Recruiting. We are now competing for unranked players

[Ibdancin]

That should be a massive issue and an even bigger red flag. We, as a fan base, deserve better than what we are getting.

Now before the argument is put out that rankings do not matter, you are wrong. If rankings did not matter then all players would be equal. They are not. It's why Bama just reloads. It's why Bama is still winning with a new QB and a young OL. Their Left OT and his back up.. Freshmen. Left Guard... both SO. There is a reason schools that recruit well stay at the top and it's not because they are grabbing players that Troy has to go after.

We may find a diamond here or there. But that's not what we are doing. We are failing in the Portal (since this staff) and in HS recruiting. We are dead last in the SEC in recruiting and now we have been pushed to offer players that the Troy and Texas St teams go after.

This staff has 8 four star DBs.... Are we saying they are that bad at evaluations? If so... Then my lord.... why do we want them recruiting at all?

We have a coaching issue. From recruiting, to product on the field, it shows!

 

[aTotal360]

 

[Ibdancin]

Prefer this version because I am very disturbed with what this staff is doing.

 

[RockyDog]

That should be a massive issue and an even bigger red flag. We, as a fan base, deserve better than what we are getting.

Now before the argument is put out that rankings do not matter, you are wrong. If rankings did not matter then all players would be equal. They are not. It's why Bama just reloads. It's why Bama is still winning with a new QB and a young OL. Their Left OT and his back up.. Freshmen. Left Guard... both SO. There is a reason schools that recruit well stay at the top and it's not because they are grabbing players that Troy has to go after.

We may find a diamond here or there. But that's not what we are doing. We are failing in the Portal (since this staff) and in HS recruiting. We are dead last in the SEC in recruiting and now we have been pushed to offer players that the Troy and Texas St teams go after.

This staff has 8 four star DBs.... Are we saying they are that bad at evaluations? If so... Then my lord.... why do we want them recruiting at all?

We have a coaching issue. From recruiting, to product on the field, it shows!

I would really like for this staff to get us to 6 or 7 wins and keep the bowl streak going but I am concerned that it will give them too much goodwill.

We need a staff turnover regardless of the season outcome and if Selmon is not going to do it, then I have concerns for the future under his leadership as well.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I rarely pay attention to recruiting.

Right now I’m thinking it’s kind of like this…

 

[maroonmania]

I would really like for this staff to get us to 6 or 7 wins and keep the bowl streak going but I am concerned that it will give them too much goodwill.

We need a staff turnover regardless of the season outcome and if Selmon is not going to do it, then I have concerns for the future under his leadership as well.

I couldn't name you one thing Selmon has done since he's been with us. Not saying he hasn't done something but I just don't know of anything. I do know though he was very reluctant and didnt make a coaching change in baseball which makes me think he likely won't make a move in football either unless the season goes really bad in the last 5 games.

 

[thatsbaseball]

I couldn't name you one thing Selmon has done since he's been with us. Not saying he hasn't done something but I just don't know of anything. I do know though he was very reluctant and didnt make a coaching change in baseball which makes me think he likely won't make a move in football either unless the season goes really bad in the last 5 games.

He still trying to figure out how he was stupid enough to take this job **

 

[Simmer]

I rarely pay attention to recruiting.

Right now I’m thinking it’s kind of like this…

 

[DAWGSANDSAINTS]

Absolutely no reason we shouldn’t be in the Top 25 of recruiting rankings every damn year - and some years no reason we can’t crack the Top 15
Too many players in our footprint of the recruiting base.
But, I’ve always said too that we should be able to go up to Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Nebraska and pick up at least 2-3 big *** OL, bring ‘em in on a visit in early October - weather great and the girls still wearing dresses and boots, feed them well and say this is about as cold as it gets and you definitely don’t see women like this in freaking Iowa!

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

I would really like for this staff to get us to 6 or 7 wins and keep the bowl streak going but I am concerned that it will give them too much goodwill.

We need a staff turnover regardless of the season outcome and if Selmon is not going to do it, then I have concerns for the future under his leadership as well.

As bad as I hate to agree with you, on this one thing I'm the same. Don't wanna lose but I know if we dont we get another year of this staff. Wash rinse repeat. I hate firing coaches but these guys just don't seem like they are gonna be successful. Next year will be a down year naturally. Young players. Good time to reboot.

 

[Seinfeld]

y’all are really missing the play here. If we don’t go after recruits that anyone wants, we won’t have to worry about NIL

 

[mcdawg22]

 

[Walkthedawg]

Man.. just looked at the rankings. Last place Arkansas, with a dead coach walking, is 20th. 2 win friken Purdue is several spots ahead of MSU.

But no worries. We beat last place Arkansas in the snooze bowl and scored a few points on the weakest Alabama team in a decade. So we good.

 

[Shmuley]

He still trying to figure out how he was stupid enough to take this job **

I think he’s advertising his availability for his next gig via a Las Vegas billboard.

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

It's all about the coaches and the football house your selling. We have had some good coaches but we cannot maintain consistency in our product. When we do break out with a great year (2014 football, 1999 Final Four basketball, 2021 baseball) we always fail to capitalize on the success. Don't know if its a leadership thing, dead injuns or something else. What I know is that we seem to be stuck repeating the same mistakes and can't break out of this vicious cycle of mediocrity.

 

[Ranchdawg]

It's all about the coaches and the football house your selling. We have had some good coaches but we cannot maintain consistency in our product. When we do break out with a great year (2014 football, 1999 Final Four basketball, 2021 baseball) we always fail to capitalize on the success. Don't know if its a leadership thing, dead injuns or something else. What I know is that we seem to be stuck repeating the same mistakes and can't break out of this vicious cycle of mediocrity.

It is $$$$ plain and simple. Everything in our country is about money. If the boosters don't pony up the money we don't get the recruits. Look where Auburn is recruiting wise. They have a new coach that the boosters believe in so they are getting him the recruits he needs. It has almost nothing to do with your facilities, past records, city you are in, coach(except the example I give to use boosters), USA Today school rank, state flag, or weather. A recruit wants a nice ride, a great place to live, a pretty girlfriend, and money in their pocket. Didn't any of you want that when you went to school? How many kids that grew up State fans ended up at Ole Miss?

 

[Thebulldogcountry1]

That should be a massive issue and an even bigger red flag. We, as a fan base, deserve better than what we are getting.

Our administration isn't committed to doing things at a high level, especially when it comes to the football program, and this is coming from a baseball fan. There's a long-standing tradition of doing the thing that easy, sensible, unimaginative, and uninspiring.

We are getting exactly what we deserve.

 

[8dog]

Not defending the recruiting ranking or even Arnette but let’s not act like we are an outlier here. Programs with far far more money than us in the SEC have struggled to get right. Florida, TAMU, Arkansas, SC, Auburn, TN. It’s not easy.

 

[Ibdancin]

Not defending the recruiting ranking or even Arnette but let’s not act like we are an outlier here. Programs with far far more money than us in the SEC have struggled to get right. Florida, TAMU, Arkansas, SC, Auburn, TN. It’s not easy.

TAMU on paper has a great team. Their issues are coaching related. Jimbo left FSU in shambles and TAMU will fire him soon if he doesn't produce. But they are now recruiting well. Top 10 class again after having the top class in 2021 and a top 15 in 2023. Not improved? Last year they were ranked 94th in offense, This year they are 60th with their starting QB out. Defense went from 51st to 20th.

If you don't think UT is better, then I don't know what to tell you. They are 5-2 (went 11-2 with a win over Bama last year) on a down year. Their offense is ranked 33rd, Defense.. 17th (which was ranked 90th last year). Has the 11th ranked class

UF, same as TAMU. Their issues do not come from recruiting. It's been coaching. They have the 3rd ranked class in the NCAA. Currently 18th in defense (last year 96th) and 46th in offense. They are 1 game away from winning as many as they did last year with 5 games left. 6 if you count the bowl game.

Ark... LOL! Man they are taking some of Mississippi's top talent. They rank 22 spots higher in recruiting with a top 20 class. Yes they are bad this year. Yes it's due to the OC and yes they fired him to try and make improvements. Pittman has done a better than average job their. They went how many years without an SEC win?

USCe.. Yep, a down year for Beamer. 121st defense and 71st in offense and still beat us. Before he took over, they had won 6 games in 2 years. In year 1 they win 7. That was 5 more games than the previous year. In year 2... 8 games. They have the 18th ranked class.

Auburn? What? They "cigar boys" did their crap again and forced off coaches. The man had just gotten to town when they started their rumors and undermining a coach that had not even coached a game. Now they have Freeze and I hate to say it, but Auburn is better than last year. They are more organized. They have their soft schedule ahead and will most likely win those except for Bama. They have the 17th ranked class.


Nothing about what we are doing makes the base feel like we are moving forward... It all looks worse.

 

[8dog]

TAMU on paper has a great team. Their issues are coaching related. Jimbo left FSU in shambles and TAMU will fire him soon if he doesn't produce. But they are now recruiting well. Top 10 class again after having the top class in 2021 and a top 15 in 2023. Not improved? Last year they were ranked 94th in offense, This year they are 60th with their starting QB out. Defense went from 51st to 20th.

If you don't think UT is better, then I don't know what to tell you. They are 5-2 (went 11-2 with a win over Bama last year) on a down year. Their offense is ranked 33rd, Defense.. 17th (which was ranked 90th last year). Has the 11th ranked class

UF, same as TAMU. Their issues do not come from recruiting. It's been coaching. They have the 3rd ranked class in the NCAA. Currently 18th in defense (last year 96th) and 46th in offense. They are 1 game away from winning as many as they did last year with 5 games left. 6 if you count the bowl game.

Ark... LOL! Man they are taking some of Mississippi's top talent. They rank 22 spots higher in recruiting with a top 20 class. Yes they are bad this year. Yes it's due to the OC and yes they fired him to try and make improvements. Pittman has done a better than average job their. They went how many years without an SEC win?

USCe.. Yep, a down year for Beamer. 121st defense and 71st in offense and still beat us. Before he took over, they had won 6 games in 2 years. In year 1 they win 7. That was 5 more games than the previous year. In year 2... 8 games. They have the 18th ranked class.

Auburn? What? They "cigar boys" did their crap again and forced off coaches. The man had just gotten to town when they started their rumors and undermining a coach that had not even coached a game. Now they have Freeze and I hate to say it, but Auburn is better than last year. They are more organized. They have their soft schedule ahead and will most likely win those except for Bama. They have the 17th ranked class.


Nothing about what we are doing makes the base feel like we are moving forward... It all looks worse.

But these teams aren’t nearly as good as they can be. TN is better than they were but that’s a low bar. Who cares if TAMU is recruiting at a high level. Who cares how anyone got where they were? Hell we are here bc our coach died. Thats the point- they haven’t gotten it right either. And honestly talking about how great teams have recruited but still aren’t good proves my point. Finding a good coach that can do everything your program needs isn’t easy.

Any of those teams could walk into DWS tomorrow and we could play with them if we had any semblance of an SEC QB. Not even a great one. Just serviceable.

And when we go try to get another coach it won’t be easy then either

 

[Cdbo]

We CANNOT have this staff next year. If you cannot see all of the red flags concerning this staff then you know NOTHING about football

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Our administration isn't committed to doing things at a high level, especially when it comes to the football program, and this is coming from a baseball fan. There's a long-standing tradition of doing the thing that easy, sensible, unimaginative, and uninspiring.

We are getting exactly what we deserve.

I keep seeing this same old tired argument. This has not been the case since Foglesong the Disrupter showed up. Some of you really have no idea what it was like around 2006/2007. Perhaps some of that has crept back in, but it's not nearly as bad as you all think.

That said, I'm not sold on Selman and didn't particular love Cohen at AD. But I'm also not going to say either are LT.

 

[Ibdancin]

But these teams aren’t nearly as good as they can be. TN is better than they were but that’s a low bar. Who cares if TAMU is recruiting at a high level. Who cares how anyone got where they were? Hell we are here bc our coach died. Thats the point- they haven’t gotten it right either. And honestly talking about how great teams have recruited but still aren’t good proves my point. Finding a good coach that can do everything your program needs isn’t easy.

Any of those teams could walk into DWS tomorrow and we could play with them if we had any semblance of an SEC QB. Not even a great one. Just serviceable.

And when we go try to get another coach it won’t be easy then either

No sir, we could not. Your 100% mistaken if you think our issue is QB. But all of those teams with those coaches are showing signs of improvement. We are not.


We have played 7 GAMES... and against ARK the right side of our OL is going in the wrong direction. We have a coaching issue.

 

[8dog]

No sir, we could not. Your 100% mistaken if you think our issue is QB. But all of those teams with those coaches are showing signs of improvement. We are not.


We have played 7 GAMES... and against ARK the right side of our OL is going in the wrong direction. We have a coaching issue.

Yeah you are not understanding my point. Everyone acts like we are some unique circumstance in not getting a hire that can take us where we can go. We are not. Schools with a ton more money than us struggle too. It’s not easy. And it won’t ever be easy. Hell Alabama spun its wheels for years until hitting the jackpot. That’s why I started with the fact I’m not defending Arnette in the first post. I’m making the point that we aren’t alone.

 

[The Peeper]

CBS Top 25 this week has Mizzou, NC, Louisville, Air Force, Duke, Tulane, Oregon St and James Madison in it. There isn't a school in those 7 that should EVER be able to compete for athletes and rankings w/ us based on reputation and SEC value and dollar$ alone. I may be wrong but in football we should be able to outplay and out recruit those schools year in and year out.

Eli Drinkwitz has been on multiple "hot seat" lists the last 2 years. Jeff Brohm is in his 1st year at Louisville. Air Force, really? Mike Elko @ Duke, 1st time HC ever has gone 9-4 last year 5-2 this one. Curt Cignetti (who?) @ James Madison, they weren't even FBS until 2019. They are 7-0 in the Sunbelt this year and 41-8 since they made the move to FBS under him.

I'm not thinking there's just piles of NIL money at most or any of those (maybe NC, Tulane and Duke but its not because of football), someone around here somewhere (administration/cigar boys) is not making good decisions on coaches.........

 

[Ibdancin]

That should be a massive issue and an even bigger red flag. We, as a fan base, deserve better than what we are getting.

Now before the argument is put out that rankings do not matter, you are wrong. If rankings did not matter then all players would be equal. They are not. It's why Bama just reloads. It's why Bama is still winning with a new QB and a young OL. Their Left OT and his back up.. Freshmen. Left Guard... both SO. There is a reason schools that recruit well stay at the top and it's not because they are grabbing players that Troy has to go after.

We may find a diamond here or there. But that's not what we are doing. We are failing in the Portal (since this staff) and in HS recruiting. We are dead last in the SEC in recruiting and now we have been pushed to offer players that the Troy and Texas St teams go after.

This staff has 8 four star DBs.... Are we saying they are that bad at evaluations? If so... Then my lord.... why do we want them recruiting at all?

We have a coaching issue. From recruiting, to product on the field, it shows!

Just an update.

Seems we are adding another offer to an unranked player who has now been at Maryland, transferred to Kansas st, Transferred to UCF, and is now at Hinds co. Branden Jennings holds offers from Bethune-Cookman, Marshall, UMass, and Southern Miss.

Another, kid we are now going after has offers from Ball St, Central Mich, Eastern Mich, Grand Valley st, and northern Illinois.

 

[Ibdancin]

CBS Top 25 this week has Mizzou, NC, Louisville, Air Force, Duke, Tulane, Oregon St and James Madison in it. There isn't a school in those 7 that should EVER be able to compete for athletes and rankings w/ us based on reputation and SEC value and dollar$ alone. I may be wrong but in football we should be able to outplay and out recruit those schools year in and year out.

Eli Drinkwitz has been on multiple "hot seat" lists the last 2 years. Jeff Brohm is in his 1st year at Louisville. Air Force, really? Mike Elko @ Duke, 1st time HC ever has gone 9-4 last year 5-2 this one. Curt Cignetti (who?) @ James Madison, they weren't even FBS until 2019. They are 7-0 in the Sunbelt this year and 41-8 since they made the move to FBS under him.

I'm not thinking there's just piles of NIL money at most or any of those (maybe NC, Tulane and Duke but its not because of football), someone around here somewhere (administration/cigar boys) is not making good decisions on coaches.........

As my dad use to say in church.... "Preach it brother!"

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

As my dad use to say in church.... "Preach it brother!"

Maybe he should have said "Pray for us" instead.

 

[blitz2Win]

Just an update.

Seems we are adding another offer to an unranked player who has now been at Maryland, transferred to Kansas st, Transferred to UCF, and is now at Hinds co. Branden Jennings holds offers from Bethune-Cookman, Marshall, UMass, and Southern Miss.

Another, kid we are now going after has offers from Ball St, Central Mich, Eastern Mich, Grand Valley st, and northern Illinois.

What’s going to happen is we will get a handful of kids with some P5 offers, but the bulk of the 25 new players this staff brings in will be like these kids, sunbelt level players who have no P5 offers.

That’s why we need to let this staff go at the end of the year.

 

[blacklistedbully]

That should be a massive issue and an even bigger red flag. We, as a fan base, deserve better than what we are getting.

Now before the argument is put out that rankings do not matter, you are wrong. If rankings did not matter then all players would be equal. They are not. It's why Bama just reloads. It's why Bama is still winning with a new QB and a young OL. Their Left OT and his back up.. Freshmen. Left Guard... both SO. There is a reason schools that recruit well stay at the top and it's not because they are grabbing players that Troy has to go after.

We may find a diamond here or there. But that's not what we are doing. We are failing in the Portal (since this staff) and in HS recruiting. We are dead last in the SEC in recruiting and now we have been pushed to offer players that the Troy and Texas St teams go after.

This staff has 8 four star DBs.... Are we saying they are that bad at evaluations? If so... Then my lord.... why do we want them recruiting at all?

We have a coaching issue. From recruiting, to product on the field, it shows!

As far as recruiting goes, maybe the staff truly sucks, but then again, we are still the most "financially-challenged" in the SEC, but now in this new age of NIL & loosened transfer rules. IMO this has made it much more difficult for us to recruit, while at the same time making it much easier for our fellow SEC opponents to recruit even better. The gap widens.

We're not often going to outspend for top players from other Big 5 conferences either. Even if we could, we'd be trying to convince these players to come to us knowing we are falling farther behind the rest of the SEC.

NIL and transfer rules have ruined college football for all but those with willing, deep pockets who don't care that they are buying players...mercenaries.

Wait and see if Vanderbilt starts caring enough about football that their alum go out and buy a coaching staff and team. They'd eventually pass us up for talent as well.

 

[blitz2Win]

As far as recruiting goes, maybe the staff truly sucks, but then again, we are still the most "financially-challenged" in the SEC, but now in this new age of NIL & loosened transfer rules. IMO this has made it much more difficult for us to recruit, while at the same time making it much easier for our fellow SEC opponents to recruit even better. The gap widens.

We're not often going to outspend for top players from other Big 5 conferences either. Even if we could, we'd be trying to convince these players to come to us knowing we are falling farther behind the rest of the SEC.

NIL and transfer rules have ruined college football for all but those with willing, deep pockets who don't care that they are buying players...mercenaries.

Wait and see if Vanderbilt starts caring enough about football that their alum go out and buy a coaching staff and team. They'd eventually pass us up for talent as well.

Vanderbilt has passed us in recruiting already.

 

[Ibdancin]

Vanderbilt has passed us in recruiting already.

Yep we are dead last in the SEC.

Here is a list of schools that are out recruiting us not in the SEC:

Texas Tech
NC St
UCF
Minnesota
Ga Tech
Friggin Rutgers
Pitt

 

[blacklistedbully]

Vanderbilt has passed us in recruiting already.

Personally, I'd love to see Vanderbilt start routinely getting into the rankings...maybe even compete for SEC titles, or at least taking the SEC out of playoff consideration by beating our top teams. Let's go ahead and see just how bad an idea NIL & new transfer rules are for anyone other than schools with the funding & will to take full advantage.

Hell, how fun would it be to watch Ivy League schools do it well enough to get back into D1 and start winning big there?

 

[Shane of Pisgah]

Personally, I'd love to see Vanderbilt start routinely getting into the rankings...maybe even compete for SEC titles, or at least taking the SEC out of playoff consideration by beating our top teams. Let's go ahead and see just how bad an idea NIL & new transfer rules are for anyone other than schools with the funding & will to take full advantage.

Hell, how fun would it be to watch Ivy League schools do it well enough to get back into D1 and start winning big there?

Yeah I'm sure that any day now Vandy and the Ivy League schools will get super serious about football and start winning big. Just a matter of time, really.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Yeah I'm sure that any day now Vandy and the Ivy League schools will get super serious about football and start winning big. Just a matter of time, really.

No need for dumbassery, I didn't say they would, I said it would be fun to see it, as well as illustrative of how bad this crap is for college football.

I did say for those with the funding and will. While we can't assume they have the will, there is no question they have the funding to outspend the vast majority of D1 schools should their alum decide to do it.

In a sense, Vandy has done it in baseball, buying championships with tuition, r&b, etc., with Opportunity Vanderbilt making it possible. With NIL & transfer rules, it is even easier to do. The only potential obstacle I can see is whether their academic standards prevent enough of the top talent to fill a roster.

But there are already top academic schools that lower requirements for athletes.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

It's all about the coaches and the football house your selling. We have had some good coaches but we cannot maintain consistency in our product. When we do break out with a great year (2014 football, 1999 Final Four basketball, 2021 baseball) we always fail to capitalize on the success. Don't know if its a leadership thing, dead injuns or something else. What I know is that we seem to be stuck repeating the same mistakes and can't break out of this vicious cycle of mediocrity.

2014 - We had a great QB who the rest of the SEC thought was a tight end. We also had an experienced o-line and damn good running back nobody ever heard of because he was living in Dan Mullen's car. When Josh and Dak got dinged up and Dan checked out (as he'd done the previous two Novembers), we really weren't all that --- see Egg Bowl and Orange Bowl loss to GT.

It was 96 - not 99 - for the Final Four - We had DONTAE' 17n JONES - The brightest, most unpredictable, flash in the pan in the history of college athletics. Erick Dampier was from Monticello MS - no one expected him to be all that, but he was. And the Coach started 17n around after the Final Four.

21 baseball - The last legit amateur ncaa national championship competition - We had Tanner Allen - who most people on this board did nothing but complain about the entire time he was on the team, because he didn't conform to their idea of an MSU ball player. But without him, we don't get past the regionals.

THE LESSON HERE: - You can't parlay a one time gamble into consistent wins and program building. State has to find the transcendent player that no one wants or has never heard of. We need solid no name talent.
Big name talent is not coming to MSU - they didn't in the past and they damn sure aren't now.

 

[mstateglfr]

If our by next Feb our portal pickups also suck, I'll be frustrated.

I would rather have an established sophomore or junior that was 2* and shown he can contribute at the p5 level, than most HS 4* recruits.

Regardless, yeah the recruit rankings don't look good.

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

The worst part about the portal is we signed a few guys last year and they are barely seeing the field. I'm not real sure our talent assessment is very good. I know you can't hit on every guy but at least half of them should play and play well

 

[OG Goat Holder]

As far as recruiting goes, maybe the staff truly sucks, but then again, we are still the most "financially-challenged" in the SEC, but now in this new age of NIL & loosened transfer rules. IMO this has made it much more difficult for us to recruit, while at the same time making it much easier for our fellow SEC opponents to recruit even better. The gap widens.

We're not often going to outspend for top players from other Big 5 conferences either. Even if we could, we'd be trying to convince these players to come to us knowing we are falling farther behind the rest of the SEC.

NIL and transfer rules have ruined college football for all but those with willing, deep pockets who don't care that they are buying players...mercenaries.

Wait and see if Vanderbilt starts caring enough about football that their alum go out and buy a coaching staff and team. They'd eventually pass us up for talent as well.

Dear Lord. This is just not that big of a deal, it's not 2006 anymore. Look around the SEC, and now that we are 3 years into this thing, I see more weakness at the top, and more teams in the middle. The problem is, we're not one of those teams in the middle. But it's not because of budget, it's because our coaching has sucked. There is definitely more parity now than before July 2021, it can't be debated. If Mike Leach is coach, we are 5-2 or 6-1 right now and all is right with the world.

I wonder why some of you guys have regressed to that mindset. But then again, Arnett is operating like Croom, and that's what people parroted back then, to take up for Croom. And honestly, it wasn't really even true back then. Foglesong, Byrne and Mullen proved that.

Wake up. We aren't talking about winning national titles. We are simply talking about playing up to our talent level, round about.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

2014 - We had a great QB who the rest of the SEC thought was a tight end. We also had an experienced o-line and damn good running back nobody ever heard of because he was living in Dan Mullen's car. When Josh and Dak got dinged up and Dan checked out (as he'd done the previous two Novembers), we really weren't all that --- see Egg Bowl and Orange Bowl loss to GT.

It was 96 - not 99 - for the Final Four - We had DONTAE' 17n JONES - The brightest, most unpredictable, flash in the pan in the history of college athletics. Erick Dampier was from Monticello MS - no one expected him to be all that, but he was. And the Coach started 17n around after the Final Four.

21 baseball - The last legit amateur ncaa national championship competition - We had Tanner Allen - who most people on this board did nothing but complain about the entire time he was on the team, because he didn't conform to their idea of an MSU ball player. But without him, we don't get past the regionals.

THE LESSON HERE: - You can't parlay a one time gamble into consistent wins and program building. State has to find the transcendent player that no one wants or has never heard of. We need solid no name talent.
Big name talent is not coming to MSU - they didn't in the past and they damn sure aren't now.

This is very accurate. That's why it's so deflating when we lose a game like Alabama 2014 - because we know we likely blew that shot for a while.