Stop Being A Fair Weather Mississippi State Fan
Nov 14, 2015; Starkville, MS, USA; Fans fill Davis Wade Stadium before the game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
Mississippi State lost their game to Alabama on Saturday. Not only did they lose the game, they looked pretty bad in the process. It was a discouraging loss to say the least.
But just because it didn’t go the way Mississippi State fans wanted, it doesn’t mean we are now guaranteed losses to Arkansas and Ole Miss. But unfortunately, that is the way a lot of Bulldog fans now feel.
On the most recent episode of the Bully Bark Line, I discussed this at length. It is entirely possible Mississippi State goes into Fayetteville and loses to the Razorbacks, and the Rebels come to Starkville and keep the Egg Bowl Trophy. Both teams are good, quality teams, and victory is far from being a guarantee.
But even though the Razorbacks are playing as well as any team in the SEC right now outside of Alabama, they still have holes and weaknesses just like every other team. When Vegas released the betting odds for this weekend’s game, they opened the line at -3.5 for the Bulldogs. What does that mean?
It means Vegas basically sees this as a pretty even matchup. The home team usually gets a 3 point swing in their favor for having the home field advantage. If this game were played on a neutral field, the Bulldogs would only be an underdog by half a point, and they would be a 2.5 point favorite if it were played in Starkville.
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And then there is the Ole Miss game. Ole Miss has a highly talented team, but there hasn’t been anything done by the Rebels this season to suggest they are a lock to end the enormous home filed advantage the home team receives in the Egg Bowl. Since 1999, the road team has only won two times in this series. The Rebels are good, but they haven’t played so far above the heads of Mississippi State for me to think the Bulldogs don’t have a prayer in that game.
Arkansas is good. But as good as they are, they are not anywhere close to the level that Alabama is. Ole Miss is good. But as good as they are, they are not anywhere close to the level that Alabama is. Bama is just a more highly talented team than Mississippi State that can make us look really bad. That is just the truth of the matter.
Let’s also not forget, both the Rebels and Razorbacks have really bad out of conference losses. Ole Miss went to Memphis and got beat. Memphis didn’t win by some fluke, they lined up and beat Ole Miss. The Razorbacks still have a loss to Toledo on their schedule. A team that is now putting up points at astounding rates barely hit double digits against Toledo at home.
Now, both Memphis and Toledo are better than most people thought they would be before this season started, but there still is not an excuse for any SEC team to lose to a team from the AAC or the MAC. Those are games Arkansas and Ole Miss should have won. While both teams might have improved since those losses, it is still the same team that played poorly enough to lose games they never should have lost.
Some of this is fueled by Dan Mullen’s struggles in November. When things look bleak, we often remember just how much of a struggle it is for the team to win when it gets to this time of the year. But this team has come too far in the last seven years for the fans to start going back to the same loser mentality once things don’t go the way we want them to.
Next: Newest Bully Bark Line featuring an Interview with Chad Neipling
Thankfully, this doesn’t apply to all of you. There are some of you who believe this team still has some fight left in it. I diod this little poll on Twitter earlier today, and some of you think we can still win.
Will Mississippi State win another football game in 2015?
— Justin M. Strawn (@JustinMStrawn) November 17, 2015
Mississippi State has two very difficult games left on the schedule. Maybe the Bulldogs lose both of them. That could happen. But I am not going back to the place where we just assume it is a forgone conclusion.