Maine moves up to D1

[OMREBMAN]

Well, well, well, it seems like the honeymoon for Coach Croom and the msu faithfull was a short one. I know it must have been painfull to sit and watch your sec team lose to a 1AA opponent at home :mad: and it was equally as painfull to watch your new hero punt with little over a minute left :confused: but I couldn't believe I actually heard the great maroon faithful BOOOOOOOOOOOOING Coach Croom :eek: . I mean it's only week 3, what are you going to do to the man after the season? I mean, your just fixing to get into the meat of the schedule and your already booing the man. With support like that from your faithfull, who needs enemies.

[Neo]

I agree OMREBMAN. To boo Mr. Croom already is a lack of class and just downright rude. This poor guy has inherited the "Bad News Bears" of football and he can only work with what he has. I would love to see the "booers" 6 years from now when Mr. Croom has turned MSU into a decent competitor in the SEC.

[oxfordrebel]

Sherrill spiked the maroon ego to way more than they could actually achieve. The Bulldog fans believe that they are NC contenders every year and they're just not. Even two losing seasons don't mean anything to them. Croom was suppose to be their football answer and they were suppose to be in the SECCG this year. How horrible when you're perfect bubble gets popped. Look, us Rebels fans understand about disappointments, but to boo your new coach after his third game??? Who do you think you are? Florida or something? Dang.

[MSU Ed]

I was there, but I wasn't booing, but I think the booing was the product of a lack of creative play calling, coupled with the fact that we were getting knocked around by a I-AA school in the fourth quarter. Getting beat by Troy University and UAB is one thing, losing to Maine is simply another story.

[oxfordrebel]

Wow, I just read my previous post and I think I may have been a little harsh on the Maroon faithful.

Ed, what do you mean when you say "a lack of creative play calling"? I haven't gotten to see MSU yet this year, so I'm not sure what they're doing. Could it be the fact that Sherrill played smash mouth, run-up-the-gut football whereas Croom is reported to be playing fun-and-gun, and the team isn't used to it yet?

Again, sorry for the personal insults to the Starkville fans. I was lashing out more at Sherrill than I was the fans. But you just don't boo your new coach. I'm glad that you are a classy fan who didn't.

[MSU Ed]

You weren't too harsh. If I were a fan of any other school in the SEC I would be demanding that we remove the patch after Saturday night. Man it was miserable.

The play calling was good up until the fourth quarter when it seemed we would run the draw and gain two yards over and over again. I realize you have to set up the pass with the run, but we were only winning 7-3 at that point. At some point we got to take the deep shot down field. Especially after Prosser had made some great catches. We also ran several routes over the middle of the field with time slipping away, we got to get the ball out of bounds and stop the clock. The play call to punt with little time left was an OK call, but you would have rather had three timeouts instead of two, but then you only add about 25 seconds. I thought the fair catch by Lowe at the end of the game was simply a mistake, he appeared to have some running room.

All that being said, Maine did what they needed to do in order to beat us. They capitalized on our turnovers, which left them in the game all night. When they realized they could win they drove it down our throats and left us little time to recover.

Tough loss to swallow.

[Chris]

MSU will get beat by LSU, no doubts right? - BUT I think they will cover the spread. I have more talent in my pinky than LSU's Russell....

[MSU Ed]

Chris, I just don't see State covering. Several reasons why, but two come instantly to mind.

First, State has yet to show that they can stop a decent running game which LSU has. This takes the game away from whichever quarterback they choose to play.

Secondly, State cannot keep defenses out of their backfield, and the defense appears to once again be LSU's strength this year.

[oxfordrebel]

You have to really be good or play in the Big 12 to hang 29 on a conference foe. I don't think LSU has the ability to hold MSU scoreless, and I think they would almost have to in order for them to do it.

[Neo]

MSU has come a long way, but I think they are at least 5-6 years away from seriously competiting against the upper-tier SEC teams like LSU. My prediction:


LSU 35
MSU 10

[RW13]

Can someone tell me what is so great about Croom? I don't understand the hoopla behind it. Please give me other reasons besides his race which should have nothing to do with his ability....

[oxfordrebel]

MSU has come a long way, but I think they are at least 5-6 years away from seriously competiting against the upper-tier SEC teams like LSU. My prediction:


LSU 35
MSU 10

Yeah they are about 5-6 years away, but unless Croom can figure out how to coach a SEC college team, they won't get far. I'm not impressed with Croom's coaching ability (but the jury's still out--hasn't been there long enough), but Croom does bring class and respect back to the program. Croom has more class in his little finger than Sherrill ever had. I'd like to see the Bulldogs do better just because I miss competitve Egg Bowls. Some fell that it is because of MSU's decline that ESPN did not renew their contract for the Egg Bowl. It will be played on Sat. for the first time in years. That's a Thanksgiving night tradition! Oh well...

[Neo]

I must agree with you to an extent Oxfordrebel. Mr. Croom does need to realize what works in the pros may NOT work in the college world and vice versa. Granted, this is his first season and he will tweak his playbook to blend in with SEC football over time. I still believe that he will turn MSU into a winner given the time and resources. I estimate that it will be AT LEAST 5-6 years.

[volimhtown]

The thing I really hate about the media in relation to Croom is that the assumption is that because he is black, he will be able to relate to his players better and therefore will be successful. It's really unfair to him! I mean, he can't win...if he ends up being successful, it will be because he is black and relates to his players...if he's not successful, it will be that he was hired just because he was black and was not quailified for the job! The man has handled all of the hyped up media coverage with class, but I really feel for him! Who cares if he's black or not? Through all of the PC bull crap, he should be judged like everybody else...can he coach, and can he recruit? Time will tell, but I wish all of the race talk would go away...it just doesn't matter!!!

[Neo]

I fear I must agree Vol. His skin tone should NOT have any bearing on him and his job performance.