Upcoming 3-game stretch for Arnett

[Perd Hapley]

We have 5 remaining SEC games.
It can be pretty objectively agreed that the 3 worst teams out of those 5 are the ones we play in the next 3 weeks.

If Arnett has any chance at all of a Year 2, I think he has to, at bare mininum, win 1 of these 3, and be competitive in the other 2. Preferably, he wins 2 of 3, but that might be a tall order.

Win 0 - he gone

Win 1 - can save his job with Egg Bowl win, provided that he beats USM

Win 2 - probably safe for next year

Win 3 - LOL

Anyway, won’t be long before a clear direction is set for the program. These are 3 critical games.

 

[8dog]

I can’t see anyway we beat Arkansas. They have had a chance to win in the 4th qtr at LSU, at OM and at Bama. Of course they also lost at home
To BYU.

 

[Drebin]

I can’t see anyway we beat Arkansas. They have had a chance to win in the 4th qtr at LSU, at OM and at Bama. Of course they also lost at home
To BYU.

If we don't beat Arkansas, we're staring down the barrel at 4-8.

 

[00Dawg]

I’m trying to keep myself objective these days and not go down depressing trains of thought, and the facts are we match up against these three teams the best of our P5 opponents when it comes our current weakness, defense.
They either like a slow pace that will allow our defense more time to rest (Ark, UK), lack a dynamic running QB (UK), or can’t pass (Auburn).
If Arnett is going to save his job, this is indeed the time to do it.

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

Auburn is a possibility too. Personally I doubt we beat anybody but USM. But ya never really know. If Will is out the running game might take off. Or things could be worse. My fear is worse but they use that as an excuse to give him another year

 

[Perd Hapley]

If we don't beat Arkansas, we're staring down the barrel at 4-8.

Possibly. If Will’s out for Ark but back for UK, I could see us taking the UK game. That’s by far our best chance of an SEC win. Auburn kinda sucks too, though…..too bad that one is on the road.

 

[GloryDawg]

Just don't give three scores away in turnovers and State has a shot at all the remaining games. Toughest team on schedule is A&M. As far as Arkansas goes, they are 2-5. Mentally they might be beat.

 

[ckDOG]

4-8. Crap class. Extend him a year. Emstate.

 

[Drebin]

Just don't give three scores away in turnovers and State has a shot at all the remaining games. Toughest team on schedule is A&M. As far as Arkansas goes, they are 2-5. Mentally they might be beat.

They've been in every game they've played. They're definitely still playing hard. I think mental letdowns is more wishful thinking than likely scenario.

 

[GloryDawg]

They've been in every game they've played. They're definitely still playing hard. I think mental letdowns is more wishful thinking than likely scenario.

I am not wishful thinking just putting it out there. Home games seems to cure what is making a team ill.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

We have 5 remaining SEC games.
It can be pretty objectively agreed that the 3 worst teams out of those 5 are the ones we play in the next 3 weeks.

If Arnett has any chance at all of a Year 2, I think he has to, at bare mininum, win 1 of these 3, and be competitive in the other 2. Preferably, he wins 2 of 3, but that might be a tall order.

Win 0 - he gone

Win 1 - can save his job with Egg Bowl win, provided that he beats USM

Win 2 - probably safe for next year

Win 3 - LOL

Anyway, won’t be long before a clear direction is set for the program. These are 3 critical games.

I'm at a point that if I hear we won any game from here on out, I'll be pleasantly surprised. I don't necessarily expect to lose them all, but I have no confidence in believing that we can win any of them either. About as down on our program as I've been in quite a while and honestly don't currently even have any "wait 'til next year" hope to hang my hat on. I sure hope that hoops season is fun...

 

[$altyDawg]

Kentucky made the mistake of letting Georgia beat them twice, but no way we beat Kentucky. They'll get at least 200 yards rushing on us and we won't generate enough offense to outscore them. 4-8

Possibly. If Will’s out for Ark but back for UK, I could see us taking the UK game. That’s by far our best chance of an SEC win. Auburn kinda sucks too, though…..too bad that one is on the road.

 

[Maroon13]

The key to the Arkansas game is... will we be fast enough and strong enough to bring down Jefferson when he leaves the pocket. ...and if we can cover.

I don't think he is as fast or quick as previous QBs this season, but he is load to bring down. We can't let those 3 and longs turn into QB runs for a 1st down.

 

[Drebin]

Kentucky made the mistake of letting Georgia beat them twice, but no way we beat Kentucky. They'll get at least 200 yards rushing on us and we won't generate enough offense to outscore them. 4-8

We may lose to Kentucky, but if we do, it should be unacceptable to all of us. Kentucky hasn't beaten us in Starkville in a long, long time, and they are not a very good football team this year.

Let's not move goalposts because we've turned out to be worse than expected. Losing games to KY, AR, and AU should be unacceptable. That doesn't mean I think we'll win them....just that if we lose them, that should motivate us to clean house.

 

[GloryDawg]

The key to the Arkansas game is... will we be fast enough and strong enough to bring down Jefferson when he leaves the pocket. ...and if we can cover.

I don't think he is as fast or quick as previous QBs this season, but he is load to bring down. We can't let those 3 and longs turn into QB runs for a 1st down.

Jefferson doesn't have the speed that LSU, Bama, and Arizona QB's had. Jefferson running doesn't worry me. If Jet or Bookie gets their hands on him, he will go down. I tell you who worries me is Ashford from Auburn. Freeze would be a fool not to start him against us.

 

[Dawg1976]

4-8

 

[OG Goat Holder]

We have 5 remaining SEC games.
It can be pretty objectively agreed that the 3 worst teams out of those 5 are the ones we play in the next 3 weeks.

If Arnett has any chance at all of a Year 2, I think he has to, at bare mininum, win 1 of these 3, and be competitive in the other 2. Preferably, he wins 2 of 3, but that might be a tall order.

Win 0 - he gone

Win 1 - can save his job with Egg Bowl win, provided that he beats USM

Win 2 - probably safe for next year

Win 3 - LOL

Anyway, won’t be long before a clear direction is set for the program. These are 3 critical games.

One thing is for certain - this board will be awesome over the next 3 weeks. Because you know what will happen, we will lose to Arkansas and Auburn in the most frustrating of ways, then beat Kentucky and then the sunshine pumpers will be like, "SeE mAyUn ThInGs ArE rIgHt DaHrExShUn!!". Basically, we won't learn anything and nothing will happen to push the team towards either keeping Arnett, or firing him. The result will absolutely be in the middle, probably 5-7 which is worst case scenario. We lose the bowl streak but have to keep Arnett.

It's the life of an MSU fan.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I can’t see anyway we beat Arkansas. They have had a chance to win in the 4th qtr at LSU, at OM and at Bama. Of course they also lost at home
To BYU.

Only way we win is if they have one of those games where everything goes wrong. And it may happen, they've been through the gauntlet, and it's an 11 am game, we're off a bye. Hard to imagine they'll be too amped up.

However, it's their first game at home in a while. I would imagine we will score, but Jefferson will take advantage of our defense, the crowd will come alive later on and we will lose 45-31 or something.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Jefferson doesn't have the speed that LSU, Bama, and Arizona QB's had. Jefferson running doesn't worry me. If Jet or Bookie gets their hands on him, he will go down. I tell you who worries me is Ashford from Auburn. Freeze would be a fool not to start him against us.

What about Rattler? He ran all over us. And the run isn't really the issue.

 

[patdog]

We will learn a lot about Arnett as a coach Saturday. He's either fixed some things or it's going to be a loooong 6 weeks till Thanksgiving. Either way, I think some of y'all are fooling yourselves if you think he's going to be fired.

 

[GloryDawg]

What about Rattler? He ran all over us. And the run isn't really the issue.

In the SC game they had a guy running wide open across the middle the first half every pass play. Second half was a different story. Take back the Will Rogers turnovers State wins that game. Rattler had 48 yards running. Those were not called runs. They were scramble plays. I guess that's a lot.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

We will learn a lot about Arnett as a coach Saturday. He's either fixed some things or it's going to be a loooong 6 weeks till Thanksgiving. Either way, I think some of y'all are fooling yourselves if you think he's going to be fired.

I think the only way he's fired is 4-8 with a horrific Egg loss (rivaling 2008) or 3-9. 5-7 with a horrific Egg loss? Eh, I don't know what happens there. Our idiotic fanbase really does care too much about Ole Miss. I mean we really did keep Moorhead because he beat a terrible Ole Miss team.

 

[L4Dawg]

We are more likely to win the two home SEC games than we are any of the road games.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

Perhaps 3-9 with a horrific Egg Bowl loss.
But no matter how bad it gets, I say he's got at least another year.

We've proven we can get a gimmicky big-name coach to Starkville - Leach
We've proven we can get a past-his-prime winning coach with a sh-tton of baggage - JWS

We will never be able to throw enough money at a new hire. We do not have the resources, particularly in the NIL age.

The next coaching search will make evident we CANNOT get a big-name, big-time winner to Starkville. A new coaching search is going to be painful and depressing.

Our best bet is to hire an up and comer and praying they can get it done in Starkville. But if they do, they'll likely pull a Mullenz, so PREPARE FOR DOOM!

 

[Seinfeld]

We will learn a lot about Arnett as a coach Saturday. He's either fixed some things or it's going to be a loooong 6 weeks till Thanksgiving. Either way, I think some of y'all are fooling yourselves if you think he's going to be fired.

Completely agree, yet I’m shaking my head thinking about the unbridled excitement heading into next season following a 4-8 to 5-7 finish, a broken bowl streak, and the #48th ranked class coming in

 

[POTUS]

Completely agree, yet I’m shaking my head thinking about the unbridled excitement heading into next season following a 4-8 to 5-7 finish, a broken bowl streak, and the #48th ranked class coming in

The college football game couldn't be coming back at a better time. I'll need it to escape the brutal reality that is our actual football team.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

We've proven we can get a gimmicky big-name coach to Starkville - Leach
We've proven we can get a past-his-prime winning coach with a sh-tton of baggage - JWS

Our best bet is to hire an up and comer and praying they can get it done in Starkville. But if they do, they'll likely pull a Mullenz, so PREPARE FOR DOOM!

You're correct, these are our options. But I'd venture to say there are only 2 options, not 3: Leach and JWS are the same....older, experienced coach who has baggage (Leach had his - there's a reason he never got a real look from the blue bloods).

I'd prefer the old guy this time around. We need a winner and stability. Rich Rodriguez, Gus Malzahn, Willie Fritz.

 

[Perd Hapley]

One thing is for certain - this board will be awesome over the next 3 weeks. Because you know what will happen, we will lose to Arkansas and Auburn in the most frustrating of ways, then beat Kentucky and then the sunshine pumpers will be like, "SeE mAyUn ThInGs ArE rIgHt DaHrExShUn!!". Basically, we won't learn anything and nothing will happen to push the team towards either keeping Arnett, or firing him. The result will absolutely be in the middle, probably 5-7 which is worst case scenario. We lose the bowl streak but have to keep Arnett.

It's the life of an MSU fan.

I definitely think winning 1 of 3 is the most likely scenario….for the exact reasons you mentioned…..and the ultimate outcome - whatever it is - drags out all the way to the Egg Bowl. I mean, its probably statistically the most likely outcome anyway. But even the power of stats and analytics pales in comparison to that of the Injuns.

At MSU, nothing comes easy. Not even sucking bad enough to fire your coach.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Our idiotic fanbase really does care too much about Ole Miss. I mean we really did keep Moorhead because he beat a terrible Ole Miss team.

Don’t put that evil on us….that was all Keenum. Everyone else (including Cohen) wanted him gone.

At least Willie Gay knew what was up, and became not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed.

 

[Drebin]

Perhaps 3-9 with a horrific Egg Bowl loss.
But no matter how bad it gets, I say he's got at least another year.

We've proven we can get a gimmicky big-name coach to Starkville - Leach
We've proven we can get a past-his-prime winning coach with a sh-tton of baggage - JWS

We will never be able to throw enough money at a new hire. We do not have the resources, particularly in the NIL age.

The next coaching search will make evident we CANNOT get a big-name, big-time winner to Starkville. A new coaching search is going to be painful and depressing.

Our best bet is to hire an up and comer and praying they can get it done in Starkville. But if they do, they'll likely pull a Mullenz, so PREPARE FOR DOOM!

I bet you a quarter he's gone at 4-8. I bet you a nickel he's gone at 5-7.

The most likely scenario is that we end up 6-6, which should be enough to piss off everybody.

 

[Perd Hapley]

The most likely scenario is that we end up 6-6, which should be enough to piss off everybody.

Don’t agree with this at all. Who’s going to be seriously pissed at 6-6 when the objective public expectation was 6-7 wins?

 

[Drebin]

Don’t agree with this at all. Who’s going to be seriously pissed at 6-6 when the objective public expectation was 6-7 wins?

Everyone who knows we've got to go another direction and we end up not getting rid of the guy.

 

[patdog]

Don’t agree with this at all. Who’s going to be seriously pissed at 6-6 when the objective public expectation was 6-7 wins?

Most people on this board didn’t have objective or realistic expectations 6 weeks ago.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Don’t put that evil on us….that was all Keenum. Everyone else (including Cohen) wanted him gone.

At least Willie Gay knew what was up, and became not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed.

I c what u did there

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Don’t agree with this at all. Who’s going to be seriously pissed at 6-6 when the objective public expectation was 6-7 wins?

Think about it, that's just beating Kentucky and USM. Not that much of an accomplishment. We have the talent this year to have beaten Carolina, Arkansas and Auburn in addition to that. And we could have played much better with Alabama and probably Texas A&M and Ole Miss.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Everyone who knows we've got to go another direction and we end up not getting rid of the guy.

I don’t think anyone “knows” that.

I’m not saying we can’t have some ugly path to 6-6, but it seems pretty much damn near impossible for us to get there without taking giant leaps forward in multiple areas….all which would have to come from coaching because the crappy talent damn sure isn’t going to get any better. And if that happens, he should certainly get another year and I think most everyone would see the beginning to end improvement and be OK with that.

Don’t hear what I’m not saying though. That’s a lot of “ifs”….this team isn’t going to just luck its way into 6-6.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Think about it, that's just beating Kentucky and USM. Not that much of an accomplishment. We have the talent this year to have beaten Carolina, Arkansas and Auburn in addition to that. And we could have played much better with Alabama and probably Texas A&M and Ole Miss.

Huh? Kentucky and USM would only get us to 5-7. Gotta find another one out of the Egg and Ark / A&M to get to 6-6.

And as far as talent, we’re the least talented of the 4 between us, Carolina, Arkansas, and Auburn. It’s not a huge gap, but its there.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Huh? Kentucky and USM would only get us to 5-7. Gotta find another one out of the Egg and Ark / A&M to get to 6-6.

True, my bad. Yeah I guess that means Egg Bowl too. People will probably change their tune if that happens.

 

[Drebin]

I don’t think anyone “knows” that.

I’m not saying we can’t have some ugly path to 6-6, but it seems pretty much damn near impossible for us to get there without taking giant leaps forward in multiple areas….all which would have to come from coaching because the crappy talent damn sure isn’t going to get any better. And if that happens, he should certainly get another year and I think most everyone would see the beginning to end improvement and be OK with that.

Don’t hear what I’m not saying though. That’s a lot of “ifs”….this team isn’t going to just luck its way into 6-6.

The problem with looking only at final record to judge is that it diminishes how we've actually played. We've stunk in our wins so far too. So yeah, many of us already "know" that the guy isn't ready for prime time. And when you know, you know.

Let us go 6-6 with that ugly path to six wins that you're talking about and watch what this looks like during the off season and lead up to next season. There will be absolutely no enthusiasm or momentum for this program, season ticket sales and BC/NIL donations will plummet, and recruiting will continue to bottom out. But hey, he got to six wins so let's keep him? We've got to be more strategic than that.

 

[Perd Hapley]

The problem with looking only at final record to judge is that it diminishes how we've actually played. We've stunk in our wins so far too. So yeah, many of us already "know" that the guy isn't ready for prime time. And when you know, you know.

Let us go 6-6 with that ugly path to six wins that you're talking about and watch what this looks like during the off season and lead up to next season. There will be absolutely no enthusiasm or momentum for this program, season ticket sales and BC/NIL donations will plummet, and recruiting will continue to bottom out. But hey, he got to six wins so let's keep him? We've got to be more strategic than that.

An ugly path I’n referring to still would require massive improvement. Any path would. This whole “we stink even in our wins” thing, first of all, not true of all our wins and secondly is not going to hold up on the road in the SEC anyway.

We’re not going to win any out of Auburn, A&M, and Arkansas or the Egg if we just step on our dicks for 2/3 of the game on either side of the ball and somehow still get a billion turnovers or a dog urination penalty or what have you. It ain’t happening. Every team on the schedule left besides maybe UK and USM has more talent than we do. This isn’t like 2019 where Moorhead was able to delay the inevitable because we got to play a Chad Morris Arkansas team and a Matt Luke OM team down the stretch. Zero of those teams / coaches on our slate this season.