How Have the Diamond Dawgs Fallen So Far in Two Seasons?

The John Cohen era at Mississippi State has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. After rebuilding mode the first two seasons it was a surprise trip to a Super Regional in 2011. Then a solid year in 2012 with a SEC Tournament Championship, then a trip to the College World Series. Things seemed to be getting better and better but they’ve fallen off the last two years with a Regional loss to Louisiana Lafayette in 2014 and a last place SEC finish in 2015.

Perhaps that trip to the national championship just two years ago saved any talk of Cohen being fired. Or perhaps even more so, the back-to-back-to-back top 10 recruiting classes he’s put together. Those have given college baseball experts reason to believe the Diamond Dawgs will be back in 2016.

The last couple of years have featured a lot of disappointment. There have been players who were once really good having bad years. Players who were expected to be big contributors ended up struggling and a whole host of issues that contributed to mediocre play.

This year MSU hopes to continue the roller coaster ride because when you do that, coming off a valley means a peak is nearby.

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Could the Bulldogs pull off a feat similar to what Auburn football did from 2010-13?

Think about their up and down seasons during that time….

• 2010: national championship
• 2011: 8-5 (4th in West, 6th in SEC)
• 2012: 3-9 (7th in West, last in SEC)
• 2013: national championship runner-up

Now what MSU baseball has done….

• 2013: national championship runner-up
• 2014: 2-seed in Regional (3rd in West, T-4th in SEC)
• 2015: 24-30 (7th in West, last in SEC)

The difference, of course, is that Auburn won a national championship in year one of the roller coaster, and was national runner-up in the final year. MSU was national runner-up in the first year, so maybe they’ll end it with a national title in Omaha this spring.

Lofty goals? No doubt. And by no means am I expecting to even come close. But the point is, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that Mississippi State could come back incredibly strong, leaving no trace of that horrible 2015 season.