Is 2017 "Next Year" for the 'Dogs?

WEEK 8:  A T M - TRUE MAROON Okay, let's get straight to the point:  Miss. State is pretty damn good.  The 'Dogs kicked A&M's butt, 12th man and all, at their big house.  I'll be honest:  I had been afraid of UK, but I thought we'd probably win since we were playing at home.  I thought we had a chance to win at Kyle Field ... but had I had to bet, I would've put my money on the Aggies.  After an embarrassing start, A&M should have had only one loss before Sat. night, and that was the closest regular season game anyone has played UAT in several years.  A&M's frosh QB, running game, and defense had all shown significant improvement ... and Christian Kirk had absolutely owned State every time he had faced them.  It looked like that jackass trustee was going to owe Kevin Sumlin a Trumpian " 'uge " apology.  The 'Dogs had looked toothless in their first 2 SEC road tests, and they were taking the field before 100,000 hostil...

'DOGS > KATS Of course, dyed in the wool MSU pessimists who complain about everything might possibly find some fault with the Bulldogs' trouncing of Kentucky, but even they would have to acknowledge that it was much more aesthetically pleasing than the BYU win.  It was a throrough butt-whuppin'.  I'll be honest:  I had been worried about this game for several weeks ... so much so that I had watched some of several UK games, including their win over Mizzou last weekend, trying to find that I was overly worried.  The problem was that the UKats were whatever you wanted to see, i.e., they played pretty well against the better teams they faced, but lousy against bad teams.  Their rushing defense was statistically good, which seemed to present problems for State.  Their passing defense was woeful, but that didn't seem to help us since our passing game had looked ordinary at best.  They had some good receivers and a QB who was both mobile and able to ...

Week 6 - BYU:  The Mormon Conquest Although the game was a yawner, it was good to get a comfortable win.  The Bulldogs needed the win.  True enough they didn't do much to impress anyone, but I guess their most important victim, LSU, has done that by beating Florida and Auburn on consecutive Saturdays.  To me any win is a good one ... remember I come from an era when State's beating a woeful team was anything but a foregone conclusion.  I'll never turn my nose up at victory, even if the victim of the drubbing was 1-5 coming into the game. As with any game, there was good news and bad news.  Let's start with the good because there was more of it: Aeris Williams was a real workhorse, remniscent of some of Vick Ballard's performances.  He ran hard and fought for yards.  A couple of his most impressive runs were when he got hit in the backfield and still fought forward for a couple of yards.  He caught the ball well all but one time t...

BONUS:  A TRIP TO THE BIG HOUSE For nearly 25 years my son and I have been taking at least one road trip annually to a sporting event.  We began going to Miss. State road football games when he was a boy, but have expanded it to include various sports and a multitude of venues.  Among the iconic places have been games at Fenway Park, Madison Square Garden, Lambeau Field, Soldier Field, the (new) Boston Garden, Camden Yard, and as of this past weekend, the Big House.   Of course, as an SEC guy I've always had some preconceived notions about the Big +/- 10 (thus called because they don't seem either to be all that clear on how many teams are in actually in their conference in any given season or to care).  This much I've always known:  Michigan Stadium is one huge place, and they regularly fill it up.  My son-in-law is a huge Michigan fan, although not an alumnus, so I've become at least sympathetic to their athletic teams.  But the st...

OPEN DATE - MIDTERM GRADE REPORT As has been the case in recent seasons, the Bulldogs handled perennial rival Open Date with considerable ease.  The biggest worries for coaches in an off week are probably injuries and the players having extra time on their hands to indulge in nonproductive non-football and non-academic pursuits. I read that Mullen was giving the players the weekend off.  So far it's been "no news is good news." And the other news was that BYU continued to get their butts beaten and their feelings hurt.  While I'm sure the Cougars would love a win, I can't imagine that they expect anything other than another butt-whuppin', something the 'Dogs are hopefully focused on supplying.  Hop on BYU early and often, and this could be the start of a good run for State. So the Bulldogs have almost a half season in the books, winning the first 3 impressively and soaring into the national rankings, only be thrashed twice consecutively on the r...

Week 5 - Aubrin Well ... that was awful.  Delusions of being good enough to be nationally ranked and candidates for a New Year's 6 bowl have been quickly shattered.  Not only did the Bulldogs prove that they could not win big games on the road against quality SEC teams; LSU proved exactly what we feared, i.e., that they suck.  (Although thanks to our Coonass land grant cousins, we no longer have to bear alone the ignominy of being an SEC team that lost a homecoming game to a team whose mascot is a pack of condoms.)   For the second week in a row the Bulldogs were dominated up front on both sides of the ball.  Susceptibility to big plays, a traditional thorn in the side of Bulldog defenses in the Mullen era, was on full display early and often Saturday night.  Even without a healthy Kamryn Pettway, the Sherman tank who scattered Bulldog defenders in his wake last year at Scott Field, Auburn ran through and around State's once vaunted defense....