What were your realistic expectations

This season? I fully expected a down year and while I expected better performance than we've seen thus far the record isn't too surprising . I would have taken 6-6 going into the season and it looks like that's somewhat likely. Now a 4 or 5 win season with an egg bowl loss will be horrible and hard to swallow. However Mullen has earned and deserves one more year to prove he can do it. We can definitely win at least 7 next year and if somehow we get 9 wins and a bowl victory to get to ten then you know damn well we'd all be dancing on the streets and hollering hailstate .
How's that for a first post?
34 year old state fan since circa '92
I bleed maroon

Horrible post.

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edited for hack


i expect nothing less than to play after thanksgiving. I expect to compete in every game, with maybe one blowout. I expect to not have games against BG and UK come down to our prevent defense stopping them.

I expect to be a motivated, well coached football team. We haven't been that for a full seasons worth of games.

I knew something like that was coming

The thing is yes the schedule is easy so just about anyone should win at least 6. But will we be better? That's the real question. Based on the last 2 years I don't believe so. We have gotten worse every year since 2010. So I don't think Mullen will waive a magic wand and we will get better all the sudden because if he could he would of this year.

When it falls out of bowl eligibility, it almost never turns back around...

Percent odds IMO
7-5 - 5%
6-6 - 15%
5-7 - 55%
4-8 - 25%
Yes, I think it's almost twice as likely that we lose to Arkansas vs beating Ole Miss.

That said, if he gets to 6, I will STFU. If he gets to 7 and manages to finish inside the top 30 in recruiting, I will get back on the bandwagon, label myself an total idiot for ever questioning him, and probably retire from prognosticating.

If he finishes 5-7 or worse, we keep him, and we finish outside the top 30 in recruiting, I'm probably going to take time off football discussions on state boards -- because I'd be insufferable. 80% chance that he fails to meet either criteria IMO.

Where did you come up with those percentages? Let me ask a quick question. What if Idaho does the unthinkable and beats Ole Miss or makes a game of it? Does the Egg Bowl somehow become winnable again in the naysayers minds? After all they just came off a big win over LSU. What if it's say within 7 points? My prediction at the beginning of the season was 7-5 with 8-4 a possibility if we beat OSU. 7-5 IMO is not out of the question and it certainly is higher then 5%.

I'd give 6-6 a very good chance of happening with an outside shot at 7-5. But 7-5 was my expectation and we aren't too too far off of that at 4-3 at this point. Of course I do think we beat Arkansas and Ole Miss with our biggest upset chance against USC.

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Originally Posted by MarketingBully01

Where did you come up with those percentages? Let me ask a quick question. What if Idaho does the unthinkable and beats Ole Miss or makes a game of it? Does the Egg Bowl somehow become winnable again in the naysayers minds? After all they just came off a big win over LSU. What if it's say within 7 points? My prediction at the beginning of the season was 7-5 with 8-4 a possibility if we beat OSU. 7-5 IMO is not out of the question and it certainly is higher then 5%.

I'd give 6-6 a very good chance of happening with an outside shot at 7-5. But 7-5 was my expectation and we aren't too too far off of that at 4-3 at this point. Of course I do think we beat Arkansas and Ole Miss with our biggest upset chance against USC.

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Our biggest upset chance will be the ole miss game. They will be favored but it will be at our house. That would be 6-6 if we beat Arky. I'll take that. It would mean Mullen went to 4 bowl games in 5 years and beat ole miss 4/5 times.

I don't think it's a horrible post at all. it's a legit question. I thought between 5 and 7 wins was realistic based on the shit sandwich of a schedule we got fed. The odds are stacked against CDM. If he can win six with the Egg Bowl, I think most will be satisfied (not happy... just satisfied) with that outcome.

I just wanted to keep the bowl string going. I'm fine with 6-6 this year. IT IS STILL POSSIBLE

I expected us to have a decent team and go 5-7 and that's what we are getting. I had a hard time finding 6 wins on the schedule, barring an upset.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

I don't think it's a horrible post at all. it's a legit question. I thought between 5 and 7 wins was realistic based on the shit sandwich of a schedule we got fed. The odds are stacked against CDM. If he can win six with the Egg Bowl, I think most will be satisfied (not happy... just satisfied) with that outcome.

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And this is why I'd be willing to bet a good bit that Stricklin will not replace Mullen at the end of the year even if he goes 4-8. Strick will place some of the blame on himself for scheduling Okie state where we were pretty much guaranteed a loss and we lost some key players due to injuries. We are stuck with Mullen and I'm starting to accept it. I just hope he gets his shit together. I really like Hud but I don't like him nearly as much as I love MSU. When Hud gets hired by another program I'll cheer for him too and watch him compete for championships, but I'll always want us to kick his ass regardless of who our coach is. Maybe we can find the next Mark Hudspeth when Mullen does leave.

6-6 and thought only way to get to 7 was to beat either ok state or auburn.

I expected to be 6-1 at this point dropping OSU, road game at Auburn, or LSU. I just 'knew' we were gonna finally get LSU and they were down. Oops. But...I thought we'd drop the next 3. Who knew TAMU and SC would look somewaht beatable? So, I had us 6-1 but headed for 6-4 quick. If we take one of these, we'll be 5-5, just one off what I thought. I thought we'd split Arkansas and Ole Miss, with Arkansas on the road the more likely loss. If we still split we'd get to 6 and make a bowl if we topple SC or TAMU. Winning amd losing can feed themselves though so I'd change engie's % just some. I'd put 5-7 at a solid 50% and 6-6 to 15% and 7-5 to 20%. I know that sounds strange but if we get SC or TAMU we will have to do some things right and I'm thinkin' (hopin') that leads to more confidence not only for players but for coaches to loosen up and get less conservative. So, what I mean is beating one of them leads to better chance of Knocking down bothe Arkansas AND Ole Miss thereby getting 7 wins. So, I'm saying that if we don't poop out a 4-8 or limp to 5-7 then there's a somewhat better chance to actually get to 7 than settle at 6-6.

Beating Ole Miss will not be an upset. They might be favored but IMHO it won't be looked at nationally like wow State beat Ole Miss. They haven't beaten us in Starkville since 2003. Why does everyone think they will beat us? If Dak leads our offense the whole game, they won't stop our run game AND if we focus on stopping their run they have shown that they shut down because everything is predicated on their run. They won't open up their play book and just throw it. You can make them one dimensional if you stop their run. Just follow the blue print that Auburn and Alabama showed. LSU obviously didn't look at the tape because they allowed them to run it pretty easily. As I said before, Les Miles "the idiot" had no business losing that game.

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Originally Posted by Will James

Horrible post.

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edited for hack


i expect nothing less than to play after thanksgiving. I expect to compete in every game, with maybe one blowout. I expect to not have games against BG and UK come down to our prevent defense stopping them.

I expect to be a motivated, well coached football team. We haven't been that for a full seasons worth of games.

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you're response is reasonable. I just didn't agree with calling out a first time poster for throwing a legitimate question out there. To me asking yourself where this team is now as compared to where you thought they'd be is legit, thoughtful, and could help settle the ridiculous mass hysteria that's overtaken the MSU message board community after two consecutive wins.

but yes, I understand your frustrations and get your general point.

I expect to be better than we are. period! Dan's a Dud!

After the way we finished last year, I figured 6-6 would be about right considering the schedule. Still possible but not likely.

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Originally Posted by preachermatt83

I expect to be better than we are. period! Dan's a Dud!

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That we would play to win games and not to lose.

W-L record has a lot to do with our schedule on a year to year basis.

I expected to score more than 3 points against OSU. I didn't expect to lose by 32 at home to LSU. I didn't expect to get shut out in the 2nd half vs Bowling Green. I expect to beat UK by more than 5 at home. And I expected at least 6-6 and a bowl game.

I thought we may go 7-5. Now I don't think we win another game! Ole Miss will beat us this year, they will shut our run game down and we won't stop their offense. I hate it but that's the way I see the rest of the season going.

I picked us to go 6-6 this year after a hard fought season. We will go 5-7. We haven't played in the second half since like week 4. That doesn't bode well for our remaining games or next year as far as concerned. Would love to be wrong!!

I thought we would go 7-5 with a win over AU and losing to OSU.

So based off that prediction, you should modify it to 6-6.

I thought we would go 6-6 but was hoping for 7-5. Now I think it will be 4-8 or 5-7 with our 1st ever win in the state of Arkansas.

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Originally Posted by MarketingBully01

Beating Ole Miss will not be an upset. They might be favored but IMHO it won't be looked at nationally like wow State beat Ole Miss. They haven't beaten us in Starkville since 2003. Why does everyone think they will beat us? If Dak leads our offense the whole game, they won't stop our run game AND if we focus on stopping their run they have shown that they shut down because everything is predicated on their run. They won't open up their play book and just throw it. You can make them one dimensional if you stop their run. Just follow the blue print that Auburn and Alabama showed. LSU obviously didn't look at the tape because they allowed them to run it pretty easily. As I said before, Les Miles "the idiot" had no business losing that game.

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Because we think with our heads and not our hearts. We've watched them play and we've watched us play. How can anybody watch us play and think we will beat them? We don't play hard for more than a half. They play their asses off for 4 quarters. Freeze makes adjustments, Mullen doesn't. If the game is close or we are behind by even 1 point at the half, it's over. We will need to be ahead by 17 or more at the half if we are going to beat them.

Look, I hope to hell you are right. Nothing would tickle me more than to beat their asses so I could say Mullen is 4/5 against those bastards. I just don't see it happening.

I admire your optimism. I used to be there. I was blasted for being a sunshine pumper. Now, I am realistic. You will call me a naysayer, pessimistic, doom and gloom, whatever. That's what I called folks like me years ago. Then I grew older and this is what MSU football does to you. You look at things logically insted of emotionally. I'm betting you are in your 20's or early 30's.

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Originally Posted by MarketingBully01

Where did you come up with those percentages? Let me ask a quick question. What if Idaho does the unthinkable and beats Ole Miss or makes a game of it? Does the Egg Bowl somehow become winnable again in the naysayers minds? After all they just came off a big win over LSU. What if it's say within 7 points? My prediction at the beginning of the season was 7-5 with 8-4 a possibility if we beat OSU. 7-5 IMO is not out of the question and it certainly is higher then 5%.

I'd give 6-6 a very good chance of happening with an outside shot at 7-5. But 7-5 was my expectation and we aren't too too far off of that at 4-3 at this point. Of course I do think we beat Arkansas and Ole Miss with our biggest upset chance against USC.

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No.

7-5 is 5% AT BEST -- and that's being KIND statistically. Saying we get to 7-5 overall is saying we've got a 37% chance to win each of the 3 games in question. It's nowhere NEAR that great.

We will be 7-10 pt underdogs at SC and 6+ point underdogs against Ole Miss. We've won ZERO games as 7+ point underdogs under Mullen -- and only 1 as a 6+ point underdog(2009 Egg -- back when our team had heart). 0 for 58 and 1 for 58. We've never won in Arkansas period.

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Originally Posted by DownwardDawg

Because we think with our heads and not our hearts. We've watched them play and we've watched us play. How can anybody watch us play and think we will beat them? We don't play hard for more than a half. They play their asses off for 4 quarters. Freeze makes adjustments, Mullen doesn't. If the game is close or we are behind by even 1 point at the half, it's over. We will need to be ahead by 17 or more at the half if we are going to beat them.

Look, I hope to hell you are right. Nothing would tickle me more than to beat their asses so I could say Mullen is 4/5 against those bastards. I just don't see it happening.

I admire your optimism. I used to be there. I was blasted for being a sunshine pumper. Now, I am realistic. You will call me a naysayer, pessimistic, doom and gloom, whatever. That's what I called folks like me years ago. Then I grew older and this is what MSU football does to you. You look at things logically insted of emotionally. I'm betting you are in your 20's or early 30's.

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100% with you. It's not so much our record -- but how we are doing it. Or more precisely, how we are not doing it.

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Originally Posted by Will James

Horrible post.

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edited for hack


i expect nothing less than to play after thanksgiving. I expect to compete in every game, with maybe one blowout. I expect to not have games against BG and UK come down to our prevent defense stopping them.

I expect to be a motivated, well coached football team. We haven't been that for a full seasons worth of games.

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Your ridiculous. We are an extremely young team and I saw this coming from a mile away. Right now we just don't have the athletes in the secondary to compete with the LSU's and the Alabama's. Yes we should have put BG and Kentucky away but I think it will help us in the long run. The young guys now know how to win the close ones. Something we haven't been able to do in the past

We shall see. Let's revisit this in late November.