So the coaching staff is finalized...

[QMartinez]

The top 5 scoring defenses in the SEC this year were Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, LSU and Texas A&M. Pretty sure we played them all.

The top scoring defense in the entire country was Illinois. That's why you included them.

So 6 of the 9 games in your "analysis" were against some extremely good defensive football teams. But I'm sure there are a lot of coaching geniuses out there who could light up those defenses with our talent.

How many NFL caliber players do you think we started on offense this year??

Have to agree. And when the offense struggles next season with the new scheme, I’m sure the same criticism and scrutiny will magically disappear.
With Locke and Parson I’m sure the offense would have been very productive. I fear Wills weaknesses will be exposed without Leach around.

 

[Dawgzilla2]

I like that we hired Arnett but if you knew he was going to blow away the Air Raid - do you think we could have waited to hire?

I'm still thinking no b/c of signing day.

I still think Arnett should have kept the interim tag through the bowl game while we conducted a national search for an experienced head coach. Even if that torpedoed this recruiting class, a head coach is much more important than a single class of recruits.

OTOH, if we did that and wound up hiring Arnett anyway, it would have been foolish. So I at least give credit for making a decision and moving forward.

We are probably saving $3MM or more per year on our head coaching salary. Hope that is being spent wisely.

 

[dog99walker]

I am going to miss the Pirate. I will miss the pure air raid. I hope Barbay-Q will find a way to score on Saban and Kelly. Glad Tulu is still with us and Zavion, whom I think will light it up this year. I am really looking forward to seeing Seth Davis, freshman, super fast hundred meters; if he’s even, he’s leavin’!! I think we will be ok.

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

I dont think it was the sole key to success.

We averaged 25.37ppg in conference play. LSU averaged 28.

You threw in the bowl game, I didnt because why? If you include that, then include all games.
MSU was 8th out of 14 teams for ppg when all games are considered.

Some people would say if you score 25 a game and have a good D you should win a lot of games. Our D was/is not that good. But they were on the field too much ? Were they? What's our time of possession ? I think the D will be better next year and hopefully we can improve the offense and win 10.

 

[FlotownDawg]

Somebody posted on here a few weeks ago talking about high school football that Mississippi is a drive your dick in the dirt type football state, and that is true. It’s why the state produces good linemen and defensive players and not good skill position players and why we can’t just recruit Mississippi and get all the players we need. It’s also why many State fans just would not accept the Air Raid no matter what. If we go 7-5 next year averaging the same number of points or even fewer points per SEC game that we did this year, that group will be fine with it because we’re running an offense that they are comfortable with.

 

[She Mate Me]

Somebody posted on here a few weeks ago talking about high school football that Mississippi is a drive your dick in the dirt type football state, and that is true. It’s why the state produces good linemen and defensive players and not good skill position players and why we can’t just recruit Mississippi and get all the players we need. It’s also why many State fans just would not accept the Air Raid no matter what. If we go 7-5 next year averaging the same number of points or even fewer points per SEC game that we did this year, that group will be fine with it because we’re running an offense that they are comfortable with.

Some people might consider that kind of thinking willfully ignorant on some level.

Glad none of them ignorants post here.

 

[AlCoDog]

I like that we hired Arnett but if you knew he was going to blow away the Air Raid - do you think we could have waited to hire?

I'm still thinking no b/c of signing day.

Yes. I’m glad and ready to see what happens with a Defensive guy for a HC. We’ve never had one before.

 

[Dog316]

Just curious, after watching the last few years on offense, why would you want to continue that style of offense?

Just curious, after watching the last few years on offense, why would you want to continue that style of offense?

Nine wins is a good place to start. Having a scheme with an edge that doesn’t project power against power is another.

 

[drumrcraig]

Yes. I’m glad and ready to see what happens with a Defensive guy for a HC. We’ve never had one before.

Sherrill was a defensive guy. He was the last one.

 

[drumrcraig]

Some people would say if you score 25 a game and have a good D you should win a lot of games. Our D was/is not that good. But they were on the field too much ? Were they? What's our time of possession ? I think the D will be better next year and hopefully we can improve the offense and win 10.

Well considering we scored less than 20 in all 5 of our losses, it seems like that theory holds true. I would say winning 9 games is a lot for MSU.

 

[AlCoDog]

Sherrill was a defensive guy. He was the last one.

Yes, I’m a dubmass.

 

[QMartinez]

Nine wins is a good place to start. Having a scheme with an edge that doesn’t project power against power is another.

Pound the rock is talent on talent.

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

Well considering we scored less than 20 in all 5 of our losses, it seems like that theory holds true. I would say winning 9 games is a lot for MSU.

I would agree. Kinda my point. State has has some awesome defenses and this ain't one of them. I do like Arnett and the 3/3/5 but still we are suppose to have good D. 34 or whatever it was is not impressive. Yeah, thats what she said

 

[QMartinez]

I would agree. Kinda my point. State has has some awesome defenses and this ain't one of them. I do like Arnett and the 3/3/5 but still we are suppose to have good D. 34 or whatever it was is not impressive. Yeah, thats what she said

The defense is good but it’s not going to just shut down good sec teams, I liked how all three sides of the ball came together this past season against a&m and Arkansas during that crucial stretch. We gave up quite a few points in losses.

Offensive production would be better if we had a playmaker at qb JMO. I hope we can sign Mike Wright or a similar player To compete at qb.

 

[onewoof]

Until Illinois, any team with a strong D line beat us and shut down our entire offense.

In the bowl game we scored JUST enough for the W thanks to an equally good job by our D

 

[paindonthurt]

I don't like splitting the guards and centers into a separate group from the tackles. TE is a different animal but center, guards and tackles should be one group. I doubt it will be separated in reality but I guess we will see.

I’m willing to bet they don’t care what you think.

And they shouldn’t

 

[paindonthurt]

I dont think it was the sole key to success.

We averaged 25.37ppg in conference play. LSU averaged 28.

You threw in the bowl game, I didnt because why? If you include that, then include all games.
MSU was 8th out of 14 teams for ppg when all games are considered.

Would be curious to see what our 8 sec defensive opponents looked like compared to everyone else.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Some people would say if you score 25 a game and have a good D you should win a lot of games. Our D was/is not that good. But they were on the field too much ? Were they? What's our time of possession ? I think the D will be better next year and hopefully we can improve the offense and win 10.

Arnetts defense before coming to state was highly ranked. I don't think emphasis was placed on recruiting the defensive side of the ball. Most of our bigger recruits were on offense and most the athletes on offense. Looks like arnett plans to change that

 

[AstroDog]

Wouldn't mind seeing us throw in a little option/veer on occasion. Would catch some defenses off guard. Some trick plays also when set up correctly. Hope Zach keeps an open mind on stuff we can execute that would surprise the defense.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Wouldn't mind seeing us throw in a little option/veer on occasion. Would catch some defenses off guard. Some trick plays also when set up correctly. Hope Zach keeps an open mind on stuff we can execute that would surprise the defense.

I think the point of going away from air raid was to be more multiple offense rather than one scheme . To use multiple schemes alignments. Attack from multiple places not just the qb dumping off

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

The defense is good but it’s not going to just shut down good sec teams, I liked how all three sides of the ball came together this past season against a&m and Arkansas during that crucial stretch. We gave up quite a few points in losses.

Offensive production would be better if we had a playmaker at qb JMO. I hope we can sign Mike Wright or a similar player To compete at qb.

We have had much better defenses in the past

Would be curious to see what our 8 sec defensive opponents looked like compared to

Would be curious to see what our 8 sec defensive opponents looked like compared to everyone else.

Why don't you Google it and find out ? Surely you know how

 

[Cbassreb]

I'm just glad we've got a baseball hall of famer coaching the tight ends...

I dont post here out of respect but that made me lol for real

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I dont post here out of respect but that made me lol for real

 

[QMartinez]

Arnetts defense before coming to state was highly ranked. I don't think emphasis was placed on recruiting the defensive side of the ball. Most of our bigger recruits were on offense and most the athletes on offense. Looks like arnett plans to change that

Yet all of the talent that could play at the next Level was on defense. You might see a small increase in talent on defense but you are going to see a drop in skill position talent on offense. Defensive side of the ball talent is in state, offense it’s going to be hard to get four star qbs and receivers without Leach and his offense. Net result of all of this pretty much takes us back to the last ten years prior to Leach.

 

[She Mate Me]

Would be curious to see what our 8 sec defensive opponents looked like compared to everyone else.

5 of the 8 were the Top 5 scoring defenses in the league. The other three were Ole Miss, Arkansas and Auburn.

 

[She Mate Me]

Delete. Double post.

 

[She Mate Me]

17'n delete. 17'n Triple post. GD internet

 

[CoachT1991]

I dont think it was the sole key to success.

We averaged 25.37ppg in conference play. LSU averaged 28.

You threw in the bowl game, I didnt because why? If you include that, then include all games.
MSU was 8th out of 14 teams for ppg when all games are considered.

We averaged 20.2 offensive PPG in SEC play. The defense or special teams scored the other 5 PPG. So he’s technically right.

 

[mo7888]

Somebody posted on here a few weeks ago talking about high school football that Mississippi is a drive your dick in the dirt type football state, and that is true. It’s why the state produces good linemen and defensive players and not good skill position players and why we can’t just recruit Mississippi and get all the players we need. It’s also why many State fans just would not accept the Air Raid no matter what. If we go 7-5 next year averaging the same number of points or even fewer points per SEC game that we did this year, that group will be fine with it because we’re running an offense that they are comfortable with.

100%

 

[kired]

Yet all of the talent that could play at the next Level was on defense. You might see a small increase in talent on defense but you are going to see a drop in skill position talent on offense. Defensive side of the ball talent is in state, offense it’s going to be hard to get four star qbs and receivers without Leach and his offense. Net result of all of this pretty much takes us back to the last ten years prior to Leach.

What special talent have we had on the offensive side? Half the board doesn’t want our QB. Almost every team in the SEC had a WR with more receiving yards than our #1 guy - and he left.

Sorry, I just don’t see where Leach put any better talent on the field than we typically did under Mullen. I’ll admit our WRs catch better than in the past, but I believe that’s due to more focus on that in practice - not talent. And don’t bring up recruiting stars. These sites all overhype players that sign with SEC schools. SEC fans are the most active and pay the bills for these sites, so they have an incentive to make SEC fans excited about their schools recruits.

 

[paindonthurt]

Are you okay? You should be in a good mood after the big women’s basketball W last night

2021 and 2022 are at the top of the msu points per game record book. Couple of years of Mullen ahead of them.

easily top 10 1 of them top 5

our offense was never terrible under leach. Not great by sec standards but great for msu standards.

 

[paindonthurt]

5 of the 8 were the Top 5 scoring defenses in the league. The other three were Ole Miss, Arkansas and Auburn.

Which makes our offense look way better.

 

[She Mate Me]

Which makes our offense look way better.

I agree. I get the negative comments, but the quality of the defense we often faced never seems to matter to the many detractors here.

TCU was 9th in the country at 37 ppg. They face a top flight SEC defense and 7 points is the result.

 

[paindonthurt]

I agree. I get the negative comments, but the quality of the defense we often faced never seems to matter to the many detractors here.

Common sense and intelligence, especially emotional intelligence, seems to be a rare commodity these days.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

The top 5 scoring defenses in the SEC this year were Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, LSU and Texas A&M. Pretty sure we played them all.

The top scoring defense in the entire country was Illinois. That's why you included them.

So 6 of the 9 games in your "analysis" were against some extremely good defensive football teams. But I'm sure there are a lot of coaching geniuses out there who could light up those defenses with our talent.

How many NFL caliber players do you think we started on offense this year??

Edited to add....

We finished the season ranked 40th in the FBS in scoring defense and 43rd in scoring offense. It was a pretty balanced football team if you actually have the ability to consider the opponents.

Damn. That is how you logically destroy someone. Take a couple weeks off @retire the banner

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I still think Arnett should have kept the interim tag through the bowl game while we conducted a national search for an experienced head coach. Even if that torpedoed this recruiting class, a head coach is much more important than a single class of recruits.

OTOH, if we did that and wound up hiring Arnett anyway, it would have been foolish. So I at least give credit for making a decision and moving forward.

We are probably saving $3MM or more per year on our head coaching salary. Hope that is being spent wisely.

If this was pre-July 2021, I might agree, but maybe not even then. Since that date, you can easily lose half your roster during a coaching change. Yes, you can replace them too, but that's risky.

We simply cannot do that when we have this many players coming back, and heading towards an 'up' year. You see what happened when we changed course between 2017 and 2018, and that was pre-NIL/portal. We can't do that stupid sh*t at MSU. When we are primed to have a big year, you have to lean into it. If Arnett fails in 2024 or 2025, we deal with it then. But take 2023 while we have it. When things are working and you have a situation like we did, you minimize the change. And we may have already changed too much even now. Guess we will see.

 

[Cantdoitsal]

Until Illinois, any team with a strong D line beat us and shut down our entire offense.

In the bowl game we scored JUST enough for the W thanks to an equally good job by our D

This is correct. Take away A&M and Pig then look at the other 6 plus the bowl game. It wasn't so much Leach and / or his Air Raid as it was not having all the parts needed and if he had a coupla more years or so, it would have been more effective IMO. Too many possessions that just flat out sucked overall and we beat AU & tsun not due to our O but Despite it. LSU, KY, Bamer and GA were just flat out pathetic.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Yet all of the talent that could play at the next Level was on defense. You might see a small increase in talent on defense but you are going to see a drop in skill position talent on offense. Defensive side of the ball talent is in state, offense it’s going to be hard to get four star qbs and receivers without Leach and his offense. Net result of all of this pretty much takes us back to the last ten years prior to Leach.

Which was one of our best stretches in our football history.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Which was one of our best stretches in our football history.

You ain’t wrong. I just want to do it after 2023. You don’t get this type of age and maturity at pretty much all offensive positions at MSU very often. Ever, really, considering many are 6th year players

 

[Dawgzilla2]

If this was pre-July 2021, I might agree, but maybe not even then. Since that date, you can easily lose half your roster during a coaching change. Yes, you can replace them too, but that's risky.

We simply cannot do that when we have this many players coming back, and heading towards an 'up' year. You see what happened when we changed course between 2017 and 2018, and that was pre-NIL/portal. We can't do that stupid sh*t at MSU. When we are primed to have a big year, you have to lean into it. If Arnett fails in 2024 or 2025, we deal with it then. But take 2023 while we have it. When things are working and you have a situation like we did, you minimize the change. And we may have already changed too much even now. Guess we will see.

But if you have the wrong coach, you could be digging a really deep talent hole for the future. Its really foolish to make a bad coaching hire just to keep talent together for 1 year.

And, as I have already said in numerous other threads, we are not "primed" for anything particularky special next year. We won 8 regular season games this year, and easily could have lost 2 of those. The schedule isn't really any easier next year, and we have a first year head coach and a new OC.

I'm not predicting gloom and doom, I just don't see how 2023 looks so Rosey that its worth possibly sacrificing 2024-26.