Houston was ranked like #15 in the nation when we played them. We were the underdogs in that game, and we would have won had the refs not screwed us over on the phantom hold call on a TD and the pass behind the line of scrimmage. We were 7 point underdogs to Auburn this year. We were 1.5 point underdogs to Ole Miss last year, and the Northwestern game was a pickem. Northwestern was a very good football team as well. The only game that going into the game we should have won was Auburn in '11. The other games were toss ups at best.
If at Mississippi State we have had only 5 disappointments (which I think you are vastly overshooting here) in 5 years, I think that's pretty dang good. The talk about firing Mullen is seriously ignorant. But honestly the talks of firing Collins is pretty retarded as well. You seem to be a huge proponent of both. Mullen has built a team that everyone seems to think will be very good next year, but you won't give him any credit for that and don't want him to be able to lead the team that he finally built to his liking.
Also, people say he is unwilling to make corrections. The first 3 quarters of the Auburn game were the best offensive play calling we've had in two years. He got conservative in the 4th and it cost us. But don't act like the whole game was embarrassing.
houston was NOT ranked in '09 when we played them. Link:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/schedule/_/id/344/year/2009/mississippi-state-bulldogs
if you notice, it has the ranking by the ranked teams....houston is not ranked.
that same houston team lost to air force, east carolina, central florida, and utep. they were simply not very good.
we were 7 point underdogs, but the reason why everyone is in an uproar is because that was a terrible auburn team. we LOOKED like a better team. i stand by the assessment that we should have won the game....if collins doesnt go full retard, we do win that game. they drove 88 yards in a minute and change...
the ole miss team had a losing record entering the egg bowl and only had the infamous "59 scholarship players". we, on the other hand, were 8-3 and had a full allotment of scholarship players. if they were in fact they were -1.5, that simply tells me we were the superior team (-3 goes to home filed, thus we were the better neutral-field team)...so vegas thought we were the better team although we were not favorites in the game.
as far as northwestern, our recruiting classes vs theirs for players eligible in past 4 recruiting seasons:
(2009)MSU:19th.....NW:69th
(2010)MSU:38th.....NW:58th
(2011)MSU:45th.....NW:59th
(2012)MSU:18th.....NW:48th
in that 4 year span, our WORST recruiting class was ranked 45th. in that same timespan, northwesterns BEST recruiting class was 48th. we had a huge talent advantage...like MASSIVE (equvalent to the talent advantage that say, alabama has over msu). which brings me back to the whole point of this thread....our coaching sucks which is why we are losing these games.
*you have made excuses as to why we shouldnt beat a team that lost to ucf, east carolina, air force, and utep and consequently was not ranked when we played them nor did they finish that season ranked according to the poll used via espn.
*you have made excuses as to why we shouldnt beat a team where we had a 3 point lead with nothing but 88 yards and 1:47 on the game clock between us and a victory....and not to mention that auburn team had lost its last 10 sec ballgames and the talent on scholarship only capable of winning 3 games all of last season. sure, gus is a good coach, but this whole example only illustrates the incompetence of OUR staff
*you have made excuses as to why we shouldnt have beaten a team that had a losing record with one game to go in the season with a team comprised of only 59 scholarship players and one that was rife with underclassmen and kids that were playing highschool ball the year before
*you have made excuses as to why we shouldnt have beaten a team that we obliterated in recruiting...not just beaten badly, UTTERLY OBLITERATED in recruiting.
look, all of this illustrates my point. none of these teams were what I would consider good. i didnt throw mullen under the bus in making my determinations. i think i was fair in my assessment of each team and my gut feeling is that we were better than each team i listed and i think that we lost because of coaching. hell, i even think the lines were the way they were because of coaching. if vegas doesnt have confidence in our coaching, why the hell should we? those examples only work to illustrate how incompetent our coaches are.
hey, if you think im ignorant and retarded, fine....you dont know me and i have explained my rational for my statements. it would be equally easy for me to call you names as well. you dont have to agree with me, but some will. The problem with mullen is that it shouldnt take 2 17ing years to improve the playcalling. you get that right? it was painfully obvious that something needed to be done after the end of last season. thats all anyone and everyone wanted to talk about, and really, when you look back at the '11 season, the signs of the impending downfall were there.
i thought the lsu game ('09) was handled poorly, but i didnt include it, im not really satisfied with coming from behind to beat the likes of troy, i could go on, but thats not pertantent to my discussion. if you think its acceptable to lose a game that we should win:
"If at Mississippi State we have had only 5 disappointments (which I think you are vastly overshooting here) in 5 years, I think that's pretty dang good."
clearly, you disagree with my number, but feel like even with my assessment, you think that is an acceptable number....losing 5 games that you should have won in 4 and 1/4 seasons. If you dont see the incompetence, you are in the minority. sorry, but that is the reality of our situation. people that find these type of results acceptable need to STFU because they are holding back the pursuit of progress. in closing, i hope you are right, i hope that mullen goes 15-0 on the way to our and the nations first playoff NC, but i suspect that my concerns are founded in the reality that dan mullen is nothing more than average, a below average recruiter in a cfb landscape that is stocked with elite talent and elite recruiting, particularly in our league in our division...teams that as we speak are laying the foundations to beat us soundly in the next half-decade. if you think that the situation is much outside of those paramaters that i laid out, i think our discussion is done here because i simply dont respect your opinion enough to listen to anything you have to say.
edit to add: houston DROPPED from the top 25 the week before our game with them. they lost to UTEP (58-41). they were most certainly not ranked when we played them and they finished the season unranked. in the week 5 poll (the week they played UTEP) they were in fact ranked in the top 15, they lost, and were subsequently dropped form the top 25 (week 6)...just in time to roll into starkville as an unranked opponent.
schedule evidence:
link:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/schedule/_/id/248/year/2009/houston-cougars
week 5 (before utep loss, houston was 3-0 going into utep loss)
http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings/_/year/2009/week/1/seasontype/3
week 6 (after utep loss and before our game, houston was 3-1 and unranked in both polls)
http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings/_/year/2009/week/6
final poll results of '09 season:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings/_/year/2009/week/1/seasontype/3
