and today, my wife and I spent the day in town wearing our MSU gear. Several people came up to us and congratulated us on a great season. One even knew how badly we beat Michigan in the Gator Bowl. My point is, I believe otherwise disinterested people are now distinguishing us from Ole Miss. With all of the good publicity Mullen has brought, the general public is beginning to recognize our brand. Anyone else have similar experiences?
We live out of state...
- Thread starter TheBigEDawg
- Start date
the significance of going to a bowl- a NYD one in particular and beating a big name opponent.
That was a big part of my arguement about watering down our football schedule. Yes, some of the fans are going to say- shoot, I don't want to watch us beat Lousiana-Monroe- I'd rather see Ohio State. But I would rather play four winnable games and then go to the Gator Bowl and see us play a big name opponent than play "the toughest schedule in the country" and go 4-8. Of course, they would probably come back with "But I want to spend time with my family over the holidays- which is what is REALLY important." Like someone is forcing them to go to a bowl game.
Love it or hate it- the bowl season is the best exposure for our football team. People associate our team in a bowl = good team. And then there is the benefit of extra practice and it's good for recruiting- in the long run.
Playing a managable schedule helps us in the SEC as well- remember when we rested Ballard against UAB? We couldn't have rested him if we had played Georgia Tech. Having him fresh helped us when we had to play and beat UK, and later in the Egg Bowl. It also allowed LaDarius Perkins to develop which helped us out even more in the Egg Bowl. Those games help us build depth. So, those smaller school games do have some value even if they aren't all that exciting from a fan perspective.
I don't think it's a coincidence that we had our best season since 1999 with our easiest schedule in years- Memphis and UAB at home- two below average (being nice to Memphis, they were God awful) C-USA teams, Alcorn, and a tough, but winnable contest with Houston on the road, which having their All-World QB getting hurt helping us out.
But going to a bowl game is great- but now we have to build on this, and I think we will.
That was a big part of my arguement about watering down our football schedule. Yes, some of the fans are going to say- shoot, I don't want to watch us beat Lousiana-Monroe- I'd rather see Ohio State. But I would rather play four winnable games and then go to the Gator Bowl and see us play a big name opponent than play "the toughest schedule in the country" and go 4-8. Of course, they would probably come back with "But I want to spend time with my family over the holidays- which is what is REALLY important." Like someone is forcing them to go to a bowl game.
Love it or hate it- the bowl season is the best exposure for our football team. People associate our team in a bowl = good team. And then there is the benefit of extra practice and it's good for recruiting- in the long run.
Playing a managable schedule helps us in the SEC as well- remember when we rested Ballard against UAB? We couldn't have rested him if we had played Georgia Tech. Having him fresh helped us when we had to play and beat UK, and later in the Egg Bowl. It also allowed LaDarius Perkins to develop which helped us out even more in the Egg Bowl. Those games help us build depth. So, those smaller school games do have some value even if they aren't all that exciting from a fan perspective.
I don't think it's a coincidence that we had our best season since 1999 with our easiest schedule in years- Memphis and UAB at home- two below average (being nice to Memphis, they were God awful) C-USA teams, Alcorn, and a tough, but winnable contest with Houston on the road, which having their All-World QB getting hurt helping us out.
But going to a bowl game is great- but now we have to build on this, and I think we will.
...my boss is from Michigan and is a huge Michigan fan. He was always getting MSU and Ole Miss confused with one another; but, since the Gator Bowl he hasn't been confused. He said, "Mississippi State looked good! They kicked our a$$! You better watch out for them Dawgs!"
When I'm wearing it, occasionally someone will ask me if I from Mississippi, or say they've visited Mississippi, or know someone there...I came across a guy one day wearing an Ole Miss hat when I was wearing a MSU shirt. He was from New Albany. We had just beat them 41-27. We talked about football and other things for over an hour.
and I have gotten several congrats on beating Michigan. Prior to this season the first question I always got was in reference to Spartans.
Because so many of these Big Ten 17'ers with therespiked up hair got to see us beatthe 17 out of Michigan. They used to think that Miss Statewas Ole Miss or whereBrett Farve went to school. For seven years they did not know who we were, but after that game they started to get their **** straight. Plus it is awesome when I wear my maroon and white at the gym, look at a michigan douchebag and see them look away instantly in shame.
<div>He graduated from State.</div><div>
</div>Talked about Nick for a while.<div>
</div><div>Felt the love.</div>
</div>Talked about Nick for a while.<div>
</div><div>Felt the love.</div>
one win at a time will change the perception of all things Mississippi. Years ago I had someone seriously ask me if we wore shoes in Mississippi</p>
Live in Western Colorado. Here my maroon and white is often mistaken for Mesa State (also an interlocking MS and maroon and white). But I have been wearing a lot of MSU gear of late and more and more folks are recognizing it, especially after the Gator Bowl. Was in Grand Junction airport the other night and some guy from Illinois recognized my cap. He actually had a younger brother who had played basketball for MSU in the 80s. Thanked us for beating Michigan.
I have had my gear recognized at both Telluride and Vail this year. Makes you feel good to hear "Go Dawgs" here on the frontier.
I have had my gear recognized at both Telluride and Vail this year. Makes you feel good to hear "Go Dawgs" here on the frontier.
MSU's Wind Ensemble toured the British Isles in 2008, and I was still in school at the time so I went on the trip. When we were in our first city, Galway, Ireland, an obviously Irish man came up to me and asked about my shirt (I was wearing a maroon MSU t-shirt). He said that he'd seen a bunch of us wearing MSU clothing and wanted to know if we went to Ole Miss. I kid you not, even in Ireland people can't get it right. I didn't ask him how he'd heard of Ole Miss before, but I gently corrected him and explained that we were from MSU and were giving a concert in their town hall the next day. We went on to give two more concerts, one in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin (incredible, amazing sound in there) and the other at the Royal Military School of Music outside of London (it was a bit intimidating to have 50-60 military musicians all dressed in British mili'try fatigues listening to us play).
I was wearing a white polo with the M-State logo on it in Wisconsin (during the 2008 EAA convention) and some of the people I spoke to asked me about that shirt, which none of them recognized as Miss. State. One lady said, "I thought it looked like Michigan State's logo but the colors weren't right." The old M-State doesn't look anything like Mich. State's logo, though, and it's certainly not green.