The thing that jumped out at me about UM

[thatsbaseball]

is that even with a new coaching staff they executed their offense like they had been running the system for years(I know I know it wasn`t as good as our WCO
will be when we get it perfected in 2015). They had a couple of special team breakdowns and defensive breakdowns on WF`s last drive but it looks like things
have changed in Oxford. Yea they`re gonna lose some games but this is gonna be interesting because we have so many people who have programed themselves through
our years of futility to equate UM failures to MSU successes. I.E. If they go 5-7 with their new coach and we go 5-7 with our 5th year coach it`s all good
because we tied but what if we go 5-7 and they go 7-5 in their new coach`s FIRST YEAR ! Yesterday may have been an aberration for Ole Miss but they didn`t look like a confused team playing with a new coaching staff and their
talent level didn`t look like a bottom tier SEC team. We`ll see.

 

[thatsbaseball]

is that even with a new coaching staff they executed their offense like they had been running the system for years(I know I know it wasn`t as good as our WCO
will be when we get it perfected in 2015). They had a couple of special team breakdowns and defensive breakdowns on WF`s last drive but it looks like things
have changed in Oxford. Yea they`re gonna lose some games but this is gonna be interesting because we have so many people who have programed themselves through
our years of futility to equate UM failures to MSU successes. I.E. If they go 5-7 with their new coach and we go 5-7 with our 5th year coach it`s all good
because we tied but what if we go 5-7 and they go 7-5 in their new coach`s FIRST YEAR ! Yesterday may have been an aberration for Ole Miss but they didn`t look like a confused team playing with a new coaching staff and their
talent level didn`t look like a bottom tier SEC team. We`ll see.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I agree on the "we'll see" part. However, you bring up a good point, and I really don't see why any of your fans have bought into the idea that it would take 3-4 years for Croom to install his offense. It's one thing to say that it's going to take 3-4 years to get in the talent necessary to have a strong offense, but a lot of people have been sold on the idea that the WCO itself (in Croom's form) takes years to learn.

If that truly is the case, then his offense will never work at the college level. When you only get players for a maximum of 5 years, it's probably best if you have an offense that at most takes 1 year to learn. I still believe that Croom's offense and his inability to change it are going to be his undoing.

 

[HD6]

that it takes years to rebuild a college football program is one of Croom's biggest myths. It can be done pretty quickly if you know what the hell you're doing. I thought Ole Miss would struggle this year (they're a lot better than I thought they'd be), but that Nutt, an experienced college coach, would have them winning 6-7 games next season.

Look back at 2004. You have Conner, Norwood, and the line wasn't that bad. Defensively, you had Culberson, Fields, Powell, and Robinson. We could have won 5-6 games that year with a better coach.</p>

 

[Coach34]

"4. Mississippi- Car salesman Houston Nutt arrives in Mississippi with a solid group and decent talent. He looks like Bobby Bowden to these guys after following Orger-moron as head coach. He has a talented but unproven QB to go with all 3 returning WR's. They have some dropoff at the RB position, but their OL overcomes this with 4 of the 5 starters returning. Expect to see their true freshman at RB alot by mid-season. Defensively, they will be better with 8 starters returning. This group will determine exactly how high they finish. Rebs go 3-5 with wins over Vandy, UPig, and State and return to a bowl. "

 

[patdog]

Put an average QB and the helm of UM's offense and it wouldn't look nearly as cohesive.</p>

 

[thatsbaseball]

can only dream about. If Nutt had a Conner type QB I`m betting that offense you saw yesterday would be have been tweeked to suit his strengths and would have been effective in other ways. Not starting a Houston Nutt fan club here but basically agreeing with HD6` post.

 

[patdog]

Conner and Sneed are both elusive and good runners, but Sneed is 10 times the passer Conner could have ever been. And he understands how to manage an offense better than Conner ever did. And, without reviewing my earlier post, I believe I said I agreed with his overall post. If not, I'll say it now. UM's offense is much better designed and thought out than ours is. My only point was that they had no running game yesterday and with an average QB, Wake would have shut them down. I knew they got a good one in Sneed the day he transferred, but he's even better than I thought he was. The announcers said yesterday that he'd never make UM fans forget Eli Manning, but the fact is, he's a much better QB as a soph then Eli was as a soph.</p>

 

[OEMDawg]

We'll see what the Croom Crap Offense looks like against legit competition next week. But for now, it finally seems like he's somewhat loosening the reigns and letting Carroll execute a real offense. Bubble screens, handoffs out of the gun, throws to the TE and FB...these are things that haven't been done at MSU in ages, if ever. They spread the ball to 8 or 9 different receivers at La Tech and McRae had 8 catches yesterday. I wish that we had another OOC game to put it all together before playing a tough SEC opponent, but so far on paper they seem to be working on something decent.

 

[Columbus Dawg]

Let's trade Dexter McCluster for Will Prosser. Jevan Sneed for Omarr. Shay Hodge for a banged up McKinley Scott. We will call Oher and David Stewart a wash-that's a reach. And let's trade a true freshmen Calvin Wilson with a hurt knee for John Jerry. And let's see how good OM's offense looks. And oh yeah, let's hang an NCAA probation over their heads. You guys forget how bad we really were. Croom inherited a team that got beat by 50 to LSU. Nutt inherited a team that led LSU in the 4th quarter. It's insane to make comparisons or draw conclusions.</p>

 

[Columbus Dawg]

nm</p>

 

[79dawg4life]

you are so correct in how many people are comparing apples to oranges. How many remember the probation that hung over MSU's head. We had to recruit straight down the line; where Orgeron and Umiss could go out and get those players that MSU had to stay away from. Croom did not need for a player to ask for a handout.

But, the probation has impacted some of what hurt his first few years. But, he needs to step up and we need some upsets this season. Auburn would be a great start.

 

[HD6]

Richard Burch was our starting right tackle. Calvin Wilson was part of Croom's second class.

If our line was such a problem, why did we install an offense based around power running and five to seven step drop passing?

 

[HD6]

except for the fact that they aren't better defensively, and I'll bet 100 billion dollars the true freshman RB you're talking about is Enrique Davis, who isn't seeing a lot of time.

 

[Columbus Dawg]

Yeah, I couldn't remember who our RT was. I thought Burch got kicked off for weed, but that must have been after that season.

Didn't James Redmond get reps at RT? He was solid.

Don't ask me to defend our system right now, but our talent was no where near what Nutt inherited. I don't think that's even up for discussion.

 

[lanceharbor7]

Pretty dynamic offense. They will upset a team or two this year. Jevan Snead looked good. (Am I the only one who thought Jevan was prounounced Ju Von and he was black?)

 

[thatsbaseball]

by running people off that we really don`t know what we would have had with a real coach.

 

[WillemWallace]

Ole Miss was down 17-7 at half against LSU last year and certainly didn't lead, as the final score was 40 something to 17 or so.

 

[Chickamauga]

That moral victory sustained the Shrimper's deckhands for quite some time.

 

[ArrowDawg]

.....just yet, I have to say what I've seen to this point is not bad. To me there's been a clear improvement in that team already. I don't mean just in execution, but the way they all carry themselves now. Almost everything about them seemed to be so much more organized and confident than under Coach O. They still lack depth and experience in some areas. Snead is still going to make some big mistakes at some point. But from an objective standpoint I felt like I was watching a team that as time goes by will be a very good team. Maybe not this year, but soon.

That's why it's crucial for Croom to maintain some amount of success this year, because the door won't be open long before Nutt has a chance to establish a winning program at OM and leave MSU in his dust. We can sit here and deny it all we want, but he likely will do that. He's a proven winner in the SEC, something Croom can't really say after just one questionably good season in four years. And so far what I've seen out of our team in 2008 hasn't given me any warm and fuzzies.

 

[Porkchop.sixpack]

However, get ready for the masses to tell you just how bad our program was broken and the fact that Ole Miss had the top 25 recruits in the nation and just needed someone to coach them.

 

[seshomoru]

yuku

 

[jwbigcreek]

However, they did struggle to run the ball (did good on last drive I think). When's their first real test against a legit SEC D? Will be interesting to see how that goes (regardless, I like their O a lot better than ours).</p>