After the last two losses, some of the media is beginning to throw out the notion that Mullen has reached his ceiling at MSU. While I do understand that there ultimately may be a ceiling at MSU, as there is at every other school, I don't see any evidence that suggests that MSU has reached it or is even close to it.
There is no doubt that last two games have been very disappointing, and I think it suggests a lot about this years team, but I think it is a major stretch to say that the last two games have unmasked some greater indication that MSU has reached its ceiling as a program. We have to keep things in perspective and realize that while we were out schemed and out manned, it doesn't mean that we can't get there. I think we have all realized this year that it is much easier, in college football, to go from god awful to pretty good, then to go from pretty good to really good. Case in point: Mullen took us from god awful to pretty good very quickly and Freeze is in the process of doing the same at OM. However, just like us, OM will reach a plateau at pretty good unless they get an out of this world player at the QB position. i.e., Johnny Football or Cam Newton. Robert NK won't do it for them. Recents trends have shown that to go from pretty good to really good, if you still lack elite talent at some positions, is you have to acquire an elite play making QB. I think this is because the QB is the only position that really can't be taken out of the game due to schemes. You can't double team a QB.
Where I think the media is missing the boat is that I believe they are so conditioned to the NFL, NBA, Alabama, LSU, USC, Ohio State, & Florida way of thinking, that you can go from bad to a championship level in 3 years, that they don't understand that historically bad programs take much more time to build. What they forget is that when Bama, Florida, LSU, and Ohio State weren't good, it wasn't because of talent. It was because of mismanagement, probation, and bad coaching. Those programs already had the commitment, history, recruiting and general program infrastructure to bounce back quickly. Sounds like common sense doesn't it? But the media just really doesn't understand that for the past 50 years MSU has consistently had poor leadership in the athletic Department, bad coaching, and hasn't been financially and organizationally committed to winning in football.
Furthermore, over the past 20 years MSU has had to deal with the perception that it had the worst facilities in the SEC. However, over the past 3 years that has changed. MSU is expanding and renovating the stadium, building an unbelievable football building that will rival anyone's in the country, and showing the willingness to pay for good coaches (something I predict will only improve over the next few years). Furthermore, Starkville is growing and becoming a more legit college town year by year. So with the exception of number of seats in the stadium, who has better facilities than MSU? and if so, why? After our stadium expansion, with the exception of number of seats in the stadium, why does Alabama have better facilities than us?
Ultimately, all this should make our recruiting better. Over the past 6 years our recruiting rankings looks like this according Scout.com.
2008: 33
2009: 19
2010: 38
2011: 45
2012: 18
2013(presently): 16
By looking at our recruiting rankings, we really tanked in 2010 and 2011, and those two bad recruiting seasons have a lot to do with our current problems and why next year could be a little bit of a struggle, but the good news is that Mullen is really beginning to find his recruiting stride and our new facilities aren't even finished yet. What will happen when we move into those and recruits are able tour them?
In conclusion, it is clear that, while our football program may have momentarily plateaued, mostly due bad recruiting years in the 2010 and 2011, we are moving in the right direction and building this program the correct way. Barring a devastating probation, we are building a program that will be sustainable to years to come; brick by brick. The truth is that we didn't have the program infrastructure, like most here understand, to shoot up as quickly as Bama or LSU did when they hired new coaches. We had soooo much more ground to make up, and the good thing is that we have made up much of it and I think that will show up on the field over the next 5 years. There will certainly be more bumps in the road and we will probably lose 2 straight again next season, but the country's population is going up, our state population is going up, there are more high schools in the MS than ever before, there are more high school football teams and players than ever before, therefore, as long as Bama and LSU can only sign 25 players per year, there should be more good and elite players to recruit.
What is going on at MSU right now is putting us in position to land those recruits, and once we do, we will have the opportunity to go from good to great. MSU has not reached its ceiling, not even close.
There is no doubt that last two games have been very disappointing, and I think it suggests a lot about this years team, but I think it is a major stretch to say that the last two games have unmasked some greater indication that MSU has reached its ceiling as a program. We have to keep things in perspective and realize that while we were out schemed and out manned, it doesn't mean that we can't get there. I think we have all realized this year that it is much easier, in college football, to go from god awful to pretty good, then to go from pretty good to really good. Case in point: Mullen took us from god awful to pretty good very quickly and Freeze is in the process of doing the same at OM. However, just like us, OM will reach a plateau at pretty good unless they get an out of this world player at the QB position. i.e., Johnny Football or Cam Newton. Robert NK won't do it for them. Recents trends have shown that to go from pretty good to really good, if you still lack elite talent at some positions, is you have to acquire an elite play making QB. I think this is because the QB is the only position that really can't be taken out of the game due to schemes. You can't double team a QB.
Where I think the media is missing the boat is that I believe they are so conditioned to the NFL, NBA, Alabama, LSU, USC, Ohio State, & Florida way of thinking, that you can go from bad to a championship level in 3 years, that they don't understand that historically bad programs take much more time to build. What they forget is that when Bama, Florida, LSU, and Ohio State weren't good, it wasn't because of talent. It was because of mismanagement, probation, and bad coaching. Those programs already had the commitment, history, recruiting and general program infrastructure to bounce back quickly. Sounds like common sense doesn't it? But the media just really doesn't understand that for the past 50 years MSU has consistently had poor leadership in the athletic Department, bad coaching, and hasn't been financially and organizationally committed to winning in football.
Furthermore, over the past 20 years MSU has had to deal with the perception that it had the worst facilities in the SEC. However, over the past 3 years that has changed. MSU is expanding and renovating the stadium, building an unbelievable football building that will rival anyone's in the country, and showing the willingness to pay for good coaches (something I predict will only improve over the next few years). Furthermore, Starkville is growing and becoming a more legit college town year by year. So with the exception of number of seats in the stadium, who has better facilities than MSU? and if so, why? After our stadium expansion, with the exception of number of seats in the stadium, why does Alabama have better facilities than us?
Ultimately, all this should make our recruiting better. Over the past 6 years our recruiting rankings looks like this according Scout.com.
2008: 33
2009: 19
2010: 38
2011: 45
2012: 18
2013(presently): 16
By looking at our recruiting rankings, we really tanked in 2010 and 2011, and those two bad recruiting seasons have a lot to do with our current problems and why next year could be a little bit of a struggle, but the good news is that Mullen is really beginning to find his recruiting stride and our new facilities aren't even finished yet. What will happen when we move into those and recruits are able tour them?
In conclusion, it is clear that, while our football program may have momentarily plateaued, mostly due bad recruiting years in the 2010 and 2011, we are moving in the right direction and building this program the correct way. Barring a devastating probation, we are building a program that will be sustainable to years to come; brick by brick. The truth is that we didn't have the program infrastructure, like most here understand, to shoot up as quickly as Bama or LSU did when they hired new coaches. We had soooo much more ground to make up, and the good thing is that we have made up much of it and I think that will show up on the field over the next 5 years. There will certainly be more bumps in the road and we will probably lose 2 straight again next season, but the country's population is going up, our state population is going up, there are more high schools in the MS than ever before, there are more high school football teams and players than ever before, therefore, as long as Bama and LSU can only sign 25 players per year, there should be more good and elite players to recruit.
What is going on at MSU right now is putting us in position to land those recruits, and once we do, we will have the opportunity to go from good to great. MSU has not reached its ceiling, not even close.
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