Tom Emansky's non situational, non Bunting prediction for MSU and Rest of SEC West...

[RougeDawg]

Ok. we've all beaten our heads against said walls over the SEC Network, ESPN, and any other Pundit with a keyboard's asinine, ignorant prediction of our season. I know most of you on here, as I, keep up with the "Goings On" amongst the program and know the hand that we have been dealt this season. The problem for the "national sports pandering sites" is they read headlines and are too lazy to delve into what really is the truth. I have a sports writer buddy who was in town and stayed in the guest room this past weekend. His 1st statement about us was how many starters we lost and how much we have to replace. I subsequently went down the line of the players we lost, their contribution, and who was actually returning. To which he responded, "Oh, I didin't realize that." He proved what just about everyone here (except Bearsharts) knows about the national media and their complete 180 with our program. Please keep up and if I confuse let met know. I know my thoughts sometimes stray from topic, but I am going to attempt to predict our season and other SEC West teams.

As I stated in prior posts yesterday and earlier in the week, I do not base W/L's on stars or talent, but the overal Team and venue.

I know most will ridicule me, but I say we go 11-1 this year, go to ATL and get a seat at the final four. We have the SEC's best returning player. Any team other than us with Dak is picked to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. We get 0.00000 respect so who cares, we know what we have but it may be good that the rest of college football is once again sleeping on us.

My gut feeling says we beat everyone on the schedule, based on Talent, Experience, and location, but the logical part of my brain says we have one mental breakdown in there. We are better than 10 of our opponents this season if you take into account Talent and Experience plus location. We should beat every team on the schedule on those parameters alone, except Barn and Bama. I believe we have the edge over Barn with Talent and Experience but we play in their pasture. Bama has recruited some of the finest players to walk this earth the last decade, so they will be a formidable foe in November.

So here are Tom's predictions and a brief reason why:

Bama 10-2 - Lose to State and Barn. Have the talent but the two main games are away from Delusiontown.

Auburn 10-2 - Lose to State and LSU (away) - Talent is there, but experience lacking, could also lose at Georgia or Arkansas

Arkansas 7-5 - gonna lose their back 3 games and at least two of A&M, Tenn, AUburn, and possibly all of them. (Arkanasa was sleeper last year and got everyone's "Off SEC Week" approach), which will translate into less momentum and some SEC Network butthurt. But based on the SEC Network employees, this won't be the first thing to hurt any butts over there.

Ellis Yeaux 8-4 - Everyone's Cinderella this year, yet they have no one to take them to the Ball. LSU has talent in areas, not QB or HC, and will struggle to find it's identity once again. With losses to Lowly Mississippi State, Auburn, Bama, and Florida almost imminent, Les will need some Miracles to keep the Coonass faithful off of his back and out of his trees.

Northern Mississippi - 6-6 (If they keep their Al Capone out of the Clink) Yes my predictions are far from the national ignorants, but the national ignorants pay attention to ******'s and not results. I'm giving our northern Confederats credit with wins over Fresno State and Memphis (both of which could be L's) in this predictions. The heralded defense lost its two main pieces from last years team and will not be able to overcome the ineptitude of their offense this year. Their inept QB and fast paced offense will put their D back out there much sooner than desired. They have no QB and that "Salty Defense" will wear down and be sucking eggsover the season. They better beat Fresno to hope for a winning season. Memphis had them on the ropes last year, well into the 3rd, but 2 memphis turnovers sealed the deal.

Texas A&M 6-6 Seriously they have 3 OOC gimmes and Vandy, but I'm struggling to find 2 more wins for them to get 6. As I've stated for 3 years, since they joined the SEC, their Defensive approach is atrocious and will never be consistent in the SEC. They have a Big12 defense and it shows.

Bottom Line- Barring an injury to Dak, we should win the west and be in contention for a playoff spot. Our team is much better this year than last year and the nation will see in a few days.

Feel free to disagree and provide explanation. The last two seasons I've take an Objective approach to the SEC West outcomes and they've been pretty damn close.

[SDDawg]

Looks right to me.

[Maroonthirteen]

We saw tonight, in the two sec games, how important an experienced QB is.

UNCs and Vandys guy made mistake after mistake and it cost them the game. Auburn, OM and Bama have new QBs and LSUs starter is a work in progress. We have the most talented and experienced QB in the SEC. It is going to be a good year for the Bulldogs.

[Dawgface]

Hope you're right.

[BulldogBear]

I think it's great. Spot on about TAMU, especially.

[blacklistedbully]

Pretty much what I've been saying about us, but with more detail regarding other teams. Good post.

[CadaverDawg]

The wool is strong in this thread. Need to remember these posters for the "most optimistic award".

Freeze would get executed if he went 6-6 with that talent. No chance that happens.

I'm all for confidence, but saying "we SHOULD win the West", will likely leave you very disappointed at season's end.

But hey, I hope you guys nail this prediction. Just don't bet your mortgage on it. (Or any money for that matter)

[smootness]

We saw tonight, in the two sec games, how important an experienced QB is.

UNCs and Vandys guy made mistake after mistake and it cost them the game. Auburn, OM and Bama have new QBs and LSUs starter is a work in progress. We have the most talented and experienced QB in the SEC. It is going to be a good year for the Bulldogs.

A good QB is extremely important, but an experienced one is not. There are too many examples every year in college football of a new QB tearing it up to say otherwise.

The good news is that we likely have the best QB in the conference. But that doesn't mean a guy like Jeremy Johnson won't be very good simply because he hasn't started before.

[blacklistedbully]

The wool is strong in this thread. Need to remember these posters for the "most optimistic award".

Freeze would get executed if he went 6-6 with that talent. No chance that happens.

I'm all for confidence, but saying "we SHOULD win the West", will likely leave you very disappointed at season's end.

But hey, I hope you guys nail this prediction. Just don't bet your mortgage on it. (Or any money for that matter)

Just don't forget me at the end of this season. Told y'all early in the summer last year we would win 10 minimum, that 9 would be a disappointment, and we'd beat LSU at Death valley.

This season, according to the spread-sheet LiterallyPolice did, I'm the 2nd-most optimistic by a fraction of a point.

[CadaverDawg]

Just don't forget me at the end of this season. Told y'all early in the summer last year we would win 10 minimum, that 9 would be a disappointment, and we'd beat LSU at Death valley.

This season, according to the spread-sheet LiterallyPolice did, I'm the 2nd-most optimistic by a fraction of a point.

Ha, that's right. Weren't you the one that basically said we could win anywhere from 7 to 11 games last year, and then said "you got it right" when we won 10? Haha, good strategy.

[BeardoMSU]

Ha, that's right. Weren't you the one that basically said we could win anywhere from 7 to 11 games last year, and then said "you got it right" when we won 10? Haha, good strategy.

They've done studies you know.....60% of the time it works..every time***

[blacklistedbully]

Ha, that's right. Weren't you the one that basically said we could win anywhere from 7 to 11 games last year, and then said "you got it right" when we won 10? Haha, good strategy.

Man, you are thinking of someone else. The last time you accused me of this, I bumped an old thread to prove it. I CLEARLY said, in reply to many who thought 7 wins would be acceptable, 8 likely, and 9 a dream season, that 8 would be an underachievement, and 7, "cause to run Mullen outta-town-on-a-rail". My exact words!

I believe I was the first to say we should expect a minimum of 10, that I felt 11 was most likely, and that we'd challenge for the SECW, thus the SEC, thus the NC.

Do you need me to bump the old threads again? Get it straight, dude! I'm only asking you get the record correct if you're going to track such things.

[blacklistedbully]

Cadaver, some of my posts from last year:

April 8, 2014:
I am still very unhappy with his clock-management, including his willingness to start sitting on too small a lead too soon. I'm still pissed about his personnel decisions, and am not as impressed as most with the wins over Arky & Ole Miss. But I did like the way he got us ready to smoke an over-manned Rice team. The large margin of victory over a decent, if not really good Rice team made me feel a little better. The fact that he can no longer make the same ridiculous personnel decisions he did last year due to graduation makes me feel like he gets this year to prove he can move us forward.

He has all the tools he needs for the game plan he wants to run. He needs to show me he has matured and improved as a coach. No more stepping on our own dicks. No more switching to cruise control when the lead is not yet secure. No more really stupid play calls where we keep running an under-sized back subject to arm tackles between the tackles (graduation solved this, but I'll blow my top if he finds a way to do something similar). I think we need to see growth from Dan. I really like a lot of what he does and has done, but there were some things that just boggled the mind, so I really hope & pray he has learned from his mistakes.

Must beat USM, UAB, USA, UK, Arky, UT-Martin & Vandy. Must win at least 2 of LSU, TAMU, Auburn, Bama & OM, and that is if we are at least competitive in the others. Won't be happy unless we win at least 3, though.

As you can see, in this post, I clearly said 9 games were MUST wins and that I would not be happy unless we won at least 10.

And this from the same thread in response to someone else saying 8 games would be good, 7 enough to keep his job:
IMO 8 wins, with this team and with all the starters other SEC teams are losing, would be an underachievement. If we win only 7, he should be run outta town on a rail.

Same thread, responding to another poster saying he needed to see 8 minimum:
I think we need at least 9, and think we should get to at least 10. This looks like the best opportunity we have had since the early-80's, with who we have coming back and what the rest of our division looks like.

Win all 4 non-con, Arky, UK, Vandy and at least 2 of Bama, Auburn, LSU, TAMU & OM.

I think we'll be better than OM and take'em down in Oxford. We should be better than a TAMU with no JFF or Evans. We should have beat Auburn last year, and I like who we have coming back better than who they have coming back. LSU has had our number, but we have played them so close recently (including last year's strange 4th Q), and their loss of starters over the past 2 seasons should be the difference, even with the talent they have, because we have talent and experience. Bama is gonna Bama and reload, but they are replacing some starters, including the most important, QB. Our defense played them tough last year, and were just finding their legs in that game. I expect us to be better and them to be not quite as good as last year.

Then, in August of 2014, again in response to others expecting less:
1. USM
2. UAB
3. USB
4. UT-MArtin
5. UK
6. Vandy
7. UPig

Does anybody here really think we should not win all 7 of these? I'm not talking about upsets, because there's as much chance of us upsetting another team as there is of being upset. So, if you agree we should get 7 wins from the above, that leaves us with:

TAMU
LSU
Ole Miss
Auburn
Alabama

Would some of y'all really be ok with losing 4 of those 5? I just can't understand that, not given what we have coming back versus what the others have coming back. I fully expect us to beat TSUN, Auburn & TAMU, and feel we have a GREAT shot at beating LSU. The only reason I don't include them in the "expect" column is the fact it is at LSU.

Now, we've gotten beat badly by Bama most years, yet we gave them a tough game last year. We will be much better this year, IMO, and they will quite likely not be quite as good. I think we've at least got a puncher's chance at Bama this year as well.

To me, we must win those 7 I first mentioned, and we really should win at least 3 of the next 5. We are going to be better than TAMU & TSUN, at least as good as Auburn, who we could (and maybe should) have beaten 4 of the past 5 games, and this year the gap is closed even more. With LSU's loss of starters the past couple of years, we quite likely could finally have a better combination of talent, experience & depth than they do. We have come close to beating them before when the talent/experience/depth gap was widely in their favor. That's not the case this year.

I just don't see how we, as fans, could be happy with anything less than 10 wins in the regular season this year. The stars are aligning, folks. It's time to shit or get off the pot in football! This is OUR STATE and OUR YEAR!!!!!

It's a damn fine day to be a Bulldog!

From the same thread:
Sorry, I just can't believe you think our most likely ceiling is 8 wins. We have:

1. USM
2. UAB
3. USB
4. UT-MArtin
5. UK
6. Vandy
7. UPig

If we don't win all 7 of those, something is really wrong. And if we win 7 of those, winning just 1 more other than that would be a disgrace, IMO.

If Dan wins just 8 games this year, with the talent he has returning and the schedule set up the way it is, he should be run outta town on a rail, barring a barrage of key injuries. 8 wins should be an embarrassment this year, not a ceiling.

Cadaver, I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Beastman. He was the one who said anything from 7-to-10 wins, 9 or 10 if everything went right.

[blacklistedbully]

This is a thread I started in February 2014:

[IPredicted SEC football standings
Sorry if old News I missed, but how do y'all see things breaking out and why if you want to add it.

I am having a hard time justifying placing us lower with who we have coming back relative to the rest of the Division. I feel confident we'll finish ahead of Ole Miss, TAMU & UPig, but also can't see why we shouldn't beat a depleted LSU, a Bama losing their QB, and an Auburn team losing their top RB as well as other key pieces, and a team Mullen should have beaten 4 of 5 times already, with this one at home for us, and us perhaps fielding our best overall team in Mullen's term.

Yes, I know we rarely compete with Bama, almost never beat LSU since the 80's, and rarely win @ Ole Miss. But I also think it's more rare that we've had the advantage in starters returning, a perfect QB for our system and a DC that knows how to use personnel.

I know it sounds crazy based on our history, but I really feel like we should contend for the top spot this year. I'm gonna go out on a real limb here and say:

West
MSU
Bama
Auburn
LSU
Ole Miss
UPig
Tamu

East
UGA
SCar
Mizzou
UF
UT
UK
Vandy][/I]

[RougeDawg]

Let me just say I had us predicted to go 10-2 last season but thought we would win EB. Predicted we'd lose at Bama and have another trip up along the way.

I was also one of the few predicting that we would man handle LSU last season and never once was worried about that W. Simply looking at us and the other objectively based on last season's results and who will be returning this season.

[Barking 13]

that's some serious butthurt...lol

I'm just ready to watch them play tomorrow night so I can see for myself how it's going to go.... I've rewatched last years games, the spring game (ad nauseum), every sneak pic from practice and scrimmages, reading every damn letter of all these posts, watching and reading every form of anti-state propaganda from the "experts" (if I see booger in public, I'm gonna beotch slap that 400 lb ass ) and I'm just ready to kick this sucker off...
I've watched the Bulldogs for about 40 years, so I know a shitty team when I see one. If they look like they did last year and in the spring game with a little more flavor, we've got nothing to worry about except keeping it together for 17 weeks.

[CadaverDawg]

Dude, I was just messin with ya. I honestly don't give two shits what you predicted. Hate you wasted time, and that I caused you to get upset. Was just making a funny. Keep the optimism bro.

[blacklistedbully]

Dude, I was just messin with ya. I honestly don't give two shits what you predicted. Hate you wasted time, and that I caused you to get upset. Was just making a funny. Keep the optimism bro.

C'mon, man. This is fun. Mom always said I should've been a lawyer, 'cause I like to argue my case so much. And you do give at least 2 shits, otherwise you wouldn't have tried to call me out on it in two separate threads. BTW, how good is, "2 shits"? Is that a fairly decent amount of, "giving a shit", or is it only slightly better than 1 shit?

I know mathematically speaking, it's only 1 shit more than, "a shit", but then a shit can be a very satisfying experience, so that one extra shit could actually mean you're showing me a fair amount of love, n'est-ce pas?

[Barking 13]

2 shits is a bunch....

on a roll today....

[blacklistedbully]

Cadaver, if you truly do hate that you wasted my time, how about you make up for it by staking me some decent vcash? I'm running pretty low thanks to betting heavy on us vs UNM last year.