FiftyishStudent

I do not know the stats from the `98 State - Kentucky game, but State lost it 35-37. But the Kentucky Offensive Coordinator in `98 was Mike Leach.

After playing both clips, somebody has a vivid imagination if they can hear any boos. It would not be surprising if there were some boos, but in those two clips, if there were any, they were completely drowned out by the cheering. Even the clips say "Donald Trump is announced as cheers erupt ..." and "Superdome giving lots of love to @RealDonaldTrump". I guess some just can't resist saying something, anything, negative.

Leach did beat Washington in 2012. Year and teams ranked at the end of the season who were beaten by Leach at WSU. 2017 S Cal, Stanford 2016 Stanford 2013 S Cal Year and teams ranked at the end of the season who were beaten by Dan Mullen at MSU. 2014 Auburn 2009 Ole Miss The WSU football stadium holds 33,000.

Yeah, I would just as soon any team that we play beat teams that we do not play, but much more important is that we beat them.

Saying that the rules say what they say, doesn't necessarily make someone a "Nazi". A little strong on language there. I know some people say things like "grammar Nazis", but maybe just saying "rules fanatics" would have been better.

Mississippi State had a choice to accept the penalty or refuse it. There is always that choice. If Mississippi State had accepted the penalty, Alabama would have been marked back 5 yards and would have kicked off again, which did not happen. Obviously Mississippi State refused the penalty and took the ball at the 35 yard line. That is why the box score correctly shows 0 penalties for 0 yards against Alabama.

Whether Mississippi State accepted the penalty or not, what were the refs going to do? Not call the kick off out of bounds? No matter how biased the refs were, would they not make that call? Understand I am not saying the refs were biased, just saying....

This site doesn't seem to want to let me post a link, but it is in the 2018 NCAA Rules and Interpretations, Rule 6, Section 2, which is on page 67.

Kicking the ball out of bounds is a penalty. If the receiving team accepts the penalty then the kicking team is moved back 5 yards and kicks off again. If the receiving team refuses the penalty, they get it 30 yards from where the kicking team's restraining line. So Mississippi State refused the penalty and got it at their 35 yard line which was 30 yards from Alabama's 35 yard line. Which most teams do. Since Mississippi State refused the penalty it was not a penalty against Alabama.

I'll be very surprised Miss St jumps anywhere near that high in the AP and the Coaches. They were far out of the top 25 maybe at about 37. Miss St has a lot more to prove than just beating Auburn in Starkville.

Kentucky did lose to Tex A&M in OT at Tex A&M, but Tex A&M has only lost to Clemson and Alabama. I dont' understand why Tex A&M isn't at least a little higher.

As a Miss St fan I have to agree. They are at least in the ball park with Florida. Kentucky beat Florida and Miss St, and Miss St was handily. Florida's only signature wins are over Miss St and LSU. The only signature win Miss St and LSU have is over Auburn, and there is no way to know how good Auburn is with their only signature win over Washington. Since Washington has played no one else in the SEC, it's hard to say how good Washington is relative to the rest of the SEC. LSU did also beat Miami, but same comment as on Washington.

Can't possibly imagine he will not be in line for a head coaching job.

The penalty on the late hit was also bogus. The Miss St player had already started his move when the Louisville player was giving no indication that he was going out of bounds. But overall it was a fairly well called game. There were only a few really questionable calls.

I just saw that Marcus Johnson, the OL coach at Duke, is joining the team as the OL coach. Marcus was born in Mississippi and grew up in Coffeeville, MS, and went to Ole Miss. He wasn't the only one at Duke involved in recruiting the OL, but Duke looks like they were doing better with the OL than Miss St, even though Duke overall has done worse than Miss St.

By "out of the state PA" I meant not from the state of PA.

Mullen and his team were not that great at it, but the 2014 OL was very good with at most some 3 stars and I'm certain a 2 star and a no star. Apparently, an OL that plays together for years can overcome a lot. Part of the problem is the state of MS does not produce very many really good OL. But somebody at Penn St while Moorhead was there was better at it. They were getting some much higher rated OL men including some out of the state of PA.

Aeris Williams is really good, 6th in an SEC stacked with RBs in all purpose yards among RBs. And Aeris Williams is in the backfield with Nick Fitzgerald who has the most rushing yards among QBs. Kylin Hill may even be better, Keytaon Thompson maybe even more so.

Until the 5 de-commits since Mullen, Florida had only had 3 de-commits in the 2018 class. Only one of those three were after Florida fired HC McElwain, the other two were back in the summer.

Except for the practicality of Miss St losing commits to Florida, it is just an idle curiosity. Recruiting immediately improved at Miss St with Mullen, but never went to the next level. The recruiting in 2015 after the #1 run in 2014 was almost exactly what it was in 2009 and then got about as bad on average after 2015 as between 2009 and 2015. Was that because of the difficulty recruiting at Miss St or because of Mullen? I have no doubt that recruiting will be better at Florida than at Miss St with most other things being anywhere near equal, but that's really not the question. And Florida really didn't even have a head coach and those players stuck with Florida until it became known that Mullen was going to be the head coach. None of the five lost so far have been a pro-style QB, although that is probably also coming. The change in offensive scheme does not explain the commits that have been lost.

Oops. The one Miss St 2018 de-commit is a mid 3* S. I mixed it up with 2019.

In the 2018 class, Miss St has had a de-commit from a high 3* QB, since it was announced Mullen was going to Florida about a week and a half back. Florida has had de-commits from a high 4* WR, this 4* OG, a 4* CB, a 3* WR, and a 3* DE. That's one de-commit for Miss St and five for Florida. There have been at least three Miss St commits Mullen has tried to flip to Florida with no success yet, two 4 star WRs and a 3 star QB. There's also a 4 star pro style QB who has not de-committed from Florida but has taken an official visit to Ole Miss, of all things. Florida has picked up a 3* OT commit. With all of the turnover 247sports.com now rates the Florida 2018 class 12th in the nation, just below Miss St at 11th. I doubt if that will hold but Miss St might end up with about the 14th, which will be higher than the highest Mullen had at Miss St, 18th. The recruiting classes are far from being set for 2018, but it is all curious to say the least.

Click bait! If Tennessee and Florida were in a bidding war it would have been more than $6M a year. Miss St would have gone to $5.5M. Florida outbid Miss St not Tennessee. Or Tennessee was never planning to go that high to begin with, which would make Florida's willingness to go that high interesting. Tennessee's situation with Schiano is a humongous fiasco, not getting Mullen, maybe not so much.

Thanks to some Ole Miss fans showing some class. Poking at opponents in a good natured way is just a part of the fun, but there is class and there is a lack of class.

Maybe Mullen should concentrate a little more on treating assistants better and making more money available for them. It might work out better for him in the long run.

Mississippi State is not "looking to avoid its first losing season since 2009". They are 5-7 right now. Even with a bowl win they would be 6-7. That would still be a losing season. Mississippi State played in the Orange Bowl January 1, 1941, which they won, then again December 31, 2014, which they lost. Okay, maybe ~74 years is nearly a century?

I wonder how some Ole Miss fans are taking the news. I haven't reached the point of asking any. I thought I would wait until it was even more unavoidable. Some were extremely over critical of Prescott to the point of hatred. Prescott was never the least critical of Ole Miss other than wanting to beat them, the same as anybody else.

It might be best to wait a while to get a better measure, however, I am optimistic. I don't think State has ever had a Hall of Famer, but there have been some Pro-Bowlers, Eric Moulds & Kent Hull, off the top of the head.

Dan Mullen is already on the record criticizing LSU for firing Les Miles. That does not sound like someone who is looking for that job.

There have been interviews and calls. I don't think there have been transcripts of all of them so we really don't know what was offered or at what point Mullen might have made it clear he had no interest. Do an internet search for: dan mullen grass isn't greener michigan. "I've had calls before. I understand that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side." When asked what State means to him [he] said, “I’ve had a hand in where every door in this facility went and how we've built this program from the ground up. I have a great administration and this program is built how I want a program to run." "A lot of times I’ll look and say 'really, is that a better job?'" "My wife told me just the other night ... this is the ultimate destination job."