Let's say Leach goes 6-6 this season

[Coach34]

The consensus here seems to be 7-8 wins. Vastly improved O and a good D

What if we go 6-6 and 2-6 in the SEC with wins over Vandy and Mississippi? I add the win over Mississippi because if we lose that one its going to be a long offseason unless we already had 7 wins going into the game. Would 6-6/2-6 make you feel the program was headed in the right direction?

[Matt3467]

The consensus here seems to be 7-8 wins. Vastly improved O and a good D

What if we go 6-6 and 2-6 in the SEC with wins over Vandy and Mississippi? I add the win over Mississippi because if we lose that one its going to be a long offseason unless we already had 7 wins going into the game. Would 6-6/2-6 make you feel the program was headed in the right direction?

Yes. Since before Leach's first game I already thought it'd be year 3 where the pieces began to fall in place with a break out year 4. Of course that is if he get's that long.

[confucius say]

Assuming relative health, I'd be mildly disappointed at 6-6.

I have us at 7-5, so it would only be one game off.

ETA: I don't think our offense will be vastly improved. Just improved. Good defense.

[Catfish]

I don't think we can even count last with covid and everything else going on. Not counting the bowl win we had three wins last year. So yes, 6-6 shows we are heading in the right direction. Keep stirring the pot!

[KOdawg1]

Depends on how we look doing it. If we have to check down every other play or we can't guard 3, then it'll be pretty evident it's not going to work.

If we move the ball effectively but lose some close ones, then I'd be okay with it.

[HoopsDawg]

Yes. Since before Leach's first game I already thought it'd be year 3 where the pieces began to fall in place with a break out year 4. Of course that is if he get's that long.

So we are going to be better in Year 3 after losing our LT, C, and RT? Leach himself keeps saying Oline is the most important position on a football team.

[Cowbell]

The consensus here seems to be 7-8 wins. Vastly improved O and a good D

What if we go 6-6 and 2-6 in the SEC with wins over Vandy and Mississippi? I add the win over Mississippi because if we lose that one its going to be a long offseason unless we already had 7 wins going into the game. Would 6-6/2-6 make you feel the program was headed in the right direction?

If you go 6-6 with our defensive talent this year you should be put on notice...
ETA : Arnette doesn't seem like a guy who wants to be a part of mediocrity so I would expect him to take a better offer if this happens.

[thf24]

Since historically year 2 shows improvement but year 3 is when he really takes off, yes. Said improvement definitely needs to clearly show from the outset, though.

[HoopsDawg]

6-6 is the perfect number to use. It's realistic. It gives the sunshine crew optimism. It gives the negative crew pessimism.

Personally, I think Leach is a stop gap. It was the best Cohen could do after we missed on Judge and Napier. We aren't heading in the right direction under him. Hopefully, we aren't heading in the complete wrong direction. It's just a 3-5 year experiment. Is what it is, so to speak.

[drummerdawg]

I'm expecting 6-6 and I'm fine with that for this season. Being 5-6 going into the EB would kinda suck, but a win would bring momentum and some excitement going into the bowl game makin us feel better after a mediocre season.

[Percho]

I have been a bulldog fan for 62 years and I am not sure God could win 10 games at MSU. 6-6 would be going on the right direction.

Would like to ask HoopsDawg who as a coach he believes could be a consistent big time winner at MSU that MSU could actually hire?

BTW I would like to win more than 6 and hope we can.

[TrapGame]

C'mon 34, if the offense is "vastly improved" we're winning more than 6 games.

If the offense looks pretty good in those 6 losses I'm good with it. If it's still the Key Stone Cops every other snap then I'll be looking to join the Dark Side.

[BrunswickDawg]

The consensus here seems to be 7-8 wins. Vastly improved O and a good D

What if we go 6-6 and 2-6 in the SEC with wins over Vandy and Mississippi? I add the win over Mississippi because if we lose that one its going to be a long offseason unless we already had 7 wins going into the game. Would 6-6/2-6 make you feel the program was headed in the right direction?

I agree with most about it depends on how we get there. If the offense is improved, most of the losses close, and the wins are relatively easy games, then I say headed in the right direction.
If the offense is inept, our wins are squeakers, and the losses are blow outs, then year 3 better produce.

[HoopsDawg]

I have been a bulldog fan for 62 years and I am not sure God could win 10 games at MSU. 6-6 would be going on the right direction.

Would like to ask HoopsDawg who as a coach he believes could be a consistent big time winner at MSU that MSU could actually hire?

BTW I would like to win more than 6 and hope we can.

6-6 isn't the right direction. It's the absolute minimum. As Coach34 mentioned, we could go 2-6 in the SEC and still be 6-6 overall. This isn't 1988 when we only played 11 games and non conference teams like USM had similar if not better recruiting and resources than we did.

I do not believe Leach will recruit well enough and I do not believe Leach has evolved his offense enough over the years to take us anywhere other than 5-7 to 8-4.

Both Jackie Sherrill and Dan Mullen are 2 coaches who have shown us what can be accomplished at MSU. Consistent big time winner? No But making an interesting run every 4-5 years? Yes

[confucius say]

6-6 isn't the right direction. It's the absolute minimum. As Coach34 mentioned, we could go 2-6 in the SEC and still be 6-6 overall. This isn't 1988 when we only played 11 games and non conference teams like USM had similar if not better recruiting and resources than we did.

I do not believe Leach will recruit well enough and I do not believe Leach has evolved his offense enough over the years to take us anywhere other than 5-7 to 8-4.

Both Jackie Sherrill and Dan Mullen are 2 coaches who have shown us what can be accomplished at MSU. Consistent big time winner? No But making an interesting run every 4-5 years? Yes

Dan averaged 7-5. Leach will do the same.

[FISHDAWG]

The consensus here seems to be 7-8 wins. Vastly improved O and a good D

What if we go 6-6 and 2-6 in the SEC with wins over Vandy and Mississippi? I add the win over Mississippi because if we lose that one its going to be a long offseason unless we already had 7 wins going into the game. Would 6-6/2-6 make you feel the program was headed in the right direction?

I'm expecting 6 & 6 and yes I would be satisfied with that THIS YEAR ... however, next year is a different story

[thf24]

I do not believe Leach will recruit well enough and I do not believe Leach has evolved his offense enough over the years to take us anywhere other than 5-7 to 8-4.

I don't think there's any significant evidence to support either of these ideas with any confidence.

Leach recruited about the same at his last two jobs as those programs did without him. If that holds here, that's the same talent level that got us to #1 in the country once and put 10 wins within striking distance a few other times in the past decade under a guy who wasn't fully committed all the time. I know this current class is pretty disappointing so far, but it's a weird cycle for more than one reason, and I bet we still beat Mullen's 41-ranked second full class. If Leach does in the end totally tank from the level our program has been recruiting at for pretty much the entire current era of ratings, rankings and media coverage, it'll be an unprecedented event in his career.

Your second point is more subjective as far as the records are concerned, but the reports coming out of practice that we're running a lot more and incorporating some read option and QB runs indicate that Leach is in fact evolving his offense. We'll see if those actually show up in games this year, but at least for now, the trend is not that Leach is stubbornly doing the same things he always has.

[HoopsDawg]

I don't think there's any significant evidence to support either of these ideas with any confidence.

Leach recruited about the same at his last two jobs as those programs did without him. If that holds here, that's the same talent level that got us to #1 in the country once and put 10 wins within striking distance a few other times in the past decade under a guy who wasn't fully committed all the time. I know this current class is pretty disappointing so far, but it's a weird cycle for more than one reason, and I bet we still beat Mullen's 41-ranked second full class. If Leach does in the end totally tank from the level our program has been recruiting at for pretty much the entire current era of ratings, rankings and media coverage, it'll be an unprecedented event in his career.

Your second point is more subjective as far as the records are concerned, but the reports coming out of practice that we're running a lot more and incorporating some read option and QB runs indicate that Leach is in fact evolving his offense. We'll see if those actually show up in games this year, but at least for now, the trend is not that Leach is stubbornly doing the same things he always has.

If Leach evolves his offense like EVERY other coach under him has done, then my opinion will change.

[BrunswickDawg]

6-6 isn't the right direction. It's the absolute minimum. As Coach34 mentioned, we could go 2-6 in the SEC and still be 6-6 overall. This isn't 1988 when we only played 11 games and non conference teams like USM had similar if not better recruiting and resources than we did.

I do not believe Leach will recruit well enough and I do not believe Leach has evolved his offense enough over the years to take us anywhere other than 5-7 to 8-4.

Both Jackie Sherrill and Dan Mullen are 2 coaches who have shown us what can be accomplished at MSU. Consistent big time winner? No But making an interesting run every 4-5 years? Yes

And Dan Mullen showed us it was possible to go 5-7 in year 8, and squeak into a bowl win due to academics. Why is year 2 for Leach a different standard?

[SteelCurtain74]

The consensus here seems to be 7-8 wins. Vastly improved O and a good D

What if we go 6-6 and 2-6 in the SEC with wins over Vandy and Mississippi? I add the win over Mississippi because if we lose that one its going to be a long offseason unless we already had 7 wins going into the game. Would 6-6/2-6 make you feel the program was headed in the right direction?

Based on your scenario, that would mean we lost to Kentucky and Arkansas at home and the only home conference win at home is Ole Miss. To me that would be disappointing. At a minimum, we should get 3 conference wins this year imo.