Non G5 Road Games

I will admit I might not be fully informed on this but I really don?t like playing these teams on the road. It is a lose-lose situation for mid tier power 5 teams like State. If we win we did what we were supposed to do, but losing it really stings. If these teams like Memphis, USM, La Tech don?t want to come to Starkville and play without a return game then fine. We should just schedule two complete cupcakes that won?t care and then 2 power 5. If we had played NC State and say Minnesota this year and we lost to Minnesota on the road, it wouldn?t have been a big deal. We know a non G5 team will look at it as their super bowl and play up to full potential. I get maybe playing ULL in the super dome for a neutral site but playing these type of teams on the road is a mess. Luckily Mullen pulled some of them out like Troy in 2012 but we seem to do this more than any SEC team if you look at their schedules. Maybe I am missing something but I just do not see the benefit here for us.

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Originally Posted by PGHBulldogBG

I will admit I might not be fully informed on this but I really don?t like playing these teams on the road. It is a lose-lose situation for mid tier power 5 teams like State. If we win we did what we were supposed to do, but losing it really stings. If these teams like Memphis, USM, La Tech don?t want to come to Starkville and play without a return game then fine. We should just schedule two complete cupcakes that won?t care and then 2 power 5. If we had played NC State and say Minnesota this year and we lost to Minnesota on the road, it wouldn?t have been a big deal. We know a non G5 team will look at it as their super bowl and play up to full potential. I get maybe playing ULL in the super dome for a neutral site but playing these type of teams on the road is a mess. Luckily Mullen pulled some of them out like Troy in 2012 but we seem to do this more than any SEC team if you look at their schedules. Maybe I am missing something but I just do not see the benefit here for us.

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100% agree.

I agree, and I might be wrong about this, but I'd also argue if we must play a G5 road game, it needs to be later in the season. Seems to me that early season jitters and kinks work greatly in an underdog's favor to offset a talent gap.

I don't have a problem with these games as long as they're semi-local and we have decent amount of alumni in the area.

The cost of buying home games is getting expensive. Plus, 35K crowds for 11am games against Jacksonville St doesnt do us alot of good either.

Just dont lose to Memphis. Good teams dont do that

When was the last time Bama, UGA, LSU, Auburn, Aggies ever stepped foot in a G5 stadium?

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Originally Posted by Maverick91

When was the last time Bama, UGA, LSU, Auburn, Aggies ever stepped foot in a G5 stadium?

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No idea, but we aren't any of those

That's the point. Even though we aren't them, we don't have to take those games. They don't we don't have to. I cannot believe that if we tried to call other power5 teams that they wouldn't schedule home and homes with us. Weed these teams out.

I mean really we open next year with Memphis, right? yeah, that doesn't excite me and guess what it doesn't excite recruits. But, hey if we had any team from the top five conferences. It would bring WAY more hype and national attention. We want to grow our brand we have got to start playing branded games.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Just dont lose to Memphis. Good teams dont do that

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2015 OM was pretty good.

No dispute from me on what should have happened Saturday, though.

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Originally Posted by Maverick91

That's the point. Even though we aren't them, we don't have to take those games. They don't we don't have to. I cannot believe that if we tried to call other power5 teams that they wouldn't schedule home and homes with us. Weed these teams out.

I mean really we open next year with Memphis, right? yeah, that doesn't excite me and guess what it doesn't excite recruits. But, hey if we had any team from the top five conferences. It would bring WAY more hype and national attention. We want to grow our brand we have got to start playing branded games.

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The options are to pay through the nose for stand alone G5 home game, do more P5 home and homes that diminish the chances of having a winning season, or do what we have been doing which is 2 for 1's with regional G5 teams.

I get your point, but most of our fans would rather have a G5 win than a P5 loss. We already play 9 P5 games, the more you add the tougher it is to have a winning season. Fewer winning seasons, fewer butts in the seats, fewer donations, etc.

And yeah, the answer is just to win the extra P5 game. Or not to lose the G5 game like we just did. But these decisions are made years in advance and without the benefit of hindsight.

I would hope with the increased money that should come rolling in when the SECN deal is re-upped we can just pay these G5 teams to play a stand-alone home game. Then you have to win it, which is another issue...

I just wish they would not use SEC refs in those road games. I would rather have thier Refs trying not to be bias.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

I don't have a problem with these games as long as they're semi-local and we have decent amount of alumni in the area.

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And Memphis is as good as it gets. Half the stands were MSU maroon. No excuse to lose.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lambert

I just wish they would not use SEC refs in those road games. I would rather have thier Refs trying not to be bias.

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That would be more favorable to us. We should propose that next time. SEC refs are so bad for us, why would we let them?

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Originally Posted by RiverCityDawg

The options are to pay through the nose for stand alone G5 home game, do more P5 home and homes that diminish the chances of having a winning season, or do what we have been doing which is 2 for 1's with regional G5 teams.

I get your point, but most of our fans would rather have a G5 win than a P5 loss. We already play 9 P5 games, the more you add the tougher it is to have a winning season. Fewer winning seasons, fewer butts in the seats, fewer donations, etc.

And yeah, the answer is just to win the extra P5 game. Or not to lose the G5 game like we just did. But these decisions are made years in advance and without the benefit of hindsight.

I would hope with the increased money that should come rolling in when the SECN deal is re-upped we can just pay these G5 teams to play a stand-alone home game. Then you have to win it, which is another issue...

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I do get it, it's just a sucky situation.

I would rather lose @virginia tech or @ penn state or @mich state that is much better than @memphis. At least we took a risk and played a game on the road against another P5 game and if we lose then ok that is not ideal but it happens. If we win it?s a great momentum builder for the team and program. There is a big difference having the chance to win against a G5 team on the road. I guess if the SEC just went to 9 games we wouldn?t have to worry about this which is what should happen

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Originally Posted by Coach34

The cost of buying home games is getting expensive. Plus, 35K crowds for 11am games against Jacksonville St doesnt do us alot of good either.

Just dont lose to Memphis. Good teams dont do that

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And again it comes down to MSU doesn't want to pay.

I liked what we did with ULL a couple of years ago playing in the Superdome.

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Originally Posted by thf24

I agree, and I might be wrong about this, but I'd also argue if we must play a G5 road game, it needs to be later in the season. Seems to me that early season jitters and kinks work greatly in an underdog's favor to offset a talent gap.

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Personally I don't mind playing Memphis, Tulane, USM, or even UAB on the road. Troy and La Tech however...no.

Why not go play a one off at Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, etc? I would rather lose to one of them than Tiger High.

Playing Memphis benefits the local fans. State has a large alumni base in Memphis/Desoto County.

As for football, yeah, it is a risk without much upside. Now that Ive had a few days to calm down....... Really, losing to Memphis is no different than losing to KState or OkSt or GTech...etc. Losing to any of those guys doesn't help the program. Also, I would argue defeating a low to middle P5 doesn't really move the needle for the program either. Back to Memphis, while they are a G5 officially, their program is as good as many many P5 schools at this point in time. They played in the Cotton Bowl in 2019. But State really needs to win that game every time for recruiting and the fans.

How long before we start selling home games again, like LT did in Rocky's tenure.

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Originally Posted by PGHBulldogBG

I would rather lose @virginia tech or @ penn state or @mich state that is much better than @memphis. At least we took a risk and played a game on the road against another P5 game and if we lose then ok that is not ideal but it happens. If we win it?s a great momentum builder for the team and program. There is a big difference having the chance to win against a G5 team on the road. I guess if the SEC just went to 9 games we wouldn?t have to worry about this which is what should happen

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Even though bowl games don't mean what they used to, the extra practices still matter. We don't need to play 10 P5 teams. And if fans want 7 home games (which judging by attendance, they may not really care), we really need 2 for 1 games with G5 schools. And even if fans would be happy having 6 home games to instead of 7 some years, unless they pay the same amount for 6 games, we probably need the revenue from that 7th game, even if it's just 35k fans in the stands.

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

Even though bowl games don't mean what they used to, the extra practices still matter. We don't need to play 10 P5 teams. And if fans want 7 home games (which judging by attendance, they may not really care), we really need 2 for 1 games with G5 schools. And even if fans would be happy having 6 home games to instead of 7 some years, unless they pay the same amount for 6 games, we probably need the revenue from that 7th game, even if it's just 35k fans in the stands.

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We would still have 7 home games though because 1 power 5 team would be home and the other game would be away. Then play 2 cupcakes that don?t need a road game. WVU actually is playing 11 power 5 teams this year. They actually always play 10 or 11 and I wish we set it up like them. They play a real easy cupcake or 2 each year and then 1 or 2 power 5 non conference

I rather see college football go back to 11 regular season games than play 12 games with 2 cupcakes. I assume cupcakes would be FCS.