I think Mullen has screwed up by....

[DowntownDawg]

...talking so much crap early on. Although the Egg Bowl is entertaining again, how does it benefit us to have a "spicier rivalry?" The last time that happened, we had PI's running around and NCAA investigators sleeping with rival alumni. Jackie did stuff to get under their skin, but was not so blatant about it. That would be the one thing I would change about Mullen's first year.

I think it's hitting us in recruiting right now. The 2009 class was Mullen's best, and he cleaned up in MS. It seems like last year we had Nutt's attention and OM got a bunch of good MS prospects. That seems to be the way it's going this year. Mullen has definitely shown that he can improve a football team. He really needs to have a good recruiting year, and we seem to have lost some steam after starting out well. Point being, what was it hurting to fly under the radar?

 

[DowntownDawg]

...talking so much crap early on. Although the Egg Bowl is entertaining again, how does it benefit us to have a "spicier rivalry?" The last time that happened, we had PI's running around and NCAA investigators sleeping with rival alumni. Jackie did stuff to get under their skin, but was not so blatant about it. That would be the one thing I would change about Mullen's first year.

I think it's hitting us in recruiting right now. The 2009 class was Mullen's best, and he cleaned up in MS. It seems like last year we had Nutt's attention and OM got a bunch of good MS prospects. That seems to be the way it's going this year. Mullen has definitely shown that he can improve a football team. He really needs to have a good recruiting year, and we seem to have lost some steam after starting out well. Point being, what was it hurting to fly under the radar?

 

[ckDOG]

I think it's hitting us in recruiting right now.

But, I don't think it's hurting us right now at all. If we are losing any recruiting battles to OM right now, it's due to their recent Cotton Bowl history and nothing Dan Mullen has done. I understand the crap talk early on. It can do nothing but fire up players and alumni who have nothing else to base their good spirits on other than our potential. Having said that, if we go 5-7 this year and lose to OM, Mullen better not be running his mouth. Recruits will see straight through that and it will hurt us.

Essentially, smack talk early on = confidence; continuing smack talk with nothing to back it up = desperation. We are nowhere near the latter, so I couldn't care less if Mullen is getting in a jab here and there right now.

 

[thelaw]

and agree that there are drawbacks to all of the stuff Mullen has said, but I also try toremember that being the new(er) coach that he is, he walked into a situation with a dead fanbase essentially and the program in the ground. I think maybe one of the easiest (& cheapest) ways to galvanize a fanbase is to plunge everyone back into the rivalry- I don't know if thats why he did it, but perhaps it played a part in all of it.

I will say that if future number figures are skewed to read 41,270 or some variation thereof, I'll be embarrassed/disappointed. All egg bowl **** should stop no later than December in my opinion.

 

[8dog]

comments by Dan Mullen, then he is a moron.

This is about a fanbase. Jackie did this and it rallied MSU fans and alums.

 

[rightreb]

one game or one school the centerpiece of your entire program. Tommy West listened to the Memphis fanbase when he was hired as head coach and set out to make the Ole Miss game the only thing. The Memphis fans loved every second of it and the willing accomplices in the Memphis media played right along. Memphis prepared and played well against UM and it payed off. Two victories in 03 and 04 against the Rebels made Tommy West the highest paid coach in C-USA and he carried that distinction many years after. And during this time there was never any serious discussion about C-USa titles or improving records from year to year. And so after the luck ran out, and it definitely did when you consider TW couldn't even beat the worst hire in SEC hirstory in Orgeron, fan support and overall success started to fade. And whenOle Missfinally made a decent hire, the last two games in the serieswere relative blowouts.

Now, MSU isvastly superior to Memphis in terms of potential and overall recent success. Please don't think I'm comparing the two on that level.And you could argue that if Mullen continues to make the Egg Bowl the centerpiece, then MSU is certainly capable of putting together a nice run against UM, something that really wasn't realistic at Memphis. Memphis took a "us against the SEC" type of angle to the UM series, something that is obviouslynot present in the UM/MSU rivalry. MSU has the potential to put together a solid SEC football program, one that wins consistenly and handles its in-state rival at the same time. But that needs to be the focus if it is to come true, not countdown clocks and Egg bowl trophy photo gigs.

 

[seshomoru]

Fans eat that stuff up. Fans buy tickets.

There. That was easy.

 

[JacksonDevilDog]

Email that to Dan Mullen and he'll change his approach to the rivalry. Its funny how things have changed after Croom. Croom would take his *** whipping and say, "I didn't see that coming." Now Mullen is running his mouth, getting the fanbase fired up, and it has the Rebel fans up in arms. If this was Croom running his mouth, Rebel fans would laugh because they would not see Croom as a threat. Yet they see Mullen as a threat just as the way that I saw Nutt as a threat to MSU. Nutt being hired by Ole Miss might have been the best thing, at the time for MSU. The same thing can be said about Kennedy at UM.

 

[thunderclap]

even suggest that Mullen has screwed up by stirring the pot?

I respectfully disagree, and enjoy that Mullen doesn't mind poking fingers in eyes. It's refreshing to have a coach again who believes we should sit in the front seat.

 

[rightreb]

Mullen ran his mouth and then backed it up, and is now running his mouth again. And he if beats UM again this year and then he can feel free to run it more. When you win you have the right to act like an ***. I cetainly don't fear Dan Mullen, I repect him as a solid, and perhaps more than solid hire. It is not that Um and MSU have sucked overrecent years simply because they are UM and MSU, it is because both have managed to make horrific hires.

I would just warn against making UM the centerpiece of your program, and whether or not you would like to admit it, this is exactly what you have done thus far.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

...The Egg Bowl victory is literally the only thing Mullen has to hang his hat on.

If you beat down Ole Missas severely asMullen did, you've earned the right to run smack about it.</p>

How does it benefit us to have a spicier rivalry? Do you remember not so long ago the Egg Bowl was on national TV every year? That'sone of the manybenefits of a spicy rivalry.

Right now the Egg Bowl rivalry is as bland as a bowl of Vietnamese rice. I'm glad uncle Dan is willing to stir the **** a little by running a little summer smack.

Perhaps Mullen wantsThanksgiving night college footballto bethe sole property of the Egg Bowl once again. I would have to agree with him on that.</p>

</p>

 

[DowntownDawg]

...it just seems that when Mullen started his "We are going to dominate Mississippi in recruiting" talk, along with ++#% and other stuff, Nutt seemed to focus more in-state and got players that we would've loved to have had, whereas in the past, he was content with the leftovers from Georgia, Florida, etc.

Plus, I recall last year when OM beat us for Thompson, we offered DE Paul Crawford out of Texas very late in the game. He was one of the "mystery recruits" late in the process. Somebody blew his cover and he was interviewed on BDJ as saying that when it became known that he was visiting State, he started getting calls from Ole Miss coaches trying to get him to cancel his visit to State and visit them. They had no intentions of offering the guy, they just wanted to keep us from getting a player, even after they had beaten us on Carlos Thompson and loaded on Defensive Linemen. Crawford's a 2 star guy with an unimpressive offer list. Tall, but thin. Imagine what they are doing in state.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

would just warn against making UM the centerpiece of your program, and whether or not you would like to admit it, this is exactly what you have done thus far.

If MSU was not the centerpiece of Ole Miss's program, you wouldn't have signed up to post here, would you?

 

[DowntownDawg]

...however, I think the quality of the team has more to do with TV coverage than the level of hate. We can hate each other all day long at 3-9 and nobody wants it on TV. Have both teams playing for a BCS game and it's prime time somewhere.

 

[AlCoDog]

nm

 

[ckDOG]

I would just warn against making UM the centerpiece of your program, and whether or not you would like to admit it, this is exactly what you have done thus far.

He's being a salesman. Sometimes, you have to polish a turd to sell it. We won 5 games last year. What is he supposed to do? Brag about our victory over MTSU? He's exploiting the one quantifiable result from last year.

It's a logical plan for success as well. Step 1) Establish yourself as dominant in-state program. Step 2) Move on from there. You can't start Step 2 until you accomplish Step 2. Mullen is just doing his job.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

..you want him to say, "We'll try to get the best recruits in the state of Mississippi, but it will be hard to do with Nutt @ Ole Miss & Fedora @ USM."

If Mullen released such weak tea to the MSU fanbase, both genespage & this board would be calling for his head.

It's an article of faith that a SEC coach has to act cocky & talk big smack. Any SEC coach has to propagandize the fanbase to acertain extent in order to keep theticket sales up.

 

[patdog]

is making the Egg Bowl the "centerpiece of our entire program?"

And BTW, youare at least a little up in arms about it. Enough to register for this website and make it your first post.

 

[rightreb]

yall have to sayand MSU iscertainly an important part of UM football, I'm not one of these people that will tell you LSU is our #1 rival, that is ridiculous and the people who say that get some sort of half *** satisfaction from it. MSU is always extremely important to any UM football season. The Egg Bowl last season somewhat compromised the entire year. But I"m beingintellectually honestwhen I tell you that MSU has never been the centerpiece of UM football. At least not from my perspective, but I could be wrong.

 

[rightreb]

it was silly to suggest that. Sorry.

 

[Coach34]

congrats Ronny

 

[DowntownDawg]

...and leave out the word "dominate." Also, he should've never gotten into the whole #*** thing.

That's all I'm saying.

I still love the guy. I'm just afraid he has the crazies stirred up.

 

[bullysleftnut]

...talking so much crap early on. Although the Egg Bowl is entertaining again, how does it benefit us to have a "spicier rivalry?" The last time that happened, we had PI's running around and NCAA investigators sleeping with rival alumni. Jackie did stuff to get under their skin, but was not so blatant about it. That would be the one thing I would change about Mullen's first year.

I think it's hitting us in recruiting right now. The 2009 class was Mullen's best, and he cleaned up in MS. It seems like last year we had Nutt's attention and OM got a bunch of good MS prospects. That seems to be the way it's going this year. Mullen has definitely shown that he can improve a football team. He really needs to have a good recruiting year, and we seem to have lost some steam after starting out well. Point being, what was it hurting to fly under the radar?

I don't know -- the only things I remember him doing are:
1) Referring to UM as 'T-S-U-N'.
2) Talking about getting Mississippi players.
3) Running a line after the Egg Bowl in response to what Nutt had been telling recruits. ("Program on the rise").

It's funny to me that weak **** like that is considered "smack talk". I just think it speaks to a lot of people's mentality -- we're so used to being UM's ***** in football we're scared to say ANYTHING that might rile them up.

All Jackie did was call them "Mississippi" -- and beat them. All Mullen's done is call them "T-S-U-N" -- and beat them. I assure you if Mullen never said a word about them but beat them every year they'd still go crazy and call the PIs. It's inevitable. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

[bulliegolfer]

Mullen is just having a little fun and spicing it up a bit. If OM wins the Egg this year, I doubt Mullen will be thinking 'Oh ****, I should have kept my mouth shut'.

 

[BiscuitEater]

to win 'this' year at VH? Nutt used the 'we were looking ahead to the bowl' excuse last year. Won't work again.

Just a thought.

Biscuit

 

[jackstefano]

to win 'this' year at VH? Nutt used the 'we were looking ahead to the bowl' excuse last year.

Biscuit

When? I don't recall that.

 

[SnakePlissken]

to win 'this' year at VH? Nutt used the 'we were looking ahead to the bowl' excuse last year.

Biscuit

When? I don't recall that.

You are correct, Stef. He actually claimed he didn't understand the rivalry. It would have been better for him to claim he was worried about making a bowl since it was his second year with the rivalry and he had beaten us 45-0 his first year. At least he wouldn't have looked so much like a dumbass.

 

[jackstefano]

Khayat told him how important the game was. He knew. Apparently he forgot to remind our defensive coordinator.

 

[gravedigger]

locker room thing is pretty......ray finkle.

 

[pebblesForstate]

But I"m beingintellectually honestwhen I tell you that MSU has never been the centerpiece of UM football. At least not from my perspective, but I could be wrong.

So if youuse quotes (I"m)instead of an apostrophein the wordI'm, then does that really qualify you as one hell of an intellectual Mr. rightreb?

-Sarcasm-

 

[KurtRambis4]

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