Quote Originally Posted by Covercorner2 View Post
It's not just money, though. We don't have the tradition, clout, town, state, etc. to compete. It's not a "poor old State" take, it's simply an honest take. Obviously you don't just accept those facts and throw in the towel. You work harder than the others to try to even the playing field, but you also have to be realistic. Otherwise you will never be satisfied or you end up on probation.

You can win big at Mississippi State without having top 10 classes every year. It happened in 2014. I know we lost to Ole Miss and Bama, but damn we went to the Orange Bowl and didn't nuke the program in the process...
So we have to define what winning "big" is here because I think that disconnect is what is driving this conversation. Can we win 10 games recruiting like we have in the past 10 years and look to be for the immediate future (i.e. top 25 average class)? Absolutely. No question about it. Can we win the West recruiting like that? Absolutely not. It's just that simple. If everyone is ok with the fact that there is a hard ceiling on the program because of the recruiting aspect then I think that's a healthy way to view things, but if you're like me and others who strive and hope and want for more than that then it's really difficult to accept that 10 wins is the absolute best we can be. If the question is posed-"how does State win the west?"-the answer is-you have to have a roster comprised of 43+ 4/5* recruits. This isn't some crazy number people are just making up out of thin air-there's science behind it.