MState 16 - UAB 10

Well, MState will not go 0-12 and it is highly unlikely we will go 1-11 either. This was the worst we have played in a victory since the Troy State game in 2002 probably. Neither team really wanted this one with the way they were playing. The coaching on both sidelines was horrible. I'm happy for our players to get a win, but I'm not pleased with the play of this team again. We should have lost this game and would have lost if it was just about any other team.

I've held of posting for a couple of days to see if I cooled down and felt better about our win over UAB. I don't. I listened to the game Saturday night and kept wondering how UAB wasn't blowing us out. I kept thinking that they should be handling us easily. Fortunately for us they played like complete garbage. I watched the replay last night on CSS and feel no better after seeing it.

Why, oh why can't Croom and company realize their best chance is to allow Omarr to use his athletic ability? Anytime we did that we were successful, but yet we kept going away from it. We have the dumbest coaching staff around without a doubt. Props to Omarr for overcoming the poor coaching and taking it in for the win in that first overtime. I appreciate your effort. Is there any way you can tell the coaches to take their offensive system and shove it and just allow you to do your thing? If so please do for the sake of all of us.

What ticks me off is the fan response. So many are now ok with Croom. What? We beat a crappy team in overtime and suddenly everything is ok? It's not ok with me. We did not show a bit of improvement. If anything this game showed me that Croom's offensive system will not work and that he is wrong in not changing anything. It wasn't Croom's plays that got us yards Saturday night, it was Omarr's improvisation after the play broke down. Set up an offense that takes advantage of that type of play from the QB and sign an athletic QB this year and I guarantee you we would win more games and be more competitive. Bottom line is 1-3 doesn't cut it. We should be no less than 2-2. After the craptastic coaching job Croom and company did Saturday night we really should be 0-4 but we were fortunate Watson Brown did an equally crappy job coaching his team. Next week it's back to reality as LSU skulldrags us all over Tiger Stadium.

Thanks Foglesong

Thanks for giving Croom the old vote of confidence. The big question on the minds of a lot of MState fans is will that be the dreaded vote of confidence that most other schools issue or does he really mean it? I really don't know. A lot of people are pinning their hopes on Doc to clean out the Bryan Building, but I just don't know if it will happen or not.

One thing is for sure, he is noticing the emails he is getting. Marshall Ramsey of the Clarion Ledger referred to it as a "buttload of emails". Keep 'em coming folks, the only way to let the new president know how you feel is to tell him. Will he actually heed the messages sent by numerous fans, season ticket holders, and members of the bulldog club? That remains to be seen. But, that should not deter us from sending them.

If Doc wants MSU to reach its potential he is going to have to kick one Larry Templeton to the curb. That man is the biggest thing holding back MState athletics right now. How he has survived not only this past 5 years of football but also the past 5 years of baseball's slide into mediocrity and the entire department's outright failure in the 2005-2006 year is a testament to the lowered expectations and excuse making ability of the MState fanbase. Wake up people, at any other SEC school, including Vandy, this clown would be gone. Instead the fanbase is mostly unaware that he is incompetent. Hello, he is the boss of the athletic department and when it fails, he is responsible, just as if he were the CEO of a corporation.

The lowered expectations and lack of accountability of MState fans saddens me to no end. Where did this come from? Does noone remember the 90's in football? We were good with less to work with. We didn't have skyboxes or 55K tickets to sale. We didn't have an IPF or a brand new weightroom. Yet we competed and we can do again. Do no listen to the woe is MState line of thought, it is a trap to get you to lower your expectations. Demand better. I'm not talking about national titles, I'm talking about a program that competes that we can be proud of. How about baseball, which has been on a steady decline since Ron Polk was rehired by Templeton in one of his dumber moves. Polk spits out lame excuse after lame excuse while the fanbase eats them up and proclaims "he build MSU and SEC baseball". Let me make a proclamation of my own: "MSU baseball is now an afterthought, even in our own state". We can still host regionals, super regionals, make the college world series and compete for the SEC title. We do not have to settle for 9th place in the conference. Men's basketball is the only program I am pleased with. Stansbury has done above and beyond what his boss told him he expected when Rick was hired. Thank you Rick for not settling for what Templeton considers successful. We made the NCAA 4 consecutive years, won an SEC regular season title, an SEC tournament title, and 2 SEC Western Division titles. We should expect this type of thing now.

Stop expecting us to lose and then acting like we've done something great if we give effort. Effort should be a given. Wins should be expected. Legitimately competing in this conference should be expected and anything less should be rejected as failure. We can do better than we have lately, we just have to demand it.

Tulane 32 - MState 29

Wow, what can I say about this game? It sucked? No, not harsh enough. It was embarassing? No, that still doesn't accurately describe it. It was an abomination to SEC football, that's what it was. I was literally ashamed of the maroon shirt and cap I wore Saturday night. That was the worst performance I have ever seen from State without a doubt. That Tulane team was bad. If you didn't see them in person let me break it down for you - their defense was bad, their offense was bad, and their special teams bad ours look all-world by comparison.

In this game we had every advantage. We were at home, they had no fans show up, and let's not forget he effects of Hurricane Katrina. Then we get to the first half where we had field position the entire half. We had the ball at, just short, or beyond the 50 yard line the whole half, yet mustered only 7 points. Tulane cornerbacks were 10 yards off our receivers all night yet we still tried to go deep on them. Our staff was either too stupid to run 5 and outs on them on first and second down or just too damn stubborn to do it Croom's way - that entails running with power (ha!), using mid to deep passing routes, and completely ignoring the TE and RBs out of the backfield. We ran 5 and outs on 3rd and long and it worked, only it netted 5-6 yards and left us short of the sticks.

The worst part about this game was how flat the team came out. There is a pattern here you know - we came out just as flat last year against Houston and Kentucky, both very winnable games. The year before it was Maine, UAB, and Vandy. This year it's Tulane so far, hopefully Jacksonville State will not be added to this list, although it would not surprise me. With all the flack Croom caught last week and the controversial blast at the fans, I am still a little shocked at the mood of the team. Geez, at least Jackie could circle the wagons and get his team ready to play teh weaker teams on the sched. Croom has no clue what he is doing, none. He has no clue how to motivate the team. He said as much in his press conference. He said it is a total mystery to him why we came out that flat. He said he told the players they have to fight for it. Earth to Croom: this isn't the 1970's. You cannot just tell these players they have to fight for it, you have to motivate them to win. You have to find something to get them into the game. That is part of your job as a coach. Tons of other coaches do it every weekend around the nation. Unfortunately you cannot.

Croom has no clue what he is doing people. He is a good man and wants to win, but he doesn't understand what it takes. That should be obvious to all. He got severely outcoached by Tulane's staff. He is in way over his head. I told somebody at the game this and I will now repeat it - that man will get fired before he will change anything. That is just stupid. Saying you will never fire a coach is stupid, saying you won't change the offense or how you call it is stupid, and blaming anyone other than the staff for this crap is stupid. Croom needs to resign. I would if for nothing else out of shame.

About the 4th quarter points, as far as I'm concerned they don't count. Tulane's 119th ranked defense let up in the fourth and that's when we started scoring. That's the only reason we started scoring. When it really counted and Tulane truly cared the score was 32-7. That's pathetic. Conner is not the answer, we learned that last year. Croom's "offense" will not get it done. This team has a chance at one more game this season - Jax State. Beyond that, we aren't going to come close to winning a game. This team will either be JState and 11 or winless. I'm as loyal as you'll find, I love MState, I give to the BC and have season tickets and I show up to the games and stay the whole time the vast majority of the time. I'll say this right now - if Croom is still coaching us next year, I'm not buying tickets. I'm not paying my hard earned money to watch that crap another year. I sat through the entire 2003 season and was never this mad or felt this helpless concerning our program. We haven't been this bad in a long, long time.

PS: To those cheering at the game when they called out the OM score, we were getting skull drug by Tulane 32-7 at the time. Does OM losing make you happy? Does the fact that they were at least competitive against SEC competition on the road make you happy? It does not me. It doesn't change the outcome of our game, it doesn't make MState better if OM loses, and it doesn't erase my anger at our team's performance. OM is going to take the Golden Egg home this year. They are bad, but they are not nearly as bad as us.

Well, the race card has been played

The first one to throw it into the fray is none other than Sid Salter. That came as quite a shock to this MState fan and reader of the Clarion Ledger. I must admit to being very upset when reading his garbage. I have come to expect better from such an excellent journalist. I have enjoyed reading his material in the past, but this time he has stepped into the picture without knowing of what he speaks. Go read his blog to see of what I speak. Here is my comment to him:

"Nice job playing the race card Sid. I knew it would eventually come out, but I did not expect one as intelligent and insightful as yourself to be the first to blatantly use it. Sid, you were there attacking the secrecy of the last presidential search. You are too good of a journalist to put something like this out. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I'll tell you why MSU fans are upset at Sly Croom - the number 0. That's how many points State's offense has scored this year. I'll give you 2 more numbers - 1 and 6. The first is the number of snaps taken inside the redzone this year and the latter is the number of snaps on our opponents side of the 50 yard line.

Most of all this is why people are grumbling at Croom - it is obvious to everyone that a change is needed yet he states "I'm not changing anything." We have gotten progressively worse overall as a team. Yes, the defense has improved, but he offense is dead last in the nation. With this offense we will win maybe 2 games this year.

Consider this, our defense is largely dependant on our front 7. Next year we lost key seniors to that front 7. Without the ability to stop the run as well, and with our offense still struggling without any changes from Croom, we will actually be worse than we are now.

I was behind Croom when he was hired. I didn't care that he was black - he was a well spoken man of integrity and character. He talked a great game. The second half of his first season showed great promise, but last season and the first two games of this season have erased that. I love MSU. I want MSU to be successful. Nothing would make me happier than Sly Croom leading us to victory, but it isn't going to happen.

I guess this is what we get for hiring the first African American coach in the SEC - the race card thrown our direction. Accusations of racism directed towards fans. We now know why other institutions didn't hire an AA coach before we did. Actions like this will not make others want to hire one either. Even with all the evidence in the world of failure and incompentency the fans still get accused of racism for wanting something better than 3 wins and an offense that is dead last in the nation."

I just don't know what else to say. That last paragraph is what is staying with me the most. That just came pouring out of me but it seems, looking back now, like 100% truth. Nobody else wants to hire an African American coach because of the race card, accusations of racism, and the negative press. The media is the worst enemy in this case of themselves - they want more AA coaches hired yet they blindly attack any institution which they think didn't give "enough time" to build a program. Notre Dame faced it down, but they weren't located in Mississippi, where our history still haunts us and the race card is extremely powerful to this day. That a fan of MState and a resident Mississippian would throw the first one out there is almost unthinkable. It wasn't ESPN, it was a newspaper journalist (not a sports writer) from our own capital city. Shame on your Sid Salter, shame on you. I think it's safe to say that Sid is a member of the sheep portion of our fanbase. Go back to Gene's board with that crap, Sid.

Auburn 34 - MState 0

8 quarters. 8 quarters without scoring a single point. Not a field goal. Not a touchdown. We have breached the redzone 1 time all season, and that was after Auburn gave us the ball on the 35 yard line. We attempted a field goal on that drive down 34-0 and missed again. Our starters on offense couldn't even score on Auburn's reserve defense.

The worst part of the game wasn't the score, the heat, or even our failure to score. The worst part of the game were the postgame comments where Croom basically told the fans to sit down and shut up. Sly said he doesn't want to hear from fans how bad our offense is. He doesn't want us to tell him to change his ways or change the staff or anything of that sort. Apparently we shouldn't have a voice. We should just show up to the game after paying $200 for season tickets and giving a donation to the BC, $2.60 for gas, money for motel rooms, and buying food and drink for our families and cheer blindly. To heck with that. We are the ones who have lived through 5 straight losing seasons. We are the ones who were told we would improve this year by our coach. Now that coach tells us to shut up, that he isn't changing a thing. Well, if you don't change you will win about 3 games this year Sly.

This is insulting on every level. Does the call-in show exist to make Sly feel better? Or does it exist for the fans to raise their concerns about MState football and ask serious questions of our coach? I think it is the latter. I stayed till the bitter end, i think that gives me a voice. I wear maroon and white, I think that gives me a voice. I graduated from MState and love the school dearly, I think that gives me a voice. For a failure of a head coach to have the nerve to tell me to shut up is too much for me to handle.

The Slytanic is sinking further into the icy depths. We are on board and there are no lifeboats. And now the captain is telling us there is nothing to fear, that this boat is unsinkable and he is fixing the hole. He actually thinks were are going to sit here and not notice the ship sinking further and further? Croom needs to do two things right now: apologize for his comments and this team and then resign. I don't expect Croom to do either so our administration needs to do their jobs. Croom should be fired and fired immediately.

All Aboard the Slytanic

Seriously, what gives with this guy? Is he really this clueless? What has MState gotten itself into?

I was amazed at his post-game comments directly following the game last Thursday when he said he saw improvement in the offense. I saw major, MAJOR regression. During the call-in show Monday night several callers question him about the offense. His response - he will not change the offensive system nor the way it is called. That is typical Croom, I expected this all the way. The kicker though is the crowd in attentance actually cheered. They cheered him. They cheered sticking with that garbage he calls an offense, that system he calls the West Coast Offense (blasphemy to Bill Walsh). Did these people actually watch that game? Have they watched MState the 2 years prior to this? Do they not see the offensive regression? Do they not see that we will not win with this offense? How blind can the sheep be? How delusional can they be? How long can people hold their heads in the sand? According to them if we stick with this and keep plugging away at it the system will just magically work and our offensive line will magically be able to block 8 and 9 man fronts for our runs up the middle.

So that little thing takes place, spinning me to a level of disbelief - but wait, there's more. Croom give the team off all weekend, including Monday, because of their effort. Let me say that I have no problem giving the defense off, they earned it. But the offense? We ran nothing resembling an offense all night long against South Carolina. Lee Corso called it the worst offense he's seen in 10 years. Long time sheep and optimistic fans were grumbling and cursing Croom last Thursday. People who were arguing that we had a shot at a bowl last week were left saying we would win 2 or 3 games. Yet, with all this, Croom thinks our offense needs no practice. That is moronic. If I were AD or President I would pay a little visit to Croom's office and tell him to get his crap in order. We are playing a team vastly more talented and better coached than us coming off the worst offensive performance I have ever seen - we need practice. Croom has no idea what he is doing - that should be evident to all by now. If you believe otherwise you have your head in the sand. I guarantee you Spurrier, whose team plays UGA and actually scored points last Thursday, didn't give his team off all weekend. But what does he know of winning college football games, right?

But wait, there's more. Croom comes out this week with more of his classic remarks. All last season we heard after poor performances how we were a few plays away from winning. Failure to execute a play, we were told, was why we lost. Croom said things like "we had a touchdown on that play if he catches it, if we get a block, if he hits that hole, etc". Well, I'll be damned if he doesn't pull out the same crap to explain away our poor offensive performance against SC. We are told it is a matter of execution. Well to that I say this - it has been that way for 3 years. We haven't executed according to him for 3 years. Either we aren't recruiting better players who can execute or our coaches aren't doing their jobs in teaching these players the offense. Either way, it is his fault. I'm tired of this crap. Don't tell me, do something about it. The worst part is the sheep believe him whole heartedly. They drink it up like they do the Swan's recruiting "information" and Rose Bowl Robertson's "insight". The sheep proclaim bad execution the reason we failed to score, as if we were close to beating SC but just couldn't get it done when we needed to. How anyone with any football knowledge could watch that game and believe we were ever close to beating them is beyond me. I guarantee you the only thing Spurrier worried about was a defensive touchdown on our part when the score was 6-0. He never sweated our offense. Look at that 4th down play - he had his entire defense stack up inside. Had we faked the run and rolled out with a TE pass or something we probably would have scored - yet he allowed the defense to line up that way. That is because he knew good and well we were going to run up the middle, just like 50,000 fans in attendance did.

I'm so tired of this garbage. I'm so tired of the sheep saying we are unreasonable or have "despicable goals" when actually having the nerve to not be happy and demand answers, accountability, and change. I say this to you MState fans - get your heads out of the sand. See through the bullcrap shoveled your way weekly by this farce of a coach and see what I see - a man who has no idea what it takes to win on the collegiate level as a head coach, a man who is too stubborn to change what he is doing in order to give us a better chance to win games, and a man who trots out crappy excuses for his failures all the while saying he takes responsibility. See through this shroud and see the imminent failure of this coaching staff. See the 2-3 wins we will have this year. See the defensive regression and further offensive regression once this senior class graduates. See the recruiting still being of the same quality just getting the verbals earlier. See the continual slide of MState football further into the drain and further into being the biggest laughing stock in D1A football. Don't let people convince you that the offense is McCorvey's fault and firing him will change things. Oh no, the root problem is Croom and he is the one that needs to answer for this thing he calls a football team.

Still Depressed

After sitting on our loss for a few days I am still upset about things. I watched Nebraska play Saturday and they actually ran something that resembled the West Coast Offense, you know the one we are told we run here at MState. I'm a 49ers fan so I've seen the actual WCO in play, and what we run isn't it. I watched pieces of a lot of different games Saturday and one thing rings true about all of them - no matter how good or bad the team was they all had cohesive offensive gameplans, playcalling that made a little sense, and they all scored at least a little. UAB hung in there with Oklahoma - they will beat us. JState hung in with Furman - they will beat us. Arkansas didn't play too horribly against USC - they will beat us.

Then yesterday came around and I watched a new offensive staff for Ole Miss, with a quarterback that had been on campus for 28 days, put together a good gameplan with creative playcalling to beat Memphis 28-25. That team has major problems - inexperience in the offensive line, their only good receiver is a true freshman, and they have an all new backfield. Yet, despite this, they actually scored 4 touchdowns and looked like a legit D1 offense. They are so much better coached on the offensive side till it isn't funny. Werner, their new coordinator, got the ball in the hands of their playmakers - McCluster and Green-Ellis. He got Brent Schaeffer to the outside a lot, ran to the outside a lot, and ran trick plays - in other words he wasn't predictable. He had an actual offensive gameplan that took advantage of their strengths while masking their weaknesses. Did you see them running up the middle time and again in the first half? No, they waited until they were ahead and had the Memphis defense wore down. Did you see them ignoring their playmakers? No, they got the ball in the hands of said players as much as possible.

Ole Miss can do it yet we cannot. They aren't any more talented than we are. They recruit from the same pool we do. This is like salt in the wound. 4 days later and I'm even more angry about our performance. I have chalked up every game except Tulane, which will be tough, and Jax State, which could be Maine all over again, as losses. We will lose the Egg Bowl. We will lose to UK after watching their offense last night score 28 on Louisville. We will lose to UAB. We will lose every SEC game this year. I can't really say when we'll score on offensive touchdown on a 1st team defense. This is pathetic and Croom should answer for this.

South Carolina 15 - MState 0

Well folks, the first game came and went. My friend and I arrived at State yesterday shortly before 6 pm. We parked and walked across campus, noting the new flag on the drill field which was nice. We walked through The Junction which made me wish I was an undergrad again so I could go party and get to' up with the rest of 'em. Walked through the Cullis Wade Depot and it is nice, really nice. We then entered the game where I had great seats and the pregame atmosphere was top notch, among the best at State in a while. The students were ready to go and fans were excited. But then the game started.

Holy crap. Last night was the worst display of offense I have ever seen in my entire life. It's not about talent either, even though we lack it. It's about coaching. South Carolina is our equal talent-wise. They are no better than us. Their defense has holes all over the place. Their offensive line is crappy. They've got problems. But yet our offensive playcalling looms over all. Horrible, simply horrible.

I'll break it down: 1st down - run up the middle; 2nd down - run up the middle; 3rd down - attempt a pass but get your quarterback killed; 4th down - punt. That was our offensive gameplan. Geez, Croom you are an idiot. Come on. A 4 year old that has never watched football could a) come up with a better initial gameplan given all summer to do it and b) make adjustments at halftime that would result in at least one offensive TD or redzone appearance. How does he justify collecting his paycheck? Run up the middle despite the fact that Tyone Nix has stacked his defense inside waiting on it? Stupid. Refuse to pass to the best two players on our offense - Omarr Conner and Eric Butler? Retarded. On 4th and 1 when the whole stadium and ESPN viewing audience knew a run up the middle was coming, we do what? Run up the middle? Are you kidding me? Had we run a play action bootleg it was money. Had we run one wide receiver reverse it was money. Had we made an effort to run to the exterior it was money. Instead we keep running inside despite our failure to get anything out of it. Get creative.

This is it for me, the last straw. Croom is done, stick a fork in him. He has had 3 years to improve this offense to a point where they can do something besides 3 and out all game long against crappy defenses. Worse yet, he has had all summer to prepare for SCarolina and this is the best he and wonder boy McCorvey can come up with. Those guys should pack up their bags right now out of shame. Heck, the entire offensive staff should resign after this crap. Our offensive line is no better, our wide receivers still can't catch, our playcalling sucks - this is horrible. If that is the West Coast Offense than I am Joe Montana. Croom, go look at film of the 49ers from the 80's or 90's. That is the WCO. Quick slants, swing passes, screens, runs to the exterior, misdirection - that is the WCO. What you are running is the old school Alabama offense, which works when you have their talent. We do not, therefore we need to get creative.