Gameday Atmosphere

[StateDawg44]

WE had two 5-7 seasons with Mullen along with a two 6-6 seasons. People still sold out the stadium. Same stadium too. I get we were winning a bit more but we were having sell outs. Moorhead went 8-4 his first year and 6-6 his second and the stadium was empty. Leach went 7-5 and 8-4 in his two seasons he was allowed to have crowds and the stadium was empty. So it's not winning or losing. It's something else. That's what I'm trying to figure out. I mean what constitutes the product being good or crappy? Because it's obviously not wins and losses so what is it?

Bottomline is we don't win the games that raise any attention. Yeah we may have a decent year where we beat the OM, Arkansas, Auburns, A&M's and KY and sometimes a LSU win. Like we expect to. But then we drop so many opportunities it's very hard to get your hopes up and get excited about MSU football. We've constantly for well over a decade had momentum and some how drop a head scratcher or get blown out by Bama and it's just the same ole thing every year. We didn't even score a TD against them for 3 effing years straight.

Win the games that we shouldn't and put EVERYONE on notice. Instead we shit the bed when we finally have the media's attention or a primetime game. It's like clockwork.

Basketball sort of has the same bug but you could really see the fans engage this past year with our success. But we still dropped so many games when we finally get media attention or they rank us.

Why would the media hype us at all like you see them hype OM? Because OM pulls off that Bama upset once in a blue moon. And they are at least usually competitive with them. For several years after Freeze beat saban back to back that game was super hyped up. But each year after it died down some and now it's not really the same focus on it.

The first year of the CFP when we were ranked. A couple of years after 2014 you would see the banner M logo floating around in the background like we had a shot to replicate the magic. Now they'd be fired for flashing our logo up on the commercials.

You think we had all that hype in 2014 because we marketed ourselves a certain way and gave the fans off the field entertainment at games.

I'd happily drive down 5 hours to a game or two one weekend if I thought we had a chance to win. There's zero chance at all I'll waste my time this year.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Bottomline is we don't win the games that raise any attention. Yeah we may have a decent year where we beat the OM, Arkansas, Auburns, A&M's and KY and sometimes a LSU win. Like we expect to. But then we drop so many opportunities it's very hard to get your hopes up and get excited about MSU football. We've constantly for well over a decade had momentum and some how drop a head scratcher or get blown out by Bama and it's just the same ole thing every year. We didn't even score a TD against them for 3 effing years straight.

Win the games that we shouldn't and put EVERYONE on notice. Instead we shit the bed when we finally have the media's attention or a primetime game. It's like clockwork.

Basketball sort of has the same bug but you could really see the fans engage this past year with our success. But we still dropped so many games when we finally get media attention or they rank us.

Why would the media hype us at all like you see them hype OM? Because OM pulls off that Bama upset once in a blue moon. And they are at least usually competitive with them. For several years after Freeze beat saban back to back that game was super hyped up. But each year after it died down some and now it's not really the same focus on it.

The first year of the CFP when we were ranked. A couple of years after 2014 you would see the banner M logo floating around in the background like we had a shot to replicate the magic. Now they'd be fired for flashing our logo up on the commercials.

You think we had all that hype in 2014 because we marketed ourselves a certain way and gave the fans off the field entertainment at games.

I'd happily drive down 5 hours to a game or two one weekend if I thought we had a chance to win. There's zero chance at all I'll waste my time this year.

That's fair. And maybe it truly is that we just don't win enough of the big ones. I mean I do find that hard to believe since we never really won on those marquee games with Dan either. I know Dan had a long talk with Lebby, Selmon, and Keenum all separately a couple of weekends ago. Maybe they picked his brain on what worked and what got the fan base involved. I mean Dan wasn't exactly a people person when he was here

[BrunswickDawg]

That's fair. And maybe it truly is that we just don't win enough of the big ones. I mean I do find that hard to believe since we never really won on those marquee games with Dan either. I know Dan had a long talk with Lebby, Selmon, and Keenum all separately a couple of weekends ago. Maybe they picked his brain on what worked and what got the fan base involved. I mean Dan wasn't exactly a people person when he was here

But it's not just a "now" thing. Even at Jackie's best we had the same attendance issues. Other than the Bama game every other year we didn't sellout regularly even when we were good. And that was with a smaller stadium, almost no TV exposure, and far fewer expectations for the "game experience". Ultimately, it comes down to our fan base, not the school. We have never supported football at an SEC level consistently and it shows in everything we do.

[civildawg]

I haven't read through this thread but I wanted to give some input from someone that was a diehard 10 years ago to someone who only watches our games on TV.

First, we haven't had an exciting team since Mullen's last year. Yeah I know Leach won 9 games one year but the offense was so boring to watch with the most unathletic person to play qb in maybe history. It was like watching paint dry.

Secondly, the game day experience with trying to leave the game was terrible a few years ago. That and parking was one of the reasons we gave up our tickets.

Thirdly, our band has to be one of the worst in the country. I've been to multiple SEC stadiums and their bands had "Swag" and pretty cool traditions during the pregame stuff. Our band does the most bland stuff that it's comical. We need the guy from drumline to come in and spice our band up or something.

Lastly, it's just the overall lack of give a crap that our whole AD has. I mean the sound system issue is terrible and it's been that way for years. How did Selmon not have that as #1 on his list? The lights, same story. I remember when I went to games years ago, there was always spaces on the video board out or the ribbons were acting up. I mean wtf? Did we not have someone checking this stuff before the game during the week? And one more thing, stop with all the recognitions during timeouts. It's freaking exhausting seeing another team being recognized 10 times a game

I was hoping Selmon was going to come in and get this stuff cleaned up but he's been more of the same in my untrained eyes.

[Ranchdawg]

I’m not that big a fan of Cohen but one thing he did do correct imo he would be on sports talk radio and he would at least attempt to sell the product to anyone that would interview him. He would also direct a lot effort towards to the common alum/fan. Unlike our current AD. I don’t recall any interviews from Selmon extolling the greatness of our game day. It’s just a little thing again imo that would help.

Do you think the perceived greatness of the Grove happened by accident? No! Ole Miss put a lot of effort into building that fictitious bull crud. The Grove is nothing but a grove of trees with pop up tents tailgating just like a bunch of other southern universities do on football game days. Nothing special! But now it’s a national thing. Another example if you say something enough it becomes truth.

[BrunswickDawg]

Ranch I'm not going to quote your whole post -
But I'm going to disagree about parking and traffic. I've been to about half of the SEC and we are so much easier to park and exit post game then any place I've been.

Athens, Auburn, Tuscaloosa, and Gainesville are total shitshows.

[Bothrops]

Theoretically MSU football will be where we need it to be now in about 10 more years.

[Brobi-wan]

I haven't read through this thread but I wanted to give some input from someone that was a diehard 10 years ago to someone who only watches our games on TV.

First, we haven't had an exciting team since Mullen's last year. Yeah I know Leach won 9 games one year but the offense was so boring to watch with the most unathletic person to play qb in maybe history. It was like watching paint dry.

Secondly, the game day experience with trying to leave the game was terrible a few years ago. That and parking was one of the reasons we gave up our tickets.

Thirdly, our band has to be one of the worst in the country. I've been to multiple SEC stadiums and their bands had "Swag" and pretty cool traditions during the pregame stuff. Our band does the most bland stuff that it's comical. We need the guy from drumline to come in and spice our band up or something.

Lastly, it's just the overall lack of give a crap that our whole AD has. I mean the sound system issue is terrible and it's been that way for years. How did Selmon not have that as #1 on his list? The lights, same story. I remember when I went to games years ago, there was always spaces on the video board out or the ribbons were acting up. I mean wtf? Did we not have someone checking this stuff before the game during the week? And one more thing, stop with all the recognitions during timeouts. It's freaking exhausting seeing another team being recognized 10 times a game

I was hoping Selmon was going to come in and get this stuff cleaned up but he's been more of the same in my untrained eyes.

Our band is pathetic. Not only do they just not sound good, anytime they let someone else?s band in DWS they blow us away. I also hate at the beginning of every year they don?t wear their uniforms for the first couple games. Dude, I get it. It?s hot, but the ball players are running up and down the field in pads and a helmet. You?re telling me these nerds can?t wear a uniform for 15 minutes and change when they go back to the stands into their maroon band tees? Idk. Maybe I?m being too hard on them, but they suck so bad I haven?t watched them perform once in the last two years at halftime. I would rather stand in line at a urinal. If any of your fam members are in it, I?m sorry. I?m sure they don?t suck individually, but the FMB sucks collectively.

[Maroonthirteen]

I'm laughing about the band comments.

Ha. I've been to a few sec stadiums in the past few years. It's all the same thing. The band plays the same ole pregame. Flyover. Hype video. Rap music. More rap music. Another video with rap music. Kickoff


During the game you don't hear the band. I saw Texas had a band in Austin. I may have heard them once. I heard H-O--T--T-O-G-O loud and clear, twice.

There was commercials. Rap music. There was a "let's recognize..." some Olympian. Followed by rap music. Same ole same ole as at State.

[Todd4State]

While I think there are some issues with LED lights and I think most fans would love to see the interlocking MSU back I think it still boils down to the product on the field.

I've been watching MSU football seriously since Jackie was first hired and I think part of the excitement with Jackie was there was always the opportunity that we might upset someone just as much as we might get blown out. That chance of an upset kept people engaged and coming back.

Croom was not good either but on a smaller scale than Jackie to be sure he would also score some pretty good wins too. Like Florida 2004, Alabama 2006, and most of the 2007 season. So even though he was not a good coach there was still that chance.

Now with Dan by the time he became our coach we just all assumed that we would occasionally pull off big memorable wins because heck if Croom could do it why couldn't Dan? But Dan was a bit of an enigma in that he won almost all of the games he should win which was great and something neither Jackie nor Croom could do. But at the same time most of Dan's big wins came in either 2010 or 2014. And I think beating teams we "should" beat started to get kind of stale with our fans because that is when I first noticed the crowds starting to dwindle some.

Then we hired Moorhead who was a bad hire but as a fan I can actually tolerate that every now and then AS LONG as MSU doesn't do the same thing all over again. This is I think pretty KEY to the issue. The mistake was we hired an inexperienced guy who in an up cycle year decided to run an offense that didn't fit out players and it led to an underachieving disappointing year.

So we hire Mike Leach who was perfect for MSU and he was left with a rebuild. We also knew to expect the first two years to be meh and then we would win big. Which is pretty much what happened. And during that time we got some pretty memorable wins over LSU in 2020 and Auburn in 2021. And then we followed that up with a 9 win season. After we beat Ole Miss in 2022 it seemed to me like the fan base pretty much finally bought into Leach at that point. Had he not passed away and with a team in an up cycle year in 2023 coming off of 9 wins I suspect our attendance would have been much better. I think we may have topped 2022 in wins in 2023 with Leach. Everything was set up to do that. But it didn't happen because he passed away.

Now MSU hires Arnett. And I think the number one thing fans wanted to do was not see a replay of Moorhead again and the mistakes that were made then- in other words changing offenses to something that didn't fit the players and hire an inexperienced coach. MSU did both. And the results were a 5-7 season and that pissed a lot of fans off. I think how that all went down really fractured the fan base and probably broke a lot of people because that was the point a lot of fans knew it was going to be a rebuild plus the school basically misled fans by saying that the offense was going to be very similar to the Air Raid and it wasn't. Add in the fact that most of Leach's guys were fired and replaced by boosters friends and it just left a very bad taste in everyone's mouth.

So now we have Lebby and I think he is a good coach and has good potential but what does he do? Oh just hire the worst DC in the history of MSU who had very questionable qualifications and wouldn't bother to leave Alabama until their season was over. Lebby's offense is pretty exciting and has some roots to the Air Raid and statistically it's pretty solid for year one so I don't think fans aren't showing up because of the offense being exciting or boring. It's that no one thinks we're going to win a game until we fire Hutzler and get a new DC because the defense is literally unwatchable and can't stop the 96 year old dude that scored a touchdown in the spring game in 1991. All that old guy would have to do is a half assed spin move and at least three of our players would fall down. And here we go AGAIN with MSU making the same mistake- hiring an inexperienced coach this time on the defensive side and it fails miserably again.

So while I agree with the "experience upgrades" and bringing the interlocking MSU back and building an IPF the FIRST order of business is to hire a competent staff. Fans are tired of watching rebuilds and shitty football which has been the case for every year since 2017 with the exception of 2022. The LED lights and drone shows don't do us any good when we play so bad we're on TV every Saturday at 11:00 in the morning.

[Todd4State]

I'm laughing about the band comments.

Ha. I've been to a few sec stadiums in the past few years. It's all the same thing. The band plays the same ole pregame. Flyover. Hype video. Rap music. More rap music. Another video with rap music. Kickoff


During the game you don't hear the band. I saw Texas had a band in Austin. I may have heard them once. I heard H-O--T--T-O-G-O loud and clear, twice.

There was commercials. Rap music. There was a "let's recognize..." some Olympian. Followed by rap music. Same ole same ole as at State.

We have to play Madalon for the fans in attendance who were at MSU in 1947.

[Todd4State]

Ranch I'm not going to quote your whole post -
But I'm going to disagree about parking and traffic. I've been to about half of the SEC and we are so much easier to park and exit post game then any place I've been.

Athens, Auburn, Tuscaloosa, and Gainesville are total shitshows.

Yeah. I don't really think our traffic is that bad. I have a parking pass so maybe that helps. I come in from Hail State Blvd and then take a right on Blackjack and then go onto campus after the round about. Then I flash them my pass and they move the barricade. College campuses in the SEC weren't exactly designed for football games attended by 50K fans and the tailgating that goes along with it.

[Todd4State]

That's fair. And maybe it truly is that we just don't win enough of the big ones. I mean I do find that hard to believe since we never really won on those marquee games with Dan either. I know Dan had a long talk with Lebby, Selmon, and Keenum all separately a couple of weekends ago. Maybe they picked his brain on what worked and what got the fan base involved. I mean Dan wasn't exactly a people person when he was here

How much of that was Dan and how much of that was Byrne though? Was it Dan's idea to give pep talks before games or was it Byrne's? Because I didn't see Dan do that very much after Byrne left.

Now, I do think that Dan helped a lot with the football culture which led to wins and that leads to fan involvement.

But I think that is part of MSU's problem. They want a "Ron Polk" of football. Ron Polk did a lot of the heavy lifting for baseball that made us nationally relevant in that sport and a lot of that was because of the input he would give the AD.

Now I think Dan was close to that or the closest to that of any football coach we have had outside of maybe Jackie. But Dan was only going to elevate us in some areas and not others like recruiting which was his major weakness at MSU.

[BrunswickDawg]

We have to play Madalon for the fans in attendance who were at MSU in 1947.

I like Madalon - but you have to find a place for it that works. Other schools do these same things with the band, but they figure out how to make it integrate into the modern game experience. UGA is a great example. At least since "Dixie" fell out of fashion and stopped being played pregame (and I'm old enough to remember when they were the "Dixie Red Coat Marching Band"), they started playing Battle Hymn of the Old Republic at times. In 2000, they re-arranged the music to blend into other UGA anthems, and made the trumpet solo at the start a BIG deal. They put the soloist on the corner of the upper deck and blast them over the speakers and have it on the video screen and everyone is into it. Great use of the band and modernization of standard music. They look at things from an entertainment perspective and not just a traditions perspective - and they create. We don't create.

[RockyDog]

But it's not just a "now" thing. Even at Jackie's best we had the same attendance issues. Other than the Bama game every other year we didn't sellout regularly even when we were good. And that was with a smaller stadium, almost no TV exposure, and far fewer expectations for the "game experience". Ultimately, it comes down to our fan base, not the school. We have never supported football at an SEC level consistently and it shows in everything we do.

You are right. I was looking back at some stat sheets from the Jackie era and just happened to notice the attendance numbers. 27k, 31k, 33k. Lots of those. I guess I didn’t pay attention much to the rest of the stadium since I was a student during the middle of Jackie’s tenure. But I remember many games where we had rows to ourselves. Kentucky kicked our butts one day in the freezing cold and I think there were about 20k there. Even the Arkansas game where we clinched the West wasn’t full, although cold and sleet played a part.

[Duckdog]

Just win that's what will bring folks back hell win 7 to 8 games a year will keep it full. This stupid crap about light shows etc is just retarded

[StarkVegasSteve]

Just win that's what will bring folks back hell win 7 to 8 games a year will keep it full. This stupid crap about light shows etc is just retarded

We literally won 8 games in 2018, 6 games in 2019, 7 games in 2021, and 8 games in 2022. It was half empty almost every home game every year unless UGA or Bama was playing us.

[Todd4State]

You are right. I was looking back at some stat sheets from the Jackie era and just happened to notice the attendance numbers. 27k, 31k, 33k. Lots of those. I guess I didn’t pay attention much to the rest of the stadium since I was a student during the middle of Jackie’s tenure. But I remember many games where we had rows to ourselves. Kentucky kicked our butts one day in the freezing cold and I think there were about 20k there. Even the Arkansas game where we clinched the West wasn’t full, although cold and sleet played a part.

Our stadium was a lot smaller capacity wise during that time. We probably should have just enclosed the stadium instead of adding the East side upper deck.

[KB21]

Our stadium was a lot smaller capacity wise during that time. We probably should have just enclosed the stadium instead of adding the East side upper deck.

At some point, you have to wonder how much more can be done to the stadium without basically tearing it down and building a new one.

[StarkVegasSteve]

At some point, you have to wonder how much more can be done to the stadium without basically tearing it down and building a new one.

Not much. I know one of the reasons we can't chairback everything is the slope of the stadium.