted by Rawdawg

So assuming we’re ass on the field what do you do to attract people to be there?

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You f****ing win and not be ass on the field! Good lord.

I am bought in on Lebby. But Rome wasn?t build in a day. As cheesy as it is to say? Build it and they will come.

Y'all are really making it way more complicated than it is.

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Originally Posted by MBDawg601

Imagine how our stadium would look had we beat Texas, Georgia and A&M. It would be packed. Even after our pathetic losses. If you want people to show up, put on a show. Not many shitty movies have great ratings no matter how nice and flashy the theater is.

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Thank you!! No one wants to watch garbage.

If we won those I?d 100% be on my way to a game this year. I mean, even if we took 2/3 of those that?d get people?s attention.

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Originally Posted by Maroonthirteen

I think it is far more complicated than just some led lights and marketing.

I think it goes all the way back to 2014 and the way the season ended. That knocked a little air out. Then lose to Bama and OM again in 2015 and 2017. Then Mullen leaves. Then Moorhead loses to Mullen...I just think all that took a lot of wind out of people's sails.

Also, in the meantime, Bama is winning NCs and OM is winning. I think many younger people and non-affiliated people now root for those schools. Then you have the tv effect combined with Starkville being 2 hours from everywhere and few hotels that are crazy expensive.

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I wonder how many hotel vacancies there are in Starkville on game weekends?

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

But again.....we were winning under Leach so why weren't people showing up? I mean soccer has beaten 3 ranked teams this year. Leach beat 2 in 2022 and 3 in 2021. So no, it's not just winning. That's what I'm trying to figure out. What's missing? Why can't we get people to come? Because I 1000% guarantee you every one of those people who go to the soccer games are also in Davis Wade because they're die hards for the university. They support the university no matter what. That's not the people I'm focusing on. I'm focusing on the people we have lost since 2010-2017. We've won since...had some pretty big wins actually. Same teams Dan beat. So what's the issue? Why did they stop coming? That's the entire point of the thread. And as I've said probably 10 times now, it's obviously not just winning. Hell we were 6-3 going into the UGA game in 2022 and it was 60/40 State to UGA in our own stadium.

And to tie that back to this year and next, I mean look we may not be great next year. 6-6 or 7-5 could be the ceiling even with a revamped roster. Are we still going to have 45K at every game? or 55K with 25K being the opposing fan base? I mean are people just not going to come back until we're 10-2? You can't just wait for us to win to say well now why aren't people coming. You have to get them in the stadium now and next year to start getting a home field advantage again. I harken back to that old Dan Mullen quote, It's not win first and the fans show up, fans show up and start believing in the program and the wins will come." Well right now we've got to give them something to get them there and make them want to come back, even in these lean years.

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With Leach we had to deal with COVID and a rebuild from 2020-2021. 2022 was the year that Leach turned the corner and as I said before I think the crowds would have been much better in 2023 had he lived. If I remember correctly we had a pretty good crowd the first game of 2023 against SELU. Good for a game against a FCS team at least. But then after watching the team struggle fans knew it wasn't going to work pretty quickly with Arnett. And I'm not sure how many really believed Arnett was actually going to work long term anyway.

MSU's big problem in football comes down to they make decisions that alienate fans. Like hiring, Arnett/Barbay and Hutzler that are questionable from the get go. And I can't remember a questionable hire ever surprising us in football at MSU. It's pretty much not only something that doesn't work- it ends up being outlier bad. I'm curious if getting a good DC to go with Lebby might help with attendance some in and of itself. Because at least with Lebby our fans can see that the offense is solid and fans can see that MVB is a legit QB that MSU can market and build around for the next few years. Things like not using the interlocking logo alienate fans. Things like not taking care of the stadium alienate fans.

As far as the Dan Mullen quote- I don't know that I totally agree with that quote by him. Especially since MSU has asked so much from the fans and we have fans that are giving money and all of this and then the portal class is subpar. Dan likes to act like he invented Mississippi State football and he was a great coach but when he was hired we were only two seasons removed from an 8 win Liberty Bowl season and only about ten years removed from the winning the SEC West and a 10 win season in 1999 which to me was better than any season Dan had.

Going back to the assistant coach thing. Fans aren't asking for MSU to hire Bill Walsh and Bill Bellichick as OC/DC. Like Hutzler- we gave him a million dollars a year. You're telling MSU fans that we couldn't have gotten Tulane or Troy's DC this past offseason for that? But the other thing is the head coaches pick these lame ass coaches. Arnett couldn't do better than Barbay? Hell all he had to do was promote Spurrier, Jr. or hire Ben Arbuckle. Arbuckle probably would have been much cheaper than Barbay and he runs a modern Air Raid like the critics wanted and it's averaging like 38 PPG. And Lebby hiring Hutzler over multiple qualified G5 DC's is concerning. He has to get that right in the offseason whether that's Durkin or whoever. MSU fans aren't coming because they can't get their shit right off the field.

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Originally Posted by Rawdawg

For the love of God how many times do we have to get past “just win” to get asses to occupy metal. Our entire problem is that we aren’t a good football team and will not be one next year. HOWEVER, we need people to buy in to what Lebby is selling and show up despite the fact that there’s a better than 75% chance that we are ass. So assuming we’re ass on the field what do you do to attract people to be there? I’m not trying to be condescending but do you understand what I’m trying to say here? Like does it make a little bit of sense?

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But that's the thing. The main draw is the football team. It's more fun when MSU wins. Everything is better. The team has to win. Let's go back to Dan's first year. It wasn't really that Byrne did something magical that year with promotions or anything. The team was very competitive. We took a good LSU team down to the final play of the game before we lost. That was a NC caliber LSU team. A much closer game than any of our moral victories this year so far. We had a very competitive game against Tim Tebow and Florida and went toe to toe with them in year one. Lost a close game to a good Houston team. We didn't really lose any games to a team like Toledo. We beat a good Ole Miss team which honestly whether we like it or not and right or wrong is a big factor for fans. And no one outside of Maroon Mary believes we have a prayer of beating them this year. If we did it might be the biggest Egg Bowl upset ever. And in 2009 we beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky both on road if I remember correctly and looked solid doing so.

Contrast that to now where we actually have a better offense than we did in 2009 but our defense is an absolute embarrassing disgrace. And yeah I know that Lebby is going to fire Hutzler but after he does that he still has to get the hire right. That's the most critical thing for MSU right now.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

But that's the thing. The main draw is the football team. It's more fun when MSU wins. Everything is better. The team has to win. Let's go back to Dan's first year. It wasn't really that Byrne did something magical that year with promotions or anything. The team was very competitive. We took a good LSU team down to the final play of the game before we lost. That was a NC caliber LSU team. A much closer game than any of our moral victories this year so far. We had a very competitive game against Tim Tebow and Florida and went toe to toe with them in year one. Lost a close game to a good Houston team. We didn't really lose any games to a team like Toledo. We beat a good Ole Miss team which honestly whether we like it or not and right or wrong is a big factor for fans. And no one outside of Maroon Mary believes we have a prayer of beating them this year. If we did it might be the biggest Egg Bowl upset ever. And in 2009 we beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky both on road if I remember correctly and looked solid doing so.

Contrast that to now where we actually have a better offense than we did in 2009 but our defense is an absolute embarrassing disgrace. And yeah I know that Lebby is going to fire Hutzler but after he does that he still has to get the hire right. That's the most critical thing for MSU right now.

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Yet we still lost in 09. That's the point I am trying to make. We weren't winning. And that seems to be what most people say we need. We sold out the stadium against LSU that year, and it was mostly our fans, when we were 2-1 with wins over mighty Vandy and JSU. We were BLOWN OUT at Auburn. I mean we were 3-4 against Florida and DWS was AS LOUD as I had ever heard it. It was electric vs Bama and we were 4-5. And those 4 wins were JSU, Vandy, MTSU, and Kentucky. We beat all those teams under Leach, but the crowds were WAY WORSE in 2021 and 2022. So what gives? Did people really just hate Leach that much? I mean that's the only thing I can come up with if it truly is just about winning.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

I have seen it posted on multiple message boards multiple times this year and have experienced it to the games I have been able to get back to. But what do you think is wrong with the atmosphere? Like what would you guys change to try and turn things around? I obviously know winning solves a lot of issues but we need to create some sort of home field advantage to kind of kick start the winning. I mean Mullen's first team went 5-7 but we had sell outs at almost every game, sans Houston, in 09. So what has changed? Is it truly just people want more bang for their buck these days? Is it not having LED lights? Is it a sound system? Is it NIL? Like why are we constantly struggling to get people to campus and in the stadium? This isn't a recruit. These are MSU fans.

What are everyone's thoughts

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The team is terrible. That that is all it is.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

Yet we still lost in 09. That's the point I am trying to make. We weren't winning. And that seems to be what most people say we need. We sold out the stadium against LSU that year, and it was mostly our fans, when we were 2-1 with wins over mighty Vandy and JSU. We were BLOWN OUT at Auburn. I mean we were 3-4 against Florida and DWS was AS LOUD as I had ever heard it. It was electric vs Bama and we were 4-5. And those 4 wins were JSU, Vandy, MTSU, and Kentucky. We beat all those teams under Leach, but the crowds were WAY WORSE in 2021 and 2022. So what gives? Did people really just hate Leach that much? I mean that's the only thing I can come up with if it truly is just about winning.

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We lost games but in 2009 we were 5-7 which is just one win from bowl eligibility. So while we didn't win there was still a chance that we could win.

With this team we are 1-7 with NO chance of winning except maybe this Saturday. If this was 2009 we would comfortably beat UMass. With this team it's a toss up. This team can't beat Vandy or Kentucky this year or the 2009 version. The defense is that bad. And no the defense wasn't very good in 2009 but Torbush and those guys look like the 85 Bears compared to what we're putting out there now.

There is no hope to win and when there is no hope no one is going to show up.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

We lost games but in 2009 we were 5-7 which is just one win from bowl eligibility. So while we didn't win there was still a chance that we could win.

With this team we are 1-7 with NO chance of winning except maybe this Saturday. If this was 2009 we would comfortably beat UMass. With this team it's a toss up. This team can't beat Vandy or Kentucky this year or the 2009 version. The defense is that bad. And no the defense wasn't very good in 2009 but Torbush and those guys look like the 85 Bears compared to what we're putting out there now.

There is no hope to win and when there is no hope no one is going to show up.

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And that is the entire point of the thread. We suck, we know it, and we're probably still going to be average at best next year. So how do you still get people to the stadium? Because to start getting better we are going to need to create an edge and a home field advantage that kids want to come play in front of. No recruit wants to come help a program get back on track that has no fan support.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

And that is the entire point of the thread. We suck, we know it, and we're probably still going to be average at best next year. So how do you still get people to the stadium? Because to start getting better we are going to need to create an edge and a home field advantage that kids want to come play in front of. No recruit wants to come help a program get back on track that has no fan support.

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Well:

1. Get a legit DC even if you have to overspend some to get them.

2. Build the IPF as soon as possible

3. Improve the stadium- LED lights, more replays, etc.

4. Bring back the interlocking MSU as the primary uniform.

And if I were MSU I would put out things on social media highlighting what we are doing with those things. Talk about the IPF and the importance of it and how nice it will be. Demonstrate to people the improvements in the stadium experience. Put something out about Davis Wade having new LED lights. Have a big new uniform reveal video and it's the interlocking MSU.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Well:

1. Get a legit DC even if you have to overspend some to get them.

2. Build the IPF as soon as possible

3. Improve the stadium- LED lights, more replays, etc.

4. Bring back the interlocking MSU as the primary uniform.

And if I were MSU I would put out things on social media highlighting what we are doing with those things. Talk about the IPF and the importance of it and how nice it will be. Demonstrate to people the improvements in the stadium experience. Put something out about Davis Wade having new LED lights. Have a big new uniform reveal video and it's the interlocking MSU.

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The interlocking is not happening. PERIOD. End of Discussion. Those are not going to be our primary uniforms. I really don't see what the damn big deal is about uniforms. I mean if that is what's going to decide if people go to games are not then our fan base is a lot worse than even I thought. We'll probably break them out a couple of times a year going forward, but they won't ever be the primary.

We're still getting funding for the IPF. The House Settlement happened a lot faster than most anticipated so money is having to be shuffled around and we are having to get more private donations for it.

The LED lights are a project that they are going to do. It's a tad bit more expensive than some 2A high school in MS that has 8 light poles. Our lights and stanchions cost well over 250K altogether so it's not just simply putting LED bulbs in the current lights. The replays probably could be better, no clue the thought process on those. IMO, the most important thing right now is the sound system, getting the club level up to date in terms of design, and getting the damn trailers out of the NEZ.

I think you can probably guess we're going to get a pretty good DC this offseason.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

The interlocking is not happening. PERIOD. End of Discussion. Those are not going to be our primary uniforms. I really don't see what the damn big deal is about uniforms. I mean if that is what's going to decide if people go to games are not then our fan base is a lot worse than even I thought. We'll probably break them out a couple of times a year going forward, but they won't ever be the primary.

We're still getting funding for the IPF. The House Settlement happened a lot faster than most anticipated so money is having to be shuffled around and we are having to get more private donations for it.

The LED lights are a project that they are going to do. It's a tad bit more expensive than some 2A high school in MS that has 8 light poles. Our lights and stanchions cost well over 250K altogether so it's not just simply putting LED bulbs in the current lights. The replays probably could be better, no clue the thought process on those. IMO, the most important thing right now is the sound system, getting the club level up to date in terms of design, and getting the damn trailers out of the NEZ.

I think you can probably guess we're going to get a pretty good DC this offseason.

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The big deal with the uniforms is that it represents the program and the fan base. That uniform in 1998 represents Mississippi State football. It's the same reason why most SEC teams like Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, etc. have only made very minor changes over the years. And yes those teams do wear alternate uniforms from time to time and I would be totally fine if we did that if the 1998's were our primary uniform. But for the most part established teams wear their primary look.

But as far as fans I think it hurt the trust between the fans and the AD because for years people were told that Nike owned it. And that turned out to be a lie. That's not a good thing to do to consumers. And if MSu extended an olive branch to the fans by giving us that uniform back as the primary it would help some.

And that's just one of the lies MSU fans have been told recently. Remember Arnett was going to run something close to the Air Raid? Another lie.

Good to hear on the other things but unfortunately it sounds like that's going to take five years to complete it all. Have to start somewhere though.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

The big deal with the uniforms is that it represents the program and the fan base. That uniform in 1998 represents Mississippi State football. It's the same reason why most SEC teams like Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, etc. have only made very minor changes over the years. And yes those teams do wear alternate uniforms from time to time and I would be totally fine if we did that if the 1998's were our primary uniform. But for the most part established teams wear their primary look.

But as far as fans I think it hurt the trust between the fans and the AD because for years people were told that Nike owned it. And that turned out to be a lie. That's not a good thing to do to consumers. And if MSu extended an olive branch to the fans by giving us that uniform back as the primary it would help some.

And that's just one of the lies MSU fans have been told recently. Remember Arnett was going to run something close to the Air Raid? Another lie.

Good to hear on the other things but unfortunately it sounds like that's going to take five years to complete it all. Have to start somewhere though.

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I just don't get the big deal about uniforms. The ones we have now are good and the players like them. How does one season's uniform represents Mississippi State football? We went 8-5. Should the 2022 uniforms represent Mississippi State football because we went 9-4? Or the 14 uniforms because we went 10-3? Or how about the 1941 uniforms when we went 8-1-1? Also, LSU and Tennessee have numerous alternates. Tennessee has all blacks and greys. Has an orange helmet along with a white. LSU has an all white helmet. They've broken out a bunch of different uni combos in the last 5 years. Hell even UGA breaks out the blacks from time to time.

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Originally Posted by Liverpooldawg

The team is terrible. That that is all it is.

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It's not all it is. Y'all can have the damn dress code arguments, but I'm not interested. I'm looking at the school asking me for more money at every turn and me getting almost nothing in return. Why do I want to give more money when our leaders suck ass? They turned their backs on the fans and seem to feel they don't need them, until they want a dollar. Fans are tired of that BS! And I didn't even start with how poorly the school has supported football and continually sucked the cocks of baseball. 17 these guys!

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Originally Posted by Cooterpoot

It's not all it is. Y'all can have the damn dress code arguments, but I'm not interested. I'm looking at the school asking me for more money at every turn and me getting almost nothing in return. Why do I want to give more money when our leaders suck ass? They turned their backs on the fans and seem to feel they don't need them, until they want a dollar. Fans are tired of that BS! And I didn't even start with how poorly the school has supported football and continually sucked the cocks of baseball. 17 these guys!

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You have a point on the baseball thing. Good or bad they support baseball. Didn’t we break a record or two during that horrible two year stint despite the team being awful? Selmon doesn’t seem all that interested in baseball. That’s a good thing.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

I just don't get the big deal about uniforms. The ones we have now are good and the players like them. How does one season's uniform represents Mississippi State football? We went 8-5. Should the 2022 uniforms represent Mississippi State football because we went 9-4? Or the 14 uniforms because we went 10-3? Or how about the 1941 uniforms when we went 8-1-1? Also, LSU and Tennessee have numerous alternates. Tennessee has all blacks and greys. Has an orange helmet along with a white. LSU has an all white helmet. They've broken out a bunch of different uni combos in the last 5 years. Hell even UGA breaks out the blacks from time to time.

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The 2014 uniforms- the ones that became the primary essentially- were based off the the 1998.

It's not just 1998 that we won in those. It was 1999 as well- both were better seasons than 2014. Also we beat SEC West champ Alabama in 1996 wearing those. We beat 1997 SEC west champ Auburn in them on the road. We beat SEC East champ Florida and SEC West champ Auburn in them and won the snow bowl in 2000 in them. And then we beat Eli and Ole Miss in 2001 in them.

And as I mentioned yes other teams do wear alternate uniforms BUT they never have done away with the uniform their fans like the most. And that's the difference between MSU and everyone else.