Thunder & Lightning: Why So Little Respect For Mississippi State?

[HD6]

Mississippi State appears to be staring at another last place prediction as SEC Media Days draws closer. Why do the media miss so badly every year, and why is this veteran team being so overlooked? Brian Hadad and Robbie Faulk discuss why once again, the Bulldogs are likely to overachieve once again.


The post Thunder & Lightning: Why So Little Respect For Mississippi State? appeared first on SuperTalk Mississippi.

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[patdog]

Early predictions I've seen have us at about 6.5 wins and not last. New coaches with very little P5 experience. Bad offense last year and changing scheme. Lost 2 defensive players to NFL draft and 3 more to NFL free agent signees. It doesn't exactly look like a banner year this fall. I don't think we'll suck, but more than 7 wins would be a surprise.

 

[AstroDog]

Because we're a small market rural team. Every city in the SEC has a population of 100K or more, except Oxford, MS. And Oxford within the next 10-15 years will be a suburban area of Memphis.

 

[WilCoDawg]

Because we're a small market rural team. Every city in the SEC has a population of 100K or more, except Oxford, MS. And Oxford within the next 10-15 years will be a suburban area of Memphis.

Would that make Starkville a suburb of Tuscaloosa?

 

[Dawgg]

Because we're a small market rural team. Every city in the SEC has a population of 100K or more, except Oxford, MS. And Oxford within the next 10-15 years will be a suburban area of Memphis.

I was curious about this, but yeah, you're right. I don't think I ever realized the population disparity between Starkville and Oxford vs other SEC college towns. To be fair, some of these towns are also state capitals and have other things going on, but here's the list. I did the 2020 Census population for the city only. Once you get into 'urban', 'suburban', and 'Metro', the math gets funny and the numbers get a little ridiculous:

Team	City	2020 Pop
Alabama	Tuscaloosa, AL	100,618​
Arkansas	Fayetteville, AR	93,949​
Auburn	Auburn, AL	76,143​
Florida	Gainesville, FL	141,085​
Georgia	Athens, GA	127,315​
Kentucky	Lexington, KY	322,570​
LSU	Baton Rouge, LA	227,470​
Mississippi State	Starkville, MS	24,360​
Missouri	Columbia, MO	126,254​
Oklahoma	Norman, OK	128,026​
Ole Miss	Oxford, MS	25,416​
South Carolina	Columbia, SC	136,632​
Tennessee	Knoxville, TN	190,740​
Texas	Austin, TX	964,177​
Texas A&M	College Station, TX	120,511​
Vanderbilt	Nashville, TN	715,884​

 

[GloryDawg]

I was curious about this, but yeah, you're right. I don't think I ever realized the population disparity between Starkville and Oxford vs other SEC college towns. To be fair, some of these towns are also state capitals and have other things going on, but here's the list. I did the 2020 Census population for the city only. Once you get into 'urban', 'suburban', and 'Metro', the math gets funny and the numbers get a little ridiculous:

Team	City	2020 Pop
Alabama	Tuscaloosa, AL	100,618​
Arkansas	Fayetteville, AR	93,949​
Auburn	Auburn, AL	76,143​
Florida	Gainesville, FL	141,085​
Georgia	Athens, GA	127,315​
Kentucky	Lexington, KY	322,570​
LSU	Baton Rouge, LA	227,470​
Mississippi State	Starkville, MS	24,360​
Missouri	Columbia, MO	126,254​
Oklahoma	Norman, OK	128,026​
Ole Miss	Oxford, MS	25,416​
South Carolina	Columbia, SC	136,632​
Tennessee	Knoxville, TN	190,740​
Texas	Austin, TX	964,177​
Texas A&M	College Station, TX	120,511​
Vanderbilt	Nashville, TN	715,884​

That's just the cities. They are not even taking in the Metro areas. Baton Rouge had 800K plus in 2020. Columbia Metro has 832K. Tuscaloosa has all of the Birmingham Metro area.

Hell, if Ole Miss or State was in the Jackson Miss Area it would take 100k seat stadium. In the 80's State was putting 60K in Memorial Stadium.