Discussion Topic - As a fan - what would be bigger to you?...

[dawgstudent]

SEC Football Championship
National Championship in baseball

I honestly go back and forth but I know logically - it should be the national championship.

 

[redbird4state]

That's a tough one.

I'm really 50/50.

 

[BriantheDawg]

National Championship.

 

[FlabLoser]

It isn't tough at all. An SEC championship is a national championship. Worst case it gets you in the championship game.

I'll take that. After we win the CWS.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

Baseball Natty. The Best team in the land over one of the top teams in the land mired in speculation with polls, SEC Conspiracies Theorists, etc.

 

[starkvegasdawg]

Since you didn't list football recruiting I guess I will go with the baseball national championship.

 

[uptowndawg]

The natty in baseball.

Even though they're arguably both just as reputable. When you win a natty the season is over, your the best, go home happy.

 

[57stratdawg]

I'd go SEC Championship in football. I feel like we can compete for a Natty in baseball on our own, but it would almost take an act of God (or a hypothetical situation on a message board) for us to pull down an SEC title.

I feel like an SEC title in football would ripple out through the other programs as well, but a natty in baseball probably wouldn't have the same effect.

 

[esplanade91]

SECCG is probably more exposure, but as a fan I would get more satisfaction out of winning a national title.

Getting the championship and losing would almost be as bad as not going at all. Almost.

 

[civildawg88]

I think the natty also. If we happened to win the SEC championship and lost the national championship in football, I feel like it would take me awhile to get over it since we came so close. Kind of like how I will feel if we dont win the national championship in baseball.

 

[DAWG61]

SEC Football Champs would almost guarantee a spot in the BCS Bowls which should mean a shot at a football NC. However we are one win away from being in the baseball NC Series and I want that BAD right now so my answer is a baseball NC. Ask me during football season and my answer might change.

 

[maroonmania]

I'd go SEC Championship in football. I feel like we can compete for a Natty in baseball on our own, but it would almost take an act of God (or a hypothetical situation on a message board) for us to pull down an SEC title.

I feel like an SEC title in football would ripple out through the other programs as well, but a natty in baseball probably wouldn't have the same effect.

Well, we've actually been much closer to an SEC title in football. Of course in 98 we were about 6 minutes of game time from an SEC football title. We've never even played for the NC in baseball. And we still haven't YET. Don't underestimate Oregon State, they are a very good team and survived a ton of elimination games. Anyone who thinks they are going to go down easy is sadly mistaken. People on here talking about who they prefer to play in the championship round better wait on that and focus on the Beavers.

 

[Big Sheep81]

National Championship in baseball. We have too much history in CWS appearances and college baseball not to be able to hang that banner. The University and fans deserve one.

Besides we already have a NC in football........1941**

 

[dawgphd]

National Championship in baseball.

 

[LiterallyPolice]

I think the better way to phrase the question is:

If you could have one, and only one, in your lifetime.... which would you choose? And the SEC championship comes with the caveat that we don't win the national championship that year or any other year.

I'd have to go NC in baseball. Even with an SEC championship, I would be pissed we didn't win it all. With a NC in baseball, there's no questioning "what would have been".

EDIT: Reply fail. Meant to reply to original post.

 

[Bamboo.sixpack]

To be the first MS school to win a National Championship in the big 3??

To win the NC in Baseball, would be the biggest accomplishment of any sports team in MS history. This is big.

 

[tommyboy1520]

I'd go with the SEC Football Championship. Football is king, and with the SEC as strong as it is, this would be a bigger feat to me with more prestige even over a national title in a sport that comes in at a distant third. The prestige gap between football and baseball is pretty big. I know most will disagree, but I'd say the gap between football and basketball is larger than most want to believe.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

Football. Not even close. The last SEC championship game pulled a national audience of 10% of all households in the country watching the game. The CWS championship games average barely over 1%. Die hard baseball fans will choose the natty, but the average fan doesn't give a d*mn unless their team is playing. Home attendance this year was 240,000 for 38 games. Football would beat that in 4 games. I think some of us my be rationalizing, because an SEC championship would be basically impossible, so why wish for something that can't happen when you are sooooo close to the real thing? If you could rub a bottle and a genie would actually let us win the SEC championship, that would be an easy call.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Baseball NC.

 

[uptowndawg]

To each his own

Football. Not even close. The last SEC championship game pulled a national audience of 10% of all households in the country watching the game. The CWS championship games average barely over 1%. Die hard baseball fans will choose the natty, but the average fan doesn't give a d*mn unless their team is playing. Home attendance this year was 240,000 for 38 games. Football would beat that in 4 games. I think some of us my be rationalizing, because an SEC championship would be basically impossible, so why wish for something that can't happen when you are sooooo close to the real thing? If you could rub a bottle and a genie would actually let us win the SEC championship, that would be an easy call.

But the joy I get from seeing my team win does not derive itself from knowing someone else in the country saw it on TV.

The SEC CG would be bigger for the school. But I would be 'happier' with the baseball NC.

 

[bonedaddy401]

SEC Championship in Football. Any other conference championship wouldn't..

even be close but because its an SEC Championship and in the biggest of all college sports I would take it. I love a National Championship in baseball. Love it. But I feel like being the top of the SEC in football is a bigger deal. Not by much.


(ducks for cover)

 

[seshomoru]

CWS Title

It's a personal thing really. I grew up more on MSU baseball than MSU football. I know it would be better for the University as a whole to win a SEC football championship (which pretty much means BCS champ game appearance), but I'm more emotionally attached to right field at the Dude.

 

[dawgstudent]

That's my thought too. I keep going back and forth b/c on paper - why wouldn't you want to be #1?

 

[aTotal360]

This.

 

[WayboDawg]

I don't think its a given that if you win the SEC Football Championship that you are a great team, or that you will be in the NC Game. In 1998 ,for example, we had already lost 3 games before we got to the game. You can win/lose the right combination of games and win the SEC Championship if the other schools are having down years. I'll take a National Championship in baseball any day over a conference championship. We'd be the best team in 2013, no questions asked, FOREVER. The SEC is in its heyday, but at some point what goes up must come down, and the conference championship won't be such a big deal anymore.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

I think the days where a dark horse gets to the SEC Championship game are over. The Big Boys have too much advantage. The most populous states--Florida and Georgia, have only one SEC team. The least populated--Miss--has two to split the talent. If we could expand the stadium to 100k, we couldn't fill it with our population, with the fan base split between 7 universities. Certainly couldn't fill it in Starkville or Oxford. The final straw to my choice is $$$$. Going to the SEC championship is big bucks and it guarantees a BCS bowl and even more money. Then there's the tee shirts and merchandise for the SEC game and BCS bowl. Finally, the TV exposure and $$$ from being an elite SEC, with national TV audiences, Game Day adds up to millions--probably as much as our whole athletic budget. Then you can recruit as a BCS bowl team.

For the baseball champ, I bet the winning program is lucky to turn a profit. The TV revenues for every team together is likely a fraction of what you get for the Sugar alone. It would give a pop to baseball recruiting, but not much else. So then what--you get the best recruits who then go pro out of HS and never make it to campus. I'd bet not one fan in 20 could name half the CWS champs of the past decade --which include the likes of Rice, Oregon State, Cal State Fullerton, Fresno and Arizona. Unless you are baseball freak, I'll bet most college sports fans couldn't name 2 (LSU and one other). They could probably name 80% of the SEC Football Champs.

 

[gtowndawg]

Football.

It's just a bigger deal to most everyone in America. Plain and simple.

 

[patdog]

SEC football title & it's not even close. A baseball national title would be great, but baseball is a pretty minor sport.

 

[1msudawg]

I say baseball. It is the only choice that puts National Champions and MSU in the same sentence. That trumps anything else.

 

[Hump4Hoops]

NC in a major sport, every time.

Someone from the SEC is going to win the SEC title every year. Winning a NC is always special.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

Baseball

nm

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

For the given situation we are in, it has to be the National Title. If we already had a major national championship or two in a major sport in the last 25 years, it would probably be different, and I'd have to say the SEC Football Championship since it is so prestigious, and more care about it. But MSU has never won a team national title in anything. Ever. It has to be that.

 

[Wooly17er]

So lets get Ole Miss out of the SEC and get to winning. They already bring a negative connotation to the SEC with their constant whining on wanting to hang on to a blighted past just because of a cartoon-character mascot. Plus, they aren't very good at the big-3 sports (aside from a few years when they are clicking), and they have to point to "recruiting championships" to stay relevant. They are all that is keeping us from rising to the top of the conference, and yet they hang around with their noses in the air like they belong "just because." I'm sure the SEC's academic record, as well as the personal image, would go way up without them being a member. Our national record in parties would go way down by losing that perennial power-house, but it would be better for the SEC - and most important, it would be better for this State.

(*******)

 

[tebmsu97]

I think the better way to phrase the question is:

If you could have one, and only one, in your lifetime.... which would you choose? And the SEC championship comes with the caveat that we don't win the national championship that year or any other year.

I'd have to go NC in baseball. Even with an SEC championship, I would be pissed we didn't win it all. With a NC in baseball, there's no questioning "what would have been".

My thoughts exactly

 

[Wooly17er]

I want the National Championship in baseball.

It's right there in the name. I want it bad.

 

[ckDOG]

SEC Champ in football.

Like most folks, I care more about football than baseball. Plus, relative to my expectations for each sport, winning the SEC in football would far far far exceed my expectations. Winning a NC in baseball wouldn't be surprising to me. Not saying it would ever be likely in any given 10 year span, but it wouldn't surprise me either knowing our history and support for the program. If you told me we would win the SEC championship in the next 10 years, I would guess that it's because all traditional powers were put on probation or they left the conference to build some crazy mega-conference with the best programs from around the nation.

All that said, winning a baseball NC is still a huge deal. I'm pumped up thinking that we have a great shot at one...

(All of the above is said with the assumption that the SEC maintains its status as the best football conference in the country. In the unlikely event that it becomes an uncompetitive football conference, I'm very likely to change my opinion)

 

[PhredPhantom]

It depends...

It depends.

Talking football -

In the current state of football in the SEC, the winner of the SEC West is usually the strongest contender for SEC Champ - but not always. Assuming that the other teams (mainly Alabama, LSU, and aTm) in the SEC West stayed at their current level, that would mean that MSU would have to better than them to win the West and would likely win the SECCG. If we did that, we would most likely play in and win the National Championship game, too. If they stayed at their current level and we improved enough to be better than them then we would most likely be the best team in the nation.

On the other hand, if the reason we won the SECCG was because the "elite" teams had gone down in ability and we stayed at our current level so that, by default, we were the best team in the SEC West, then it is most likely that another team in the nation would be better than us. In that scenario, we wouldn't even make it to the National Championship game, much less win it. So in this case, winning the SECCG really means nothing. If that is the case, I would rather have the National Championship in Baseball.

Since Baseball (and Basketball) are more of a true playoff championship series (at least for the time being), our winning the National Championship in Baseball is more likely to mean that we really are the best team in the nation. Football matchups tend to be selected as much as or more than earned.

Every year is different; some more than others.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I say

CWS title.

For those saying that a SEC Champ = a National Title (or shot at), I don't think this is true. If State were in this posistion, the voters would somehow try to screw us. They would use the black bear "Oh the SEC is weak!11! State won it, see!11!"

 

[tuku 2]

I'd go with the CWS. It's great exposure for MSU and the SEC cred would be nice. Baseball pulled MSU through the Felker years. Hell, Kentucky has been living off of NCAA Basketball forever.

 

[MaxwellSmart]

National Championship. Nothing else comes close.