I was so interested in Ryan Ferguson's post about which SEC coaches get blown out the most that I had to look up which coaches in the SEC win by blowout the most. In gathering that info, which I'll share in another post soon, I came across a trend -- nearly everybody in the SEC has blown out Mississippi State fairly recently. It will come as no surprise to find out that over the last five years, Mississippi State hasn't been a very good football team. I just didn't know how bad they've been until I saw the numbers. In the last five years:
- all but one SEC team has beaten MSU by at least 14 points
- all but two SEC teams have beaten MSU by at least 14 in Starkville
- all but three SEC teams have beaten MSU by at least 17 in Starkville
Of the three that haven't beaten the Bulldogs by 17 at home, Vanderbilt is one, which is no shock because they've only played in Starkville once over the previous five seasons, and because they're Vanderbilt. Arkansas is another, which is sort of surprising in that they play at Mississippi State every other year, and if everybody else is whipping up on State at home, why not the Hogs?
The single team to not beat MSU by at least 14 is a bit of a shocker, though... drum roll... after the jump...
It's Georgia! Ok, so this post is filled under "Georgia Football," so maybe that's not a stunner. But in two recent tries against the Bulldogs, the umm... Bulldogs haven't brought the wood (UGA won 23-10 in '05 and 27-24 last year). What's surprising is that in the last five years, Georgia has beaten every team in the SEC by 14 or more points at least once, except Florida (of course) and Mississippi State.
Back to State, things might be getting better. Sylvester Croom sounded confident about 2007 coming out of spring practice. Plus, in the last half of 2006, the blowout losses dried up. After the October 7 loss to West Virginia, MSU won two games, including one at Alabama, and lost three games by only three points each. I'm sure the folks in Starkville are much more interested in actual victories than moral ones, but stopping the routs is at least progress.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-28-2007 @ 8:06PM
Gamecock Man said...
I still contend that Croom isn't all that bad. This team actually looked pretty tough late in the year, and although they only finished with three wins, a few lucky turns in some of the close games would've netted them a possible bowl berth. The late season improvement is probably a testament to Croom's coaching ability. The problem is that it's tough for this school to recruit competively with the SEC power schools (unless they cheat, as in the late 90s).
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6-28-2007 @ 8:48PM
Gamecock Man said...
I still contend that Croom isn't all that bad. This team actually looked pretty tough late in the year, and although they only finished with three wins, a few lucky turns in some of the close games would've netted them a possible bowl berth. The late season improvement is probably a testament to Croom's coaching ability. The problem is that it's tough for this school to recruit competively with the SEC power schools (unless they cheat, as in the late 90s).
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6-28-2007 @ 8:48PM
Gamecock Man said...
I still contend that Croom isn't all that bad. This team actually looked pretty tough late in the year, and although they only finished with three wins, a few lucky turns in some of the close games would've netted them a possible bowl berth. The late season improvement is probably a testament to Croom's coaching ability. The problem is that it's tough for this school to recruit competively with the SEC power schools (unless they cheat, as in the late 90s).
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6-29-2007 @ 3:02AM
college football expert pick said...
Sylvester Croom isn't bad, he coaches in the toughest conference in america, and has to recruit against Spurrier, Saban, & Meyer. Tough for anyone to win those recruiting wars let alone a down Miss St program. Odds are Bulldog football will be in for another long season.
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6-29-2007 @ 5:16PM
Hail Dear 'Ole State said...
It's funny how the only people who think Croom is a good coach are non-MSU fans. State fans who actually follow the team have come to a vastly different conclusion: Croom is a good man, a good coach from December to July, but gawd-awful gameday coach. See the Tulane game, any LSU game, the past two UK losses, the last UGa game, the USC game, UAB, Houston, etc., etc. Croom has never out-coached a good SEC coach. His biggest SEC wins are over Zook, Shula, and Orgeron - dumb, dumber and dumbest.
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7-01-2007 @ 11:39PM
Gamecock Man said...
It's difficult to out-coach a good SEC coach when the opposing team has vastly superior talent. Let's face it: with the talent level present in Starkville right now, State would have trouble winning the Sun Belt, and that won't do it in the SEC. Being a great on-field coach is terrific, but it will only take you so far when the opposing players are bigger, faster, and smarter.
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7-03-2007 @ 4:13PM
reallyboredUGAfan said...
you got your wish on the hobnail boot
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7-03-2007 @ 4:14PM
Andy Katzer said...
Yeah, ReallyBored, I saw it. Good work... I suppose.
The ass-kicking part was a joke, but if you're going to be in Knoxville for the UGA/UT game, I'll make good on the beer.
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7-06-2007 @ 3:20PM
gw8430 said...
Of course all the other SEC school fans like Croom. With Croom at the helm, they are assured a win when they play State. Croom sucks and should be run off after another 3 win season this year.
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7-06-2007 @ 11:59AM
MStateFTW said...
Talent is not the issue here. A decent coach could would have had key wins last year. Tulane, UGA, and Kentucky should have been W's. For that matter, the Eggbowl should have been a W (any half-assed kicker would have made one of those filed goals).
Florida, UTenn, Auburn, LSU, etc all outweigh MSU in talent.. but a good coach can win with average talent.
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