Let's face it, the whole reason for us being lackluster is lack of recruiting.

[TheStateUofMS]

Dan makes some bonehead decisions and he's young so we'll give him somewhat of a pass, but he's not improving or he is as slow as the U.S. economic recovery, so that's not gonna cut it.

The main issue is recruiting. That 2009 class was great and it proved it. A lot of good SEC football players and NFL guys in that class. That class was ranked high as well. (17-22 or so depending on who you look at). There's a couple great players left from that class like Whitley, Russell, Jackson, Skinner, LDP, and Hutchins who all got to redshirt. Only true busts in that class was Montrell Conner, Dennis Thames, and Langston.

The 2010 class was a bust, however. I'm not gonna count the JUCO guys, but the guys Mullen brought into the program that year only produced 10 players for us that I would consider good. The 2009 class is almost all gone and of the 2010 class we only use 10 guys from that class: Love, Wells, Eulls, Johnson, Virges, Griffin, Classell, J. Hughes, Day, and Tubby and I'd say Virges, Claussell, Day, and Johnson are average at best that only puts us at 6 or 7 guys that are contributing from the 2010 class 3 years later. That's not gonna cut it. This class was ranked high 30s low 40s and obviously the recruiting analyst got this one right.

The 2011 class is very talented even the two star guys (Calhoun, P. Smith, McKinney, Market, Malone). This class was rated 45 by scout and they obviously missed on this class as it has panned out other than Morrow who still is going to figure it out I think, Nick Redmond a bust as well. This class wasn't highly rated, but looks like the staff evaluated well so far.

The 2012 class looks very talented and had some 5 star guys as well as 4s and 3s that are really talented players. Most of these players are getting on the field early and that's going to help as well. Richie Brown, Quay, Autry, AJ Jefferson, Will Redmond, B. Brown, etc...this class was ranked 18 and seems to be panning out well.

The 2013 class looks to be very talented at the top with those guys getting playing time (Shumpert, C. Jones, Justin Cox, Fred Ross) and also a few surprises in Darunnya Wilson and Damien Williams and I would say Kivan Coman looks to be the part of a good athlete. The rest of this class gets the benefit to redshirt and this class was ranked 22.

On to 2013....right now we sit ranked at 35 with 16 commits according to Scout. This class will be small so the ranking won't reflect truly how good the class will be, but if it's a going to be a good class, we should be heavy at the top with 4s and high 3s.

My point is this, Dan can't afford to recruit like he did in 2010 and miss on almost every guy he gets. 2011 ended up being good but the class was rated poorly and right now we seem to be headed in that direction. If we end up with a class like 2010, look for the same thing to happen in a couple years and we'll find ourselves right where we are now.

I said what my expectations were in another thread. Winning season AND top 20 recruiting class and that's it. Sorry for the long post.

 

[esplanade91]

I disagree. We have a player tit for tat with Ole Miss, and for the most part they weren't as highly thought of. The only exception would be Moncrief. MSU doesn't have a star WR on the roster, but Malcolm Johnson, Bernardrick McKinney, Nick Griffin, and every corner on the roster is better than their Ole Miss counterpart and Ole Miss for the most part didn't want any of them.

I might be the only guy on this board content with the level of recruiting at MSU right now. Quit looking at the rankings. They don't mean anything. OSU never has a great recruiting class according to the experts and look how that's going. NWU, KSU (ok, they suck this year... but for the most part), Stanford, and several other teams a lot better than 8 or 9 SEC teams can say the same.

Have you ever noticed that Alabama and LSU are a lot like MSU in the fact that they'll go and offer a kid with no offers or a kid with like 3 offers from only schools like ULL, MTSU, or some **** school? The only difference is they turn into a highly ranked 3 star the very next day. That Mingo LB was committed to someone like La Tech and it was his only offer before LSU came calling. I remember it because my friend is LSU's biggest fan and showed me how crazy his name was and was pissed that they were getting a "garbage" player. It happens every year. No one gives a **** about MSU. The sooner you accept this the sooner life becomes a lot easier.

It comes down to coaching. You pay for what you get, and right now we have one of if not the lowest paid assistant coaching staff in the conference. To add to it we have a HC who feels the need to play the most talented QB on the roster despite the fact that he's not the right fit for the system. What would you do in the same situation? It's a tough call.

The BIGGEST thing is offensive line... and to that extent I'll agree that recruiting sucks... but the coaching there is just as bad. Again it comes down to $$$$$.

We might miss out on the homerun recruits but the guys we replace them with are still as solid as ever at MSU. You might not like the fact that ESPN isn't talking about our true freshmen like they are at UM but Jones, Calhoun, McKinney... if you forget everyone else and throw out how they were rated out of high school and think about MSU over the last 15 years you'd be happy as hell with them. Don't buy into the media, man. It's coaching. Not necessarily Mullen, but coaching.

Level of talent at MSU right now is as good as it has been since the late 90's. Coaching is as bad as it's been since the mid 2000's.

 

[OzarkaNSW]

and you memorized all these recruiting stats instead of doing what?

Dan makes some bonehead decisions and he's young so we'll give him somewhat of a pass, but he's not improving or he is as slow as the U.S. economic recovery, so that's not gonna cut it.

The main issue is recruiting. That 2009 class was great and it proved it. A lot of good SEC football players and NFL guys in that class. That class was ranked high as well. (17-22 or so depending on who you look at). There's a couple great players left from that class like Whitley, Russell, Jackson, Skinner, LDP, and Hutchins who all got to redshirt. Only true busts in that class was Montrell Conner, Dennis Thames, and Langston.

The 2010 class was a bust, however. I'm not gonna count the JUCO guys, but the guys Mullen brought into the program that year only produced 10 players for us that I would consider good. The 2009 class is almost all gone and of the 2010 class we only use 10 guys from that class: Love, Wells, Eulls, Johnson, Virges, Griffin, Classell, J. Hughes, Day, and Tubby and I'd say Virges, Claussell, Day, and Johnson are average at best that only puts us at 6 or 7 guys that are contributing from the 2010 class 3 years later. That's not gonna cut it. This class was ranked high 30s low 40s and obviously the recruiting analyst got this one right.

The 2011 class is very talented even the two star guys (Calhoun, P. Smith, McKinney, Market, Malone). This class was rated 45 by scout and they obviously missed on this class as it has panned out other than Morrow who still is going to figure it out I think, Nick Redmond a bust as well. This class wasn't highly rated, but looks like the staff evaluated well so far.

The 2012 class looks very talented and had some 5 star guys as well as 4s and 3s that are really talented players. Most of these players are getting on the field early and that's going to help as well. Richie Brown, Quay, Autry, AJ Jefferson, Will Redmond, B. Brown, etc...this class was ranked 18 and seems to be panning out well.

The 2013 class looks to be very talented at the top with those guys getting playing time (Shumpert, C. Jones, Justin Cox, Fred Ross) and also a few surprises in Darunnya Wilson and Damien Williams and I would say Kivan Coman looks to be the part of a good athlete. The rest of this class gets the benefit to redshirt and this class was ranked 22.

On to 2013....right now we sit ranked at 35 with 16 commits according to Scout. This class will be small so the ranking won't reflect truly how good the class will be, but if it's a going to be a good class, we should be heavy at the top with 4s and high 3s.

My point is this, Dan can't afford to recruit like he did in 2010 and miss on almost every guy he gets. 2011 ended up being good but the class was rated poorly and right now we seem to be headed in that direction. If we end up with a class like 2010, look for the same thing to happen in a couple years and we'll find ourselves right where we are now.

I said what my expectations were in another thread. Winning season AND top 20 recruiting class and that's it. Sorry for the long post.

nm

 

[TheStateUofMS]

Looked em up as I typed bruh

nm

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I looked at Ole Miss too, not like us, but I went back and looked at who they

signed. They have depth issues after looking over who they signed and who they still have. They are talented though. They stayed inside the top 25 every year but one and they had a bad class and could have a year like us. It's possible. If you listen to Nick Saban talk he always talks about players. He gives them the credit and he's right. Without players, you ain't gonna win big games against great teams.

I'm with you that the rankings don't mean a whole lot, but they definitely help gauge where you are. You're wrong about Ok St tho, they have recruited about like us except they didn't have a down year like we did in 2010, but they also have good coaching.


Dan can't coach or recruit is my opinion. He did recruit well the last two years, but you can't afford to do what he did in 2010 and that was lay an absolute egg. Saban probably wouldn't do much better with those players in the 2010 class.

 

[Heawww]

These 4 letters make or break us: J U C O...........

JUCO recrootin by year:

2009: McPhee, Berry, Brauchle, Langston, Hutchins
2010: Howie, Carmon, Ballard
2011: Trapp, Slay
2012: Autry, Siddoway, Holley
2013: Chappelle, Cox
2014: Price, Johnson

That **** ain't cutting it. We need more. MS is a JUCO state, and if we don't use them more than we already are, then Mullen should be fired. He's got to land Donald Hawkins, Jonathan Rumph, Corey Smith, Zadarius Smith, Leon Mackey. Got to have it, if we want to win. He's doing everything else correctly in recruiting, bringing in some good HS players, but got to get this shored up. Need more years like 2009. Years like 2010 should be the 'off' years in JUCO crootin.

 

[esplanade91]

signed. They have depth issues after looking over who they signed and who they still have. They are talented though. They stayed inside the top 25 every year but one and they had a bad class and could have a year like us. It's possible. If you listen to Nick Saban talk he always talks about players. He gives them the credit and he's right. Without players, you ain't gonna win big games against great teams.

I'm with you that the rankings don't mean a whole lot, but they definitely help gauge where you are. You're wrong about Ok St tho, they have recruited about like us except they didn't have a down year like we did in 2010, but they also have good coaching.


Dan can't coach or recruit is my opinion. He did recruit well the last two years, but you can't afford to do what he did in 2010 and that was lay an absolute egg. Saban probably wouldn't do much better with those players in the 2010 class.

You're missing the point though. McKinney was a 2 star and he could probably start for 11 or 12 of the SEC schools. I'm not going to sit here and research every SEC school's recruiting class over the last 2 or 3 seasons but it's pretty safe to say that almost every school has a more highly regarded MLB over that span that McKinney is better than. That's what you're going to get at MSU. We're always going to take more chances than anyone else because the reward is so high. I'm with Heawww that I'd rather take more chances on JUCO kids, but Mississippi high school football, while not thought of as that great, isn't too shabby... it's not like Kentucky who's famous for having horrible high school football. Even then Kentucky produced Tim Couch who holds every passing record in the SEC. Still, the best player in Mississippi every year probably isn't Mr. Football and is a guy no one has heard of. Given the opportunity to get quality coaching and conditioning he could probably go to the NFL... and those guys have paid off. In order to get Banks's and those players though you also get Turtles and other guys that never pan out. That happens with 4 stars too, except they probably aren't as bad as the 2 stars we reach on that don't turn out. It's nice getting a top 25 recruiting class but I put a lot more weight on high school coaches' opinions, local newspapers, and camp evaluations than anything scout/rivals/247 can tell me in an article you're suppose to pay for.

We can hire whoever we want as head coach, we're not going to get a top 15 recruiting class every year. I'm 100000% ok with reaching on kids every season. We need to step up our game hiring some assistants worth a **** though because I trust the Brewsters and the Gonzaleses more than I trust the Heveseys and Keonnings. Unfortunately the ones who stick around are the latter.

Head coaches aren't the recruiters, btw. They might be the enforcers, but they aren't the recruiters. That's everywhere. Even at Ole Miss, although Freeze is probably a little more involved than Mullen.

 

[futaba.79]

2010..........

produced 8 starters for the Troy game: Day (technically a starter), R. Johnson, M. Johnson, Clausell, Lewis, Love, Wells, Eulls. One injured starter in Hughes came from that class, as did Bohanna who would be playing some. Other contributors include Hill, Virges, Robinson, Griffin, Holmes.

That's 15 players that are worth having on the roster. There are other guys like Harrison and Muniz that are good team guys. 2010 wasn't a bad class.

 

[Heawww]

I agree, I don't think Mullen has signed a bad HS class yet. 2011 was the worst in my opinion, and it was just about the same as Croom's average. Funny enough, that's the year we lost the instate battle to Ole Miss, THEN had 3 big defections in Maiden, Knox and Redmond, who were thought to be fairly solid offensive linemen. By the way, anybody know where those guys are? Did they go JUCO? Quit?

 

[engie]

I think to some extent, we are seeing a lack of continuity between the classes because of how we were left in an "immediate needs" sense by Croom. What I mean is -- basically over half of the 2009 class had to play immediately. And there weren't many future contributors coming off a Croom redshirt in 2008. Then, we redshirted practically everybody in 2010. So, what we ended up with are 2 "half classes" as senior leaders on the team.

How would "this year's team" be with Cam Lawrence, Josh Boyd, John Banks(maybe), Chad Bumphis(maybe), Chris Smith, Brandon Heavens, etc coming back? That's what we will have in the future...

Even now, I couldn't be more excited about the brightness of our talent level going forward. Literally the only spot that I see any imminent dropoff at for next year is left guard(assuming we don't lose guys anyone early).

That said, I'd like to see us shore up depth on the DL -- depth at S -- and get something going on the OL...

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

I have to agree with you. It all begins and ends with recruiting if you're going to hang with the likes of Bama and LSU. Sure, one of the Big Boys might occasionally get picked off by a middle tier school, but that middlin' school won't ever see Atlanta until they consistently haul in Top 10 Recruiting classes.

You can coach up a kid all you want, but you can't coach his height or speed, and that is exactly what guys like Saban look for. You might sign some 2 Star that grows 6 inches and gains 70 pounds, but how often does that happen? No enough to make a team out of it.

The problem is that a big chunk of the SEC (even perennial doormat Kentucky) are starting to recruit better. I'd bet in 5 years, if you don't consistently haul in Top 20 recruiting classes, you'll be in the bottom 3 of SEC teams, and you won't be bowling. To get to the middle 3rd you are going to need to haul in Top 15classes. The Top tier will require consistent Top 10s (average).

You can't count on outcoaching most SEC schools, because they will just keep spending until they have a decent coach. I think we are safe with Kentucky, Missou and just maybe Arky (for now) but Tennessee, Auburn and probably Vandy and OM will fly by us if we don't start averaging a Top 15-20 class.


If will consistently schedule cupcakes for OOC, and Missou and Kentucky stay down (Kentucky looks likes it aint happy in the cellar, and have a good 2014 class cooking) we can squeak into the Impotence Bowl, Liberty or some other sideshow, but 8 win seasons will not happen without better recruiting.

 

[kired]

Here's the thing with 2010 --- Mullen did what he had to do, he built depth at some positions that critically needed it. We signed 5 OL and 5 WR / TE types. It's turned out to be an ok class, especially when you consider all of those guys still have 1 year left.

Most thought 2011 would suck but guys like McKinney, Preston Smith, and Calhoun have all been pleasent surprises. This is the class that badly needed a top JUCO OL... and we got Joey Trapp. This will go down as Mullen's worst class, especially since we missed on many of the highest ranked players in the state.

2012 and 2013 appear to be good. Need the OL to develop, but otherwise we've got some good players the last two years.

 

[Heawww]

Weren't many JUCO OL out there in 2011. I think if Carmon hadn't gotten hurt we'd have been OK at OL, and by OK, I mean we may have beaten Auburn to get to 7 wins.

 

[dannyripms]

I can't remember where I read this but miss ranks #1 or 2 with players in the NFL per population. Ms also ranks #1 in juco. Plenty of talent right here. Sure gotta go out if state too. But I believe you can have a lesser talent team and beat a great team. You gotta out coach them. IMO we have the talent right now to hang with anyone. We should be undefeated, should of beat auburn by 3 td's. Even with the crappy play calling we still had the game won. Hopefully the coaches have figured something out so we can let these stars shine. #hailstate

 

[esplanade91]

I think to some extent, we are seeing a lack of continuity between the classes because of how we were left in an "immediate needs" sense by Croom. What I mean is -- basically over half of the 2009 class had to play immediately. And there weren't many future contributors coming off a Croom redshirt in 2008. Then, we redshirted practically everybody in 2010. So, what we ended up with are 2 "half classes" as senior leaders on the team.

How would "this year's team" be with Cam Lawrence, Josh Boyd, John Banks(maybe), Chad Bumphis(maybe), Chris Smith, Brandon Heavens, etc coming back? That's what we will have in the future...

Even now, I couldn't be more excited about the brightness of our talent level going forward. Literally the only spot that I see any imminent dropoff at for next year is left guard(assuming we don't lose guys anyone early).

That said, I'd like to see us shore up depth on the DL -- depth at S -- and get something going on the OL...

BOOM. Nailed it. And coaching.

I can't remember where I read this but miss ranks #1 or 2 with players in the NFL per population. Ms also ranks #1 in juco. Plenty of talent right here. Sure gotta go out if state too. But I believe you can have a lesser talent team and beat a great team. You gotta out coach them. IMO we have the talent right now to hang with anyone. We should be undefeated, should of beat auburn by 3 td's. Even with the crappy play calling we still had the game won. Hopefully the coaches have figured something out so we can let these stars shine. #hailstate

I don't know about the hashtags and "by 3 td's" nonsense but Mississippi is only behind Louisiana in NFL players per capita. Mississippi only has 3,000,000 people so that that for what it's worth. NFL teams don't care what college you went to. Take a second to realize that USM, JSU, and MVSU have more Hall of Famers than MSU, and then that ASU has a guy who 99% of America thought was snubbed for the Heisman. It always seems that one of those schools EVERY YEAR has a guy who could not only start for MSU but be really good for MSU. Every person on this board would still be posting about how awesome Tracy Lampley was had he come here. I hate when we miss out on those guys more than I like getting highly recruited guys.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

Going to be tough to get to 6. I think BG and Kentucky are a given. There is a small chance (20-30%) we can steal one from ATM, LSU, Bama, or SC. If so, we don't we have to win both of Arky on the road (something we have NEVER done in a series that dates back to 1913) and the bears (who have 18 returning starters from a team that throttled us last year). Otherwise, we need to sweep those two. I would think winning for the first time ever in LR, and winning a bowl bid and bringing the Egg home will be enough motivation to help those odds. Overall, I think there is about a 20-30% chance we sweep those, so odds of bowling are about 50-50 at this point.

 

[engie]

Weren't many JUCO OL out there in 2011. I think if Carmon hadn't gotten hurt we'd have been OK at OL, and by OK, I mean we may have beaten Auburn to get to 7 wins.

If you want to get technical...what happens if Croom redshirts Sherrod in 2007 like every MSU hs OL has been since? Food for thought that shows just how narrow the margins are in hindsight.

If he comes back in 2011(decent chance -- see Gabe Jackson and John Banks), we destroy Auburn on the plains. Then the LSU game takes an entirely different complexion in Starkville(it was a nailbiter anyway -- until the blown coverage at the very end). And ultimately, that whole season probably changes to a 8-4 or 9-3 season...

 

[johnson86-1]

Mullen's lack of recruiting prowess is overblown.

2010 and '11 weren't great, but he has improved. Mullen still needs to get better, and I'm not sure that's likely, but basically WR and OL are the only positions on our team where we are particularly subpar. I would have been critical of qb recruiting, but it looks like Williams was a much better back-up plan that people thought.

Even with these weaknesses, this is one of the most complete rosters top to bottom we've had since I've been a fan. We've always had a major weakness (usually somewhere very important like qb) where we are lacking even an SEC quality player. If some playmakers and OL start to emerge from the last two classes, his recruiting will look a lot better.

 

[121Josey]

Here's two words for ya: 2015 recruiting class. 2015 is supposed to have a bunch of talent. Coaches have to be hitting those in-state players hard - NOW.

The schedule sets up for us nicely in 2014 and with the opening of the fully-renovated DWS, there should be a lot of electricity in the state. We have the talent in-house already, so a sub-par recruiting class this year is not something to worry about. I suspect much of the defense will be going pro at that time so we should have plenty of opportunities to sell early playing time.

And yes, they can fill any holes with JUCOs. But two cautions here: don't be like The Kang and become reliant on JUCOs and it just isn't worth it to sign a JUCO who can't enroll in the spring.

 

[was21]

The typical Mississippi State "fan" tends to focus on what OM is doing as far as recruiting goes. That may be why there's a perception of poor recruiting by Mullen and staff because last year OM got some with more stars. While there's some legitimacy re the stars, somebody's also making money by starring. Freeze seems to be a good recruiter based on stars. State alumni need to focus on what State is doing and forget all that comparative stuff. We can't control what OM does, in recruiting or anything else. State fans need to stop going batshit crazy and cool it.

 

[KurtRambis4]

One could

go on google and find this info in minutes. Sounds crazy, I know.

 

[SkinkTyree]

The rankings actually do matter.

These are the Scout recruiting rankings for 2008:

1. Bama (finished #1 in 2012)
2. Notre Dame (finished #4, were really #2 since they played for the title)
3. Miami (they whiffed on this one, but there was a total program implosion)
4. Ohio State (finished #3)
5. Georgia (finished #5)
6. Michigan (finished #6)
7. LSU (finished #14)
8. FSU (finished #10)

Anytime there is a human element involved, they'll miss a few. Kids get arrested. Or fat. Or hurt. Or sometimes just bust. However, the days of a Walter Payton or a Jerry Rice falling through the cracks with regularity are over. The above list is an incredibly accurate predictor of success 4 years down the road. The rankings get more accurate every year as the quality of technology improves. If your strategy is to coach up a bunch of two stars, then I think that's a bad plan.

 

[Heawww]

I don't see that happening, he was a 1st rounder, albeit #32. But I agree with what would have happened had he come back.

 

[Heawww]

If we finish this year by beating Arkansas in LR and beating Ole Miss to get to 6-6 and bowl eligibility, this season would be a huge success and we'd have tons of momentum heading into the much easier 2014 schedule, and with so much talent coming back.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

I'll give you that, but that won't be easy. I think we have as much chance of beating LSU as we do of beating both Ark and OM. Ark is no joke. ATM is only a 4 point favorite to beat them this weekend.

 

[thatsbaseball]

If Mullen was a good game day coach we beat OM, Northwestern and Auburn with the talent we have and you could have saved a hell of a lot of typing.

 

[Cary Hudson's little bro]

I think Mullen is finally sending the Juco's some players. Juco is a political thing...if you look at this NJCAA Poll from last week you will see SIX Missississippi teams in the top 20! There are players in OUR State.

 

[LandArchDawg]

This I agree with. We have the talent. Something changed scheme-wise from the first two years.

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

The only way we won the SEC West in '98 was with good JC players. Remember James Johnson, Prentiss, Love, Cooper, Smith, Nelson, Shivers, Blade, Golliday, Bean, etc. After that, Sherrill did not recruit the JC's well and we went down hill. We signed about 4 or 5 Arizona Western JC players, all of whom fizzled out.

 

[engie]

Ark is no joke. ATM is only a 4 point favorite to beat them this weekend.

We talking about the same Arkansas team that blew a lead and lost to Rutgers? The same team that had to come from behind to beat SAMFORD in the 4th quarter? That entire team is 2 good running backs and a good defensive line. That's it. And they are trying to play smashmouth in a division with the 2 best smashmouth teams anywhere lacking talent.

There's no excuse for not beating that Arkansas team.

 

[Heawww]

You get it. Seems like people on this board just don't understand balance. Jackie proved what you can accomplish when you use the JUCO system well, and when you do not use the JUCO system well.

But one thing is for certain: The JUCO system is a NECESSITY to play winning football at MSU. Every highly successful team in our modern history was built with JUCOs: 2010, 2000, 1999, 1998. And Lord knows what happens if we bring in Cam Newton.

 

[sandwolf.sixpack]

Here's two words for ya: 2015 recruiting class. 2015 is supposed to have a bunch of talent. Coaches have to be hitting those in-state players hard - NOW.

Yea, it looks like 2015 is going to be a talented class, but the problem is that there is only 1 blue chip OL recruit in that group (Javon Patterson). Same deal in this years class.....only two highly sought after in state OL recruits, and one of them is committed to UM and the other is committed to FSU. To me, OL recruiting has been our biggest issue, and for it to improve, we will have to really do well with out of state guys......signing the two that are currently committed from GA would be a good start.

 

[engie]

I agree. I'd like to see us take 5-6 JUCOs every year, primarily in the trenches. 2 extra years is alot of extra evaluation time on those guys, which are hardest to evaluate in high school. We've got DL and OL coaching alumni ALL OVER the MSJCAA...

That said, JUCO recruiting is total insanity in Mississippi. Every year crazy stuff happens. You have a Damian Jacobs, who we thought would come play with Autry, that is wrecking shop at Florida. You have a Za'Darius Smith, who talked for an entire year about coming back and playing across from Denico, only to head out to Kentucky and be tied for 6th nationally in sacks as of now. We damn near lost Justin Cox to Bama at the very last minute -- allegedly over a number issue. You just never know what those guys are going to do...

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

Rutger's only loss was to 25th ranked Fresno (at Fresno) in triple OT by 1 point. The Vegas moneyline is basically pick 'em against AtM. What would our line be vs ATM? They are no joke.

For some wild reason, FBS have have scared a lot of Top BCS teams late in the game this year. Georgia struggled with North Texas.

 

[patdog]

I don't care what the Vegas line is, Arkansas vs. Texas A&M is nowhere near a pick'em game. A&M's going to win that by 3 touchdowns.

 

[Heawww]

That said, JUCO recruiting is total insanity in Mississippi.

I will say that King Jackie had easier pickings back in the day. Some NCAA loophole that allowed MSU and K-State to graduate JUCOs better or something, there's an article out there on. Loophole has since been closed, and many more teams have since discovered the talent in the JUCO ranks.

But even still, like you say, we theoretically SHOULD have some sort of advantage with so many JUCOs being located in MS and with all the alumni we have coaching out there.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

I don't think that line is accurate. I haven't seen anyone (or casino) actually accepting it. No casinos actually have it on the board http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/odds/las-vegas/ and my internet site doesn't either. Some people taking bets have the line around 20pts.

 

[Sutterkane]

What's the excuse for Texas then?

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

Go to the link you attached, and click the moneyline tab (copied below). That's almost even-- and crazy as it sounds, that is actually favoring Ark slightly. On a straight up win/loss bet, it takes $109 bet on ATM to win $100 and $111 on Ark to win 100. ie., slightly favors Arkansas. Hey--that's Vegas. The spread on your link was ATM -3.

I'm not going to argue that Arkansas is better than ATM, but I don't think (and neither apparently does Vegas) they will be a pushover.

09/28 7:00 PM 153 Texas AM 154 Arkansas

-109 -111

-109 -111

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</tbody>

:

 

[engie]

Rutger's only loss was to 25th ranked Fresno (at Fresno) in triple OT by 1 point. The Vegas moneyline is basically pick 'em against AtM. What would our line be vs ATM? They are no joke.

LOL. K. We can revisit about 10PM Saturday night...

Everyone knows that line is bs. Unless Vegas knows something about Manziel that the rest of us don't. In which case, aTm is not any good either...