Joe Moorhead article in The Athletic

[PMDawg]

Croom could have won 8 last season for us

lol. I won't go that far. He was horrid. But I completely believe that an average coach gets last year's squad 8 or 9 wins.

[Tbonewannabe]

They face the top 3 teams in the country, and LSU will be top 10

The teams we lost to on the road usually lose 1 or less per year at home. UK is pretty much the only team that is the outlier and they had the best team in the last 50 years that was one of the most experienced teams in the SEC with mostly senior starters. If you compare what aTm has recruited over the last 5 years to what MSU has recruited, aTm is a lot more talented on paper but for some reason Moorhead is held to a higher standard than Jimbo. You have said yourself that you think Jimbo is one of the top coaches in the country so why is the expectations for him next year less than Moorhead's from this year?

So comparing their schedule to ours last year:

@Clemson, @UGA, and @LSU - We lost to @Bama, @LSU, and @UK. aTm schedule is harder but honestly how often do you win against a top 10 team on the road? aTm is more than likely getting 3 losses there just like we did this year.

Bama at home - we lost to UF at home. Bama is definitely the tougher game but UF ended up #7 at the end of the year. We have won that type of game a handful of times in our history.

So if aTm somehow loses to Auburn or MSU at home then I guess Jimbo has failed miserably and should be fired according to some people on this board.

[BrunswickDawg]

He faces 3 playoff contenders (2 on the road) and LSU at tiger stadium. Our schedule was tough last year, but no where near this

At the time that we played them - #8 AU was a playoff contender and #5 LSU was a playoff contender. Now it didn't work out that way, but it is also true based on how "playoff contender" flows during the course of the season.
If UGA loses 2-3 would you still call them a contender (yes you would) - because they would have been in a legit position to make a run (as LSU or AU were mid-season last year).

As an aside - have you seen Clemson's schedule this fall? It may be one of the more ridiculously easy 12 games I've ever seen for a title contender. They could miss the playoff completely if we have a season with 3-4 undefeated teams and 1-3 teams with strong schedules and only 1 loss.

[Johnson85]

Here's what will be hilarious. If we go 7-5, which many on here have said is best case next year, those same people are going to lose their shit when we go 7-5. God I can't believe we lost that game. Man Moorhead sucks. What a terrible game plan.

It's going to happen, so none of this matters. Unless we go 10-2 or better, our fan base is going to find a way for complain.

Most people saying 7-5 is the best case are basing that on Moorhead not being good. So if he gets to 7-5 (we will probably have six bad teams plus a UK that has taken a big step back at home, plus UT and Auburn who have supposedly recruited well enough to be good but could also implode), it won't be hypocritical for them to freak out about it.

That said, if we go 7-5, for most people it's going to depend on how we went 7-5 (just like this year, most people are more upset about how we went 8-5 than the actual record). If UT and Auburn are good next year, and we compete in every game except Bama and our offense generally looks competent except that we need a legit WR, and we go 7-5 by beating 6 bad teams plus UK, then I think people will be ok. Not thrilled, but ok. If UT and Auburn implode, and UK takes a major step back, and we scratch out seven wins with good defense and bad offense, and still manage to lose to two bad teams and not even compete against A&M, LSU, and Bama, people will (understandably) be freaking out about how bad a hire he might end up being.

I expect us to look pretty solid against the bad defenses on our schedule next year. I expect us to be smothered by Bama and probably LSU although I don't know what they have coming back. The question is going to be how we score against UT, Auburn, A&M, and UK.

[msstate7]

At the time that we played them - #8 AU was a playoff contender and #5 LSU was a playoff contender. Now it didn't work out that way, but it is also true based on how "playoff contender" flows during the course of the season.
If UGA loses 2-3 would you still call them a contender (yes you would) - because they would have been in a legit position to make a run (as LSU or AU were mid-season last year).

As an aside - have you seen Clemson's schedule this fall? It may be one of the more ridiculously easy 12 games I've ever seen for a title contender. They could miss the playoff completely if we have a season with 3-4 undefeated teams and 1-3 teams with strong schedules and only 1 loss.

If Georgia loses 3 games in the regular season, they're a huge flop. They're better than everyone on their schedule

Clemson isn't gonna win a natty this year (lost way too much defense), but they're still better than all but 2 sec teams.

[Johnson85]

Croom could have won 8 last season for us

You must be under 25 and not actually remember the Croom years.

With Croom, we probably would have won OOC plus Um and Ark with much lower offensive scoring, but A&M and Auburn probably end up looking like UK. Defense would have kept us in it until a completely inept offense resulted in a worn down defense that gave up some scores late. Might could have picked a game back up with luck as far as defensive scoring goes, but it would have taken some incredible luck to get to 8 wins with him coaching.

[BrunswickDawg]

Most people saying 7-5 is the best case are basing that on Moorhead not being good. So if he gets to 7-5 (we will probably have six bad teams plus a UK that has taken a big step back at home, plus UT and Auburn who have supposedly recruited well enough to be good but could also implode), it won't be hypocritical for them to freak out about it.

That said, if we go 7-5, for most people it's going to depend on how we went 7-5 (just like this year, most people are more upset about how we went 8-5 than the actual record). If UT and Auburn are good next year, and we compete in every game except Bama and our offense generally looks competent except that we need a legit WR, and we go 7-5 by beating 6 bad teams plus UK, then I think people will be ok. Not thrilled, but ok. If UT and Auburn implode, and UK takes a major step back, and we scratch out seven wins with good defense and bad offense, and still manage to lose to two bad teams and not even compete against A&M, LSU, and Bama, people will (understandably) be freaking out about how bad a hire he might end up being.

I expect us to look pretty solid against the bad defenses on our schedule next year. I expect us to be smothered by Bama and probably LSU although I don't know what they have coming back. The question is going to be how we score against UT, Auburn, A&M, and UK.

And if UT, AU, and T&M aren't great, and UK regresses, and Arky and OM stay the same - and we win them all people won't be satisfied because "it was a down year in the SEC"

[msstate7]

The teams we lost to on the road usually lose 1 or less per year at home. UK is pretty much the only team that is the outlier and they had the best team in the last 50 years that was one of the most experienced teams in the SEC with mostly senior starters. If you compare what aTm has recruited over the last 5 years to what MSU has recruited, aTm is a lot more talented on paper but for some reason Moorhead is held to a higher standard than Jimbo. You have said yourself that you think Jimbo is one of the top coaches in the country so why is the expectations for him next year less than Moorhead's from this year?

So comparing their schedule to ours last year:

@Clemson, @UGA, and @LSU - We lost to @Bama, @LSU, and @UK. aTm schedule is harder but honestly how often do you win against a top 10 team on the road? aTm is more than likely getting 3 losses there just like we did this year.

Bama at home - we lost to UF at home. Bama is definitely the tougher game but UF ended up #7 at the end of the year. We have won that type of game a handful of times in our history.

So if aTm somehow loses to Auburn or MSU at home then I guess Jimbo has failed miserably and should be fired according to some people on this board.

If jimbo loses to state at home, he's not as good as I thought

[BiscuitEater]

I absolutely hate quotes from anonymous people.

Agree, I rarely even consider ANY anonymous quote. Anyone that can't be quoted .. can't be trusted. Period

[BrunswickDawg]

If jimbo loses to state at home, he's not as good as I thought

<Ron Howard narrator voice> He's not.

[smootness]

I think the tone and level of discontent annoyed Joe a few times. Whether he ever said a thing about Heismans or rings or the 85 has nothing to do with win totals or being able to find things to bitch about. If he had never said those 3 things the fans that don't like Joe would find something.

Color me skeptical, but I never bought into the Heisman and championship talk.

I don't care about the Heisman or championship talk. Every new coach does that. But he could have emphasized the long-term over the short-term, or at least hedged on some, and he didn't. Which is fine. But if you're going to do that, don't come back later and change your tone.

And the reality is, we won't be any closer to the 85 Bears or 72 Dolphins in terms of talent at least for a while. So if he's taking some kind of shot at our talent last year, what is his plan going forward? Is 8 wins our ceiling? If not, then don't even mention it. Just say we're going to build off last year and do better.

It may be true we weren't the most talented team in football history last year. But the fact is, it was an extremely talented roster relative to the history of Mississippi State. So unless he improves the recruiting leaps and bounds, he's basically admitting he won't do much better at State. That's why it's a crap quote.

[RezDog7]

This all day.

Take every Power 64 coach from 2018. How many wouldn't have won at least 8 games with our roster? 20? 10? I don't know, but I imagine 8-5 would be somewhere around the mean. Which means we had a very average coach last year.

Which coach could MSU have hired would have won more games since it's so easy to win with all that offensive talent we had.

[Tbonewannabe]

You must be under 25 and not actually remember the Croom years.

With Croom, we probably would have won OOC plus Um and Ark with much lower offensive scoring, but A&M and Auburn probably end up looking like UK. Defense would have kept us in it until a completely inept offense resulted in a worn down defense that gave up some scores late. Might could have picked a game back up with luck as far as defensive scoring goes, but it would have taken some incredible luck to get to 8 wins with him coaching.

Croom wouldn't have won @KSU. KSU ended up having one of the top defenses in the Big 12, not great but not a gimme. These entire Croom comparisons to Moorhead might as well compare Mullen to Saban. I don't know how we didn't win a National Title in 2014 so Mullen must suck.

[RezDog7]

I was completely factual in my post. When you have good facts- there is no need to make anything up.

A&M- 2/0
La Tech- 4/0
Bama- 0/0
UPig- 4/0
Mississippi- 1/0
Iowa- 1/2 (one being on Guidry)

That is not made up- complete fact

So one good defense, ok. And that wasn't on Guidry, the pass wasn't even intended for him.

[Tbonewannabe]

If jimbo loses to state at home, he's not as good as I thought

Why does that matter? He already lost last year. You expected us to win on the road against top 12 teams so why wouldn't Jimbo this year?

[Gutter Cobreh]

So one good defense, ok. And that wasn't on Guidry, the pass wasn't even intended for him.

Here is a game - guess 34's response to your post - I'll go with: "I never said it was intended for Guidry, yet simply it bounced off his chest. So technically, I'm still right!"

He knows he is making up stuff just to stir the pot, which I for some reason enjoy... He knows he is leaving out key information. In the games he is listing (which leaves out LSU) - Fitz threw the ball 134 times and completed 76 of them for a whopping 999 yds. (7 yds. per attempt).

[bulldawg28]

If Georgia loses 3 games in the regular season, they're a huge flop. They're better than everyone on their schedule

Clemson isn't gonna win a natty this year (lost way too much defense), but they're still better than all but 2 sec teams.

Who in the SEC can beat Clemson? Bama can't/won't I have no idea who this other team is other than maybe Florida.

[HoopsDawg]

Guys, some of you don't seem to understand how good our defense was. We may never see that again. We don't get many 5 star DT's like Simmons especially at the same time we have an NFL edge rusher, NFL LB's, and NFL DB's. And it was a veteran group coupled with a solid D-coordinator.

The Croom comment is not a reach. As I said all year, we could have run the T formation and won 9 games like my pee wee team did.

[Tbonewannabe]

Guys, some of you don't seem to understand how good our defense was. We may never see that again. We don't get many 5 star DT's like Simmons especially at the same time we have an NFL edge rusher, NFL LB's, and NFL DB's. And it was a veteran group coupled with a solid D-coordinator.

The Croom comment is not a reach. As I said all year, we could have run the T formation and won 9 games like my pee wee team did.

2011 did except Fletcher Cox wasn't a 5 star but I would say he was just as good. People saying we will never get that kind of talent just don't pay attention to how many NFL players we have starting in the NFL in the last decade.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

2011 did except Fletcher Cox wasn't a 5 star but I would say he was just as good. People saying we will never get that kind of talent just don't pay attention to how many NFL players we have starting in the NFL in the last decade.

DT: Cox and Boyd vs Simmons and Thomas is a draw, but the depth behind them goes to '18.

DE: Eulls and Ferguson vs Sweat and Green... not even close to the same ballpark, and 18's backups are way better too.

LB: Wells and Wilson and Lawrence vs Gay and Thompson and Lewis... I think Gay and Thompson will be first 3 round picks and Lewis will get picked up by someone. So '18 has more talent imo

CB: Banks and Broomfield vs Dantzler and Peters and Cole/Landrews. '11 wins but not by much (Dantzler is a stud and the others were solid).

S: Whitley and Mitchell and Bonner vs Abram and McLaurin and Rayford. '18 wins each of these matchups if you go in order.

So I'd say '11 matches up to '18 at DT, LB, and CB, but has no clear advantage in any of them and has a MASSIVE talent deficit at DE. '18 had 3 first rounders, a DE taken late, and has at least 3 more starters that will get taken in the first 3 rounds this year... '11 had what, Cox and Mitchell get taken and then Boyd and Banks the year after that? There's clearly a ton more talent on the '18 team