Upcoming Season Question

[columbiadawg2]

So, I'm itching for football and thought I'd start some additional season outlook talk. Of the following games:

@LSU, A&M, Arkansas, @UK, Auburn, @Ole Miss

Which games scares you the most?

Which game are you most confident that we'll win?

Biggest swing game?

 

[columbiadawg2]

My answers:

Which games scares you the most? A&M, we've had their number and I'm just worried they are finally going to get it together one season. They could/should be really good. That said, they'll probably go 8-4 and we'll beat them

Which game are you most confident that we'll win? Auburn, I think they'll be a mess by the time we play them

Biggest swing game? Arkansas at home, win and the season looks promising. Drop that at home and I'm really worried about the rest of the way

 

[Smoked Toag]

Pretty sure we will lose at LSU. That's just the way the world works. We CAN win, but we likely won't.

 

[patdog]

Wins - Ark, Aub
Losses - @ LSU, A&M, @UK, @Mississippi

That said, all are winnable, and all are losable. They're all swing games.

 

[howboutthemdawgs]

LSU is tough because we will be their first SEC opponent at home with a new coach and a reinvigorated fan base...at night. If there were ever a time when Tiger stadium will be rocking, it will be 9/17. Between the lines I think we have the advantage but i've been a state fan a long time and i've seen this movie.

Ole Miss in Oxford....for all the reasons. This game could define Leach's future.

 

[thatsbaseball]

In 2000 Nick Saban's 1st LSU team lost to UAB at night in Tiger Stadium **

 

[CookieMonster.sixpack]

4-2 in those games, 5-1 if we get lucky

So, I'm itching for football and thought I'd start some additional season outlook talk. Of the following games:

@LSU, A&M, Arkansas, @UK, Auburn, @Ole Miss

Which games scares you the most?

Which game are you most confident that we'll win?

Biggest swing game?

None scare me, but A&M is probably the toughest out. We have the capability to win all of them. We're going to be good this year.

 

[Smoked Toag]

In 2000 Nick Saban's 1st LSU team lost to UAB at night in Tiger Stadium **

How in the bloody hell did we go down there and lose to that LSU team? I'll always say 2000 was our chance. Won big and lost small. Blew the South Carolina game on the road, blew the LSU game on the road, blew the Arkansas game in the ice.

Would we have beaten Florida again in ATL? I have no idea. But damn it seems like we'd have had a shot.

Would we have gotten into the BCS title game with 1 loss (Ole Miss beat us by 2 TDs so I assume we lose that one no matter what)? Probably not, had the whole Miami vs. FSU thing going on that year. But we would have played that Miami team in the Sugar Bowl.

Beat Ole Miss and who knows. It was very close late in the 4th and we had a lot of things go wrong that day. Had we been undefeated who knows what type of momentum we have. Would we have beaten Oklahoma? Probably not but our D was damn good.

 

[patdog]

I was there. That was the night Joe Lee Dunn got exposed, and the beginning of Jackie's decline. We were never the same after that night until the Mullen years. Had two 14-point leads and blew them both. Even then, we probably still would have won if the refs hadn't given LSU a TD when the RB clearly fumbled on the 5-yard line going in.

 

[Cooterpoot]

@ LSU is a tough place to win
If Leach loses to OM the first 3 times, he's done. That's a big swing.

 

[thatsbaseball]

That was the worst I ever felt leaving a football game.

 

[MSUDC11]

How in the bloody hell did we go down there and lose to that LSU team? I'll always say 2000 was our chance. Won big and lost small. Blew the South Carolina game on the road, blew the LSU game on the road, blew the Arkansas game in the ice.

Would we have beaten Florida again in ATL? I have no idea. But damn it seems like we'd have had a shot.

Would we have gotten into the BCS title game with 1 loss (Ole Miss beat us by 2 TDs so I assume we lose that one no matter what)? Probably not, had the whole Miami vs. FSU thing going on that year. But we would have played that Miami team in the Sugar Bowl.

Beat Ole Miss and who knows. It was very close late in the 4th and we had a lot of things go wrong that day. Had we been undefeated who knows what type of momentum we have. Would we have beaten Oklahoma? Probably not but our D was damn good.

We had double digit leads in all four of our losses in 2000. Frustrating team in many ways.

 

[PhredPhantom]

In 2000 Nick Saban's 1st LSU team lost to UAB at night in Tiger Stadium **

“Past performance may not be indicative of future results.”

 

[00Dawg]

Hmmm.....

UM scares me the most, honestly. We NEED Leach to get that "can't beat his rival" monkey off his back and kill that talking point.

I'm most confident in Auburn because I think they're a dumpster fire.

Swing game is really UM, but for variety, I'll say the early season swing game is LSU. Win that, and suddenly our season's prospects look wide open. Lose, and the prospects of getting out of the Music City Bowl tier immediately look slim.

 

[Smoked Toag]

We were never the same after that night until the Mullen years.

Absolutely right. Never again got that feel again until 2009. And it's not even a feeling that we are super awesome or the best. It's hard to describe, but you just knew that we were going to put a team out there that could compete, that we were all on the same page. We pretty much kept that sensation through 2017, and it wore off quickly in 2018.

I am trying my damnedest to ignore the fact that we do NOT have that feeling now and have not had it under Fasting Slop Face and the Chronic Hacker. I keep telling myself that Leach is building a different kind of program, different from the old Jackie/Mullen programs that were honestly very similar in some ways (and yes, different in ways too but GENERALLY we were similar). Thus that 'feeling' won't matter. But the concern is there.

I have no idea what the buzz was back in the Emory Bellard days, so hard to compare that. We knew Jackie was gonna hurt you with his overlooked MS diamonds and shady JUCO characters. We knew Mullen would play fundamental football and move the ball. The 'intensity' was there with both of them, and the focus was running the ball and playing D. Here's to hoping Leach has a plan, because Gamedays the last 4 years have been less than impressive when it comes to energy.