I don’t keep up with recruiting or ‘Signing Day’ but I think the statement below MUST have an effect.
Today’s recruits were in the 5th grade the last time the SEC didn’t win a National Championship
Just something to think about.
PS: And that’s all I have to say about ‘Signing Day’.
Saw this link to ‘Hot and Not in the SEC‘ a couple days ago on BigJim’s blog.
While I don’t disagree that State’s performance in this years EggBowl is definitely a ‘not’ in that blogs parlance, I must point out that ‘The School Down South’ isn’t an insult and doesn’t work as such the way ‘The School Up North’ does. One of Ole Miss’ points of pride is as a Southern school; the ‘Harvard of the South’ and such. Putting ‘North’ in a reference to them IS the insult. And I must admit it’s one of the best insults I’ve ever heard of for Ole Miss. It REALLY rankles the fans and alumni, because you’re basically calling them Yankees, which they think of as basically the worst thing you can be. (Maybe even worse than being a bulldog!)
So, I just wanted to point out that Chris Low needs to find a more appropriate insult than ‘The School Down South’, for MSU.
Now that we are at the half way point, I wanted to take a look at how my predictions are standing up. I think I did a pretty good job.
I predicted a 9-3 season for MSU, and a 4-8 season for Ole Miss, with caveats for best and worse case scenarios. I’m relieved that neither team is going to hit their worst case scenario, and both still have shots at their best case scenarios. Ole Miss is ALREADY at their predicted 4 wins, so any more are a huge step up from where I (and most everyone) thought they’d be at this point.
I still think MSU is going to win the Eggbowl this year, but Ole Miss has a good shot at 6-6 if they can beat Arkansas and Vanderbilt. I’d love to see the Rebels get a bowl this year (but not at State’s expense). As for State I’ll hold out hope for a 10-2 season, but I’m gonna be worried about the A&M and Arkansas games. A&M has some playmakers and while Arkansas has been truly awful at the beginning of the season they seem to be rallying a bit lately.
I’ll be honest about this. I did NOT see Auburn and Arkansas being as bad as they have been this year. It gives me hope that both Mississippi schools can beat both of those teams this year. And here’s to hoping LSU has an off night when they play one or both of our schools!
Check out these guys doing baseball batting ‘tricks’. It’s either freaking amazing or some really good fakes!
also this:
The Atlantic has a new article from Taylor Branch that every college sports fan should read in it’s entirety, “The Shame of College Sports“. He points out some pretty damming things about the NCAA, and how college athletes are treated.
His finish is something that could make for an interesting topic all on it’s own. What is amateurism and is it really important? If so important to whom and why? The Olympics got rid of it’s amateur requirements and the world didn’t end. Would it matter to college sports?
So far so good. Can’t complain about the result, though I can complain a bit about the team.
Memphis fans, um, sorry football isn’t going to be your thing this year, just move on and enjoy your basketball season.
As for state, I’m a bit concerned about our defense and our special teams.
Specifically, on special teams I’m worried about our returner. Bone headed would be the adjective of choice after last night. I expect him to either be replaced or a LOT of special attention during practice this week.
For defense, I HATE HATE HATE how far our DB’s play off on receivers. A quick pass or bubble screen is almost always guaranteed to get 4-7 yards. I DON’T LIKE THAT! If our guys aren’t fast enough to stay with the receivers, then find some other configuration for them to play in, but allowing a SEC team to do that all game would be a DISASTER. As per usual, I’m sure the coaches are going to be going over and over the whole ‘WRAP UP!” mantra. Everyone enjoys watching a big hit, but if you don’t wrap up you are going to let someone get a LOT of extra yards. WRAP UP! We didn’t seem to be able to get to the Memphis’ QB’s very often, that could be a problem. (Though we did manage to hurt both of them when we did reach them.)
A lot of the ‘problems’ I saw could just be a circumstance of who we were playing, and what the coaching staff was wanting to do against Memphis. We will all learn a lot more about MSU’s character, strength and weaknesses as the season progresses. After the shellacking we gave Memphis, I currently think our offense is pretty solid, we may have some weaknesses on the D side of the ball, and I would like special teams to get about another month of practice before the next game.
Beer: Yesterdays beer was the leftover Sam Adam’s 48 Latitude IPA and the specifically chosen for the game Sierra Nevada Pale Ale . Both go well with the boiled peanuts I cooked up in the crockpot.