So on to football. For those than haven't looked ahead, our schedule SUCKS!

[The Peeper]

We have 8 home games this season and 5 of them are in the first 6 weeks of the season when its hotter than Satans ball sack. From 9/2-10/7 we host Southeastern LA, AZ, LSU, AL, and W Mich w/ only a break on 9/23 to go to S Carolina. That's hard enough on those of us that live in Starkville but for those of you that travel, that's a lot of gas, eating out, hotels, etc and you have my sympathy.

We then get a week to BEAT OFF on 10/14 before going on road trips to Hogville and Auburn. Back to Starkvegas on 11/4 for KY then to College Station 11/11.

Then, we host USM in Starkville on Sat 11/18 and then 5 days later host the Black Shark Land Bears on Thanksgiving Day. I'm guessing by Thanksgiving Day everybody will be sick of traveling to Starkville and will stay home and spend the holiday w/ the family. I don't know who came up w/ this but it is turrible planning on their part. Throw your thoughts out there because its a long time till 09/02 and we need something to discuss, let the bitchin' begin!

 

[AstroDog]

We'd be better off just playing Memphis every year, home & away. They're better than the OOCs on our schedule. I would like to play Tulane as well. Rotating between Bourbon & Beale year to year are not bad trips that most of our alums can easily attend and have some fun to boot.

 

[travis.sixpack]

State has no control over when SEC games are scheduled. We schedule the non-cons (years in advance) and the league fills in the blanks. Also, you're the first person I've seen complain about 8 home games.

 

[WrightGuy821]

I'm just happy to have 8 home games. We've got a chance to go 11-1 or 10-2 this year all we gotta do is go 7-1 at home.

 

[AstroDog]

I'm just happy to have 8 home games. We've got a chance to go 11-1 or 10-2 this year all we gotta do is go 7-1 at home.

Not poopooing your optimism, but we also have a chance to go 5-7 or 6-6. I can't get a feel for this new staff, HC or the new system. Will just have to show up at my seat and see for myself.

 

[GloryDawg]

I just hate paying extra for an extra home game when that game is USM,

 

[The Peeper]

State has no control over when SEC games are scheduled. We schedule the non-cons (years in advance) and the league fills in the blanks. Also, you're the first person I've seen complain about 8 home games.

My complaint is mainly w/ all of them thrown into the hottest 5 weekends of the season they could instead of spreading them out w/ some breaks and also thinking about people from S MS or out of state having 5 of 6 weekends in a row

 

[FQDawg]

I'm just happy to have 8 home games. We've got a chance to go 11-1 or 10-2 this year all we gotta do is go 7-1 at home.

I think you forgot your sarcasterisks. We won't sniff eight wins, much less 10 or 11.

Getting back to a bowl game at 6-6 would be a good year for this team. Seven wins would be overachieving with a first year coaching staff that has almost all of it's toss up games on the road.

 

[travis.sixpack]

My complaint is mainly w/ all of them thrown into the hottest 5 weekends of the season they could instead of spreading them out w/ some breaks and also thinking about people from S MS or out of state having 5 of 6 weekends in a row

I don't know, man. I would rather have two cupcakes at home to start the year before the SEC schedule. We have 8 home games so we were bound to have a long stretch of them bunched up. We have no control over SEC home game scheduling, but I'm with you - I'd rather have the home games clustered in October instead of September.

 

[Maroon13]

my analysis.... having three in a row to start isn't ideal. However the teams we play at home is an awesome schedule.

The opener will probably be lame because it's a holiday weekend and two better games in the following weeks.

AZ will have a nice crowd. The LSU game will be a huge crowd if we are 2-0 and tv gives us a late kick.

Alabama will be a big crowd.

Playing USM on the weekend of gun season before the egg bowl is an interesting move. We should have a nice crowd. We certainly will have more than the 8-10k fans that were at the TSU game and ETSU games.

The Egg bowl will have 50k plus. It won't be a sell out because of being played on a national holiday

 

[GloryDawg]

my analysis.... having three in a row to start isn't ideal. However the teams we play at home is an awesome schedule.

The opener will probably be lame because it's a holiday weekend and two better games in the following weeks.

AZ will have a nice crowd. The LSU game will be a huge crowd if we are 2-0 and tv gives us a late kick.

Alabama will be a big crowd.

Playing USM on the weekend of gun season before the egg bowl is an interesting move. We should have a nice crowd. We certainly will have more than the 8-10k fans that were at the TSU game and ETSU games.

The Egg bowl will have 50k plus. It won't be a sell out because of being played on a national holiday

I hope the AZ and LSU games are night games.

 

[MaroonSadness99]

I live for saturdays in the fall. I love spending those saturdays in Starkville. I can’t imagine complaining about an extra home game.

 

[dickiedawg]

I just hate paying extra for an extra home game when that game is USM,

It’s official. Some people will complain about anything.

 

[HeCannotGo]

Not sure what the problem is here. State controls only the four non-conference games. We usually have three but bought an extra one this year. Of those four games, two are at the beginning of the season, one near the middle, and one at the end.

I'm sure we'd all tweak a date or two if we could, but it's hard to see any major problems with the scheduling.

 

[GloryDawg]

It’s official. Some people will complain about anything.

Do you buy season tickets. If not, are you going to buy tickets for the USM game? I contribute to the Bull Dog club and buy season tickets. I feel that I can complain about anything.


I am going on record now saying when OK and TX comes on board, we will end up with a six-game home schedule one year and travel two seasons in a row to the same SEC school until they get the scheduling worked out and the tickets will not be adjusted down.

 

[Xenomorph]

I'm just happy to have 8 home games. We've got a chance to go 11-1 or 10-2 this year all we gotta do is go 7-1 at home.

Also if we don’t lose a game then we can go undefeated.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

I see 3 wins.

 

[retire the banner]

Seems like a pretty great schedule to me.

 

[Maroon13]

I see 3 wins.

My guesses....

We will beat SELa, AZ, WMU and USM at least. Probably win: UK
toss ups.... USC, Ark, aTm, AU and OM
Probably a loss: LSU
Loss for sure: Bama

6-6. Maybe 7-5

 

[johnson86-1]

We'd be better off just playing Memphis every year, home & away. They're better than the OOCs on our schedule. I would like to play Tulane as well. Rotating between Bourbon & Beale year to year are not bad trips that most of our alums can easily attend and have some fun to boot.

I wish we could go 2-1 with Tulane, Memphis, and USA. Gets us in front of decent recruiting grounds, gives us easy road trips in decent places to visit for a weekend (New Orleans, Memphis, and Mobile), and lets us economically get extra home games. Or doing 1-1's with any Louisiana directional school if they will do the one in new orleans. I'm also fine doing 2 and 1's with USM whenever they decide to stop being idiotic.

I think all of those are better options than a buy game with a random school like Western Michigan.

 

[thekimmer]

We have 8 home and just 4 road games so I don't see how is it is even possible not to have a lot of home games at the beginning of the schedule. The end too for that matter where we play 3 of the last 4 at home.

The suckitude might come when it is decided what time of day we play these games.

 

[retire the banner]

It’s certainly a much more difficult schedule than last year. I think we’ll be an improved team overall and finish with the same record, 8-4.

 

[paindonthurt]

We'd be better off just playing Memphis every year, home & away. They're better than the OOCs on our schedule. I would like to play Tulane as well. Rotating between Bourbon & Beale year to year are not bad trips that most of our alums can easily attend and have some fun to boot.

There was a time this was the answer but both those places have lost a lot of allure for me and it’s not bc of age.

 

[Dawgg]

I mean.... There are only 4 road games this year (aka 'the reverse Templeton').

I feel like that's a win.

 

[$altyDawg]

I'm just happy to have 8 home games. We've got a chance to go 11-1 or 10-2 this year all we gotta do is go 7-1 at home.

Oh, well since you put it that way...Nah, still don't buy it.

 

[dickiedawg]

Do you buy season tickets. If not, are you going to buy tickets for the USM game? I contribute to the Bull Dog club and buy season tickets. I feel that I can complain about anything.


I am going on record now saying when OK and TX comes on board, we will end up with a six-game home schedule one year and travel two seasons in a row to the same SEC school until they get the scheduling worked out and the tickets will not be adjusted down.

Yes, I buy season tickets.
And no one is saying you’re not allowed to complain about whatever the heck you want. But complaining about 8 home games strikes me as really strange. Most would see that as a great benefit. I guess you’d rather play at USM than host them?
And when the SEC goes to 9 games, you will have years with 4 home games and years with 5. Yeah, there might be a school we have to go to twice in a row, or a school we host twice in a row. It’s happened before.

 

[GloryDawg]

Yes, I buy season tickets.
And no one is saying you’re not allowed to complain about whatever the heck you want. But complaining about 8 home games strikes me as really strange. Most would see that as a great benefit. I guess you’d rather play at USM than host them?
And when the SEC goes to 9 games, you will have years with 4 home games and years with 5. Yeah, there might be a school we have to go to twice in a row, or a school we host twice in a row. It’s happened before.

Not complaining about 8 home games but complaining about the extra price for who the home game is for. If the extra game was a P5 it would be good.

 

[Dawg1976]

I see 3 wins.

Can you imagine the melt down if that happens?

 

[dickiedawg]

Not complaining about 8 home games but complaining about the extra price for who the home game is for. If the extra game was a P5 it would be good.

But the extra home game IS a p5 game, compared to last year.
2022 Home Games (7)
4 SEC Games
2 G5 games
FCS game

2023 home games (8)
4 SEC games
2 G5 games
FCS game
P5 Arizona

 

[Dawgg]

Not complaining about 8 home games but complaining about the extra price for who the home game is for. If the extra game was a P5 it would be good.

I get what you're saying and as a season ticket holder, you certainly have a right to your feelings about it, but I would look at the Arizona game as the 'extra' game.

This, to me, sounds like a good lineup, but I'm not a season ticket holder:
SELA
Arizona
Western Michigan
Southern Miss

I tried to find a year where we played 8 home games and couldn't find one, but I found a LOT of years where our 3 non-conference home games weren't exactly headliners:
2022
Memphis
Bowling Green
ETSU

2021
LaTech
NC State
Tennessee State

2020
None

2019
Southern Miss
Kansas State
Abilene Christian

2018
SFA
Louisiana
LaTech

2017
Charleston Southern
BYU
UMass

2016
South Alabama
Samford

2015
Northwestern State
Troy
LaTech

2014
Southern Miss
UAB
UT Martin

2013
Alcorn State
Troy
Bowling Green

Next season (assuming OU and Texas don't blow it up) will be:
Eastern Kentucky
Utah State
UMass

 

[BingleCocktail]

I see 3 wins.

 

[AstroDog]

I wish we could go 2-1 with Tulane, Memphis, and USA. Gets us in front of decent recruiting grounds, gives us easy road trips in decent places to visit for a weekend (New Orleans, Memphis, and Mobile), and lets us economically get extra home games. Or doing 1-1's with any Louisiana directional school if they will do the one in new orleans. I'm also fine doing 2 and 1's with USM whenever they decide to stop being idiotic.

I think all of those are better options than a buy game with a random school like Western Michigan.

Memphis won't accept anything but a home and away. I think we tried one time and they refused. They also only play Ole Miss on a 1 to1 basis. Tulane, USM, and USA will do a 2-1 though.

 

[ZombieKissinger]

2-1 with Tulane all day long. That’ll give me plenty of time to recover from the last New Orleans trip

 

[ChinaDogSunflower]

We have 8 home games this season and 5 of them are in the first 6 weeks of the season when its hotter than Satans ball sack. From 9/2-10/7 we host Southeastern LA, AZ, LSU, AL, and W Mich w/ only a break on 9/23 to go to S Carolina. That's hard enough on those of us that live in Starkville but for those of you that travel, that's a lot of gas, eating out, hotels, etc and you have my sympathy.

We then get a week to BEAT OFF on 10/14 before going on road trips to Hogville and Auburn. Back to Starkvegas on 11/4 for KY then to College Station 11/11.

Then, we host USM in Starkville on Sat 11/18 and then 5 days later host the Black Shark Land Bears on Thanksgiving Day. I'm guessing by Thanksgiving Day everybody will be sick of traveling to Starkville and will stay home and spend the holiday w/ the family. I don't know who came up w/ this but it is turrible planning on their part. Throw your thoughts out there because its a long time till 09/02 and we need something to discuss, let the bitchin' begin!

Who scheduled USM 5 days before Thanksgiving?? That's lame

 

[Drebin]

I think you forgot your sarcasterisks. We won't sniff eight wins, much less 10 or 11.

Getting back to a bowl game at 6-6 would be a good year for this team. Seven wins would be overachieving with a first year coaching staff that has almost all of it's toss up games on the road.

I don't understand the pessimism. Our defense will be at least as good as last year, and our offense has nowhere to go but up.

We should win 8 games.

 

[FQDawg]

I don't understand the pessimism. Our defense will be at least as good as last year, and our offense has nowhere to go but up.

We should win 8 games.

We might be better on either or both sides of the ball. But we aren't operating in a vacuum. Other schools also have players back or have brought new players in. In fact, in the portal era, the "brings 8 starters back on D" line of thinking doesn't mean as much because other schools might have brought in someone better because of the portal. Also, the "they're going to be better because they're a year older" thing isn't alway true.

This isn't some grand statement but the SEC is a hard conference to play in. And most of our toss-up games are on the road. Also not a grand statement but winning on the road in this league isn't an easy thing to do.

So, put all that together and I think it's much more likely that we'll go 6-6 than 8-4. As always, I'll be more than happy to be wrong.

 

[Drebin]

We might be better on either or both sides of the ball. But we aren't operating in a vacuum. Other schools also have players back or have brought new players in. In fact, in the portal era, the "brings 8 starters back on D" line of thinking doesn't mean as much because other schools might have brought in someone better because of the portal. Also, the "they're going to be better because they're a year older" thing isn't alway true.

This isn't some grand statement but the SEC is a hard conference to play in. And most of our toss-up games are on the road. Also not a grand statement but winning on the road in this league isn't an easy thing to do.

So, put all that together and I think it's much more likely that we'll go 6-6 than 8-4. As always, I'll be more than happy to be wrong.

It's still a stupid take. Kentucky didn't get any better. Auburn still sucks. Ole Miss got worse. We replaced Georgia with South Carolina. We've got 8 home games a season after winning 8 games and bringing back most key contributors. Expecting that 6-6 is the ceiling for this team is just old MSU thinking. I see only two sure losses on the schedule.

Can we go 6-6 or worse? Yeah. More likely to do that than win 8? That's ********. I can't really find six losses on the schedule unless things go poorly.

 

[FQDawg]

It's still a stupid take. Kentucky didn't get any better. Auburn still sucks. Ole Miss got worse. We replaced Georgia with South Carolina. We've got 8 home games a season after winning 8 games and bringing back most key contributors. Expecting that 6-6 is the ceiling for this team is just old MSU thinking. I see only two sure losses on the schedule.

Can we go 6-6 or worse? Yeah. More likely to do that than win 8? That's ********. I can't really find six losses on the schedule unless things go poorly.

Well, as I said, I hope I’m wrong and you’re right. But I’d rather have lower expectations and be pleasantly surprised than be disappointed by not reaching what are probably unrealistic expectations.

Because things going poorly is always a distinct possibility for MSU football.

And, at any rate, it’s not like our expectations have any real bearing on our W-L record.