I've been perusing Nafoom this morning to get an idea of what the mood is over there, mainly out of mere curiosity. There is a lot of "We're going bowling and you're sitting at home..." and a lot of trashing Mullen, for the things he's said and the countdown clock and such. Well guess what, I love the fact that we finally have a coach that understands the importance of winning rivalry games and does whatever he can think of to try to make it happen. I might even get a countdown clock of my own and hang it in my living room. Am I saying that winning a rivalry game is better than going bowling and is the savior of a losing season? No. Obviously State fans would rather have a winning season and be looking forward playing in a bowl game too.
What most of the OM fans are seemingly reluctant to talk about (or intentionally ignoring) is the implication that this game has on in-state recruiting and the immediate future of our program. This wasn't "our Superbowl" as some OM fans have deemed it, but there is no doubt that it was a VERY important game for us. Not because we were playing "High and Mighty Ole Miss that is so vastly superior to us, this is the only game that matters..." like some of them seem to believe. Whether or not they want to admit it, it was an important game for them too. It's my contention that winning rivalry games is just as important as going to a bowl game when it comes to recruiting your in-state talent (which is where the overwhelming majority of the recruits on any given team come from.) I will concede that it was probably more important for us, seeing that they already had a bowl game locked up and we're the ones in rebuilding year. Now our players can go home and talk to all of the high school players in their hometowns about how things are on the rise at State and, hopefully, sway some of them to come play for us instead of the other in-state schools.
So they can continue to say "have fun sitting a home watching us play in a bowl game" and I'll continue being happy that our season ended on a positive note and looking forward to seeing our team moving in a positive direction.
What most of the OM fans are seemingly reluctant to talk about (or intentionally ignoring) is the implication that this game has on in-state recruiting and the immediate future of our program. This wasn't "our Superbowl" as some OM fans have deemed it, but there is no doubt that it was a VERY important game for us. Not because we were playing "High and Mighty Ole Miss that is so vastly superior to us, this is the only game that matters..." like some of them seem to believe. Whether or not they want to admit it, it was an important game for them too. It's my contention that winning rivalry games is just as important as going to a bowl game when it comes to recruiting your in-state talent (which is where the overwhelming majority of the recruits on any given team come from.) I will concede that it was probably more important for us, seeing that they already had a bowl game locked up and we're the ones in rebuilding year. Now our players can go home and talk to all of the high school players in their hometowns about how things are on the rise at State and, hopefully, sway some of them to come play for us instead of the other in-state schools.
So they can continue to say "have fun sitting a home watching us play in a bowl game" and I'll continue being happy that our season ended on a positive note and looking forward to seeing our team moving in a positive direction.