Larry Templeton Gets an Assist for the 2014 Season

Oct 4, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs cheerleaders bring their team onto the field prior to the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs defeated the Aggies 48-31. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Larry Templeton served as Mississippi State’s athletic director from 1988-2008. For 20 years he was known for subtle progress and keeping MSU in the black. Many have argued that he was a good A.D., many have argued he was a poor A.D. That doesn’t really matter right now, I’m just here to say he should get an assist for the success of the 2014 football season.

As you may know, his current position is Mike Slive’s “scheduling guru”. He sifts through logistics and spreadsheets to figure out the best schedules for each team in the SEC. I don’t know if he purposely tried to make MSU’s 2014 schedule as beneficial as possible, but he did.

When the 2014 schedule was released in August of last year, we knew it set up well.  I don’t know if it could have been any better.

Finally, State had three non-conference games to start the year, and no kickoff classic game like Oklahoma State in 2013. Three games against sub-par competition…essentially creating a “preseason”.

All that led up to #8 LSU. While I wasn’t a huge fan of playing South Alabama on the road, it was probably a good thing for MSU to get a feel for the road in ‘the biggest game ever’ for USA. LSU is a super young team so catching them early was great. I still think they’ll bounce back and go 8-4 this year (people talk like they are dead but they are 5-2)….so having that game early certainly helped a bit.

After beating LSU for the first time in 15 years, and the first time in Baton Rouge since 1991, we needed a full week to recover from the celebration! The first bye week was perfectly placed. The unforeseen suspension of Dillon Day allowed Ben Beckwith an extra week of practice at Center and the team an extra week to prepare for #6 Texas A&M.

The Bulldogs whipped the Aggies and ascended to #3 in the country, setting up a showdown with #2 Auburn. After College Gameday, CBS and the biggest spectacle Starkville has ever seen (plus a win), it is nice to kick our feet back and enjoy that #1 ranking during another bye week. While we aren’t too banged up, Jameon Lewis and Devon Bell could use the extra week to recover as well. This is just a good time to have a bye and reset the season at the mid-way point.

Up next is Kentucky on the road. While the Wildcats are much improved, MSU has two full weeks to prepare. Then it’s Arkansas at home. I would not want to play the Razorbacks on the road this year – they are always good at home, proving that last week by nearly knocking off Alabama. Hopefully State can win those two and then UT-Martin comes in for Homecoming….a perfectly placed game right before a road trip to Tuscaloosa.

Alabama seems to be down a little bit, but they are no joke – especially at home. After that Vanderbilt comes in for Senior day. The Commodores look awful this year, clearly the worst team in the SEC. Moving Arkansas out of this spot on our schedule is a huge blessing, maybe the biggest from LT. This should allow State to win without fear of a letdown from Bama or look-ahead to Ole Miss. That has plagued the Arkansas game for years.

Then comes Ole Miss in the final game as always. It’s too bad the game isn’t in Starkville but with this schedule you can’t catch all the breaks.