My Thoughts from the Stadium (Mississippi State 2021)

[abw0004 10,368]

Good morning all,

I am writing to you from Hilton Head Island this morning, so a lot of driving for me since Saturday.  For those unfamiliar of why I wait to post until Monday, I typically wait so the emotions can settle down a bit (good or bad) and pragmatic thinking can prevail.  This weekend was not different, and beneficial with everything that has occurred.  Here we go:

Atmosphere:  I was a little confused on what to expect this game from an atmosphere perspective.  It was an SEC game so I assumed we would be loud, but it was also a morning game.  Unfortunately our fans were never really in it as far as noice was concerned.  Even during the inspiration video, it was almost radio silent.  I can't remember the last time this happened.

Weather:  The weather was perfect though so no complaints there.  The high was 59 degrees and a slight breeze.  Leaves were falling all around you as you walked into the stadium and not a cloud in the sky.  You just needed to be sure to wear sunscreen.  Don't be dumb like me in 2019 when I didn't wear sunscreen because "You can't get sunburn when it is this cold."  My client meetings were fun the following week that week.

Spirit:  The Mississippi State game on Saturday was Spirit's last flight before retirement.  She has been flying since 2002 and flew at my first game as a child.  I would not have missed this game for the world.  I had a special moment when she flew from her kennel under the flagpole, she took a turn and flew right above me in section three.  That was special for me to say goodbye to her, considering that was not supposed to be her flightpath.  I will remember that moment for as along as I live.

Veterans's Day:  As you might have guessed, Saturday was our military appreciation day.  I always love these as it is a great way to honor our service members.  This game we had three A10's do a flyover.  As a first, we had four service members lead our team out of the tunnel.  I always feel so honored to have these men and women on the field.  Our cheering even brought one veteran to tears, which always pulls at your heartstrings.

Our players:  Our guys really seemed together during this game.  More so than any other time this year really.  The very first play our defense asked us to get loud, and that was fun to see.  What you may not have seen on TV was when our defense was on the field, Bo Nix would find TJ Finley and throw the ball back and forth.  This is vastly different from other games where really both players were on the opposite sides.

Officiating:  I really hate to say anything and be that guy who complains about the refereeing, but man, how can I leave that out?  I don't understand how someone can be that bad at their job.  Even Tim Tebow said, officiating cost us a lot this year.  Think about some of these games we lost.  If we did not have those targeting calls alone, where would we be?  I just do not understand a lot of these calls, yet it is perfectly fine to fake injuries.

Bo Nix:  Bo Nix may very well be one of the most under appreciated players we have had in a very long time.  Bo broke his leg, and proceeded to throw for 108 more yards.  That shows me how much he loves this game, and how much he loves his team.  It took guts, but at the same time he was not selfish.  He didn't hide or lie about his injury.  He did what he could to help his team, until he couldn't do it any longer and TJ took the reins.  Bo finished with 377 yards, throwing to nine different receivers and 66% accuracy.  Also, the play he broke his leg?  It was a 44 yard completion where Bo stood in the pocket to throw it.

Coaching Decisions:  I am curious to know if Harsin knew if Bo broke his leg and still had him go out on the field.  I sure hope that is not the case, but I watched Bo go into the medical tent twice, so something was obviously wrong.  I knew that from in the stands.  I am not sure what to think of Harsin if he knew Bo was that injured and still played him.  TJ is more than capable, as well as DD.

Special Teams:  Posters keep complaining about Mike Bobo and Derek Mason, but why aren't we talking about Bert Watts, our special teams coach?  Every phase of the special teams game all season has been a nightmare.  I can't remember a time when we had so many blocked kicks and kickoff penalties.  Bert's call even got Anders injured.  As quickly as Harsin fired our wide receivers coach, why hasn't he done the same to Bert?  It just baffles me.

I understand this season at times has been frustrating, but this is also our first season with Harsin.  Give him the benefit of the doubt to develop the team he wants.  I do hope the recruiting picks up, but I am happy with the development of our current players.  The season is not lost, and I am excited to see how our team responds against South Carolina.  As always, .

[Hank2020 3,408]

25 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

Good morning all,

I am writing to you from Hilton Head Island this morning, so a lot of driving for me since Saturday.  For those unfamiliar of why I wait to post until Monday, I typically wait so the emotions can settle down a bit (good or bad) and pragmatic thinking can prevail.  This weekend was not different, and beneficial with everything that has occurred.  Here we go:

Atmosphere:  I was a little confused on what to expect this game from an atmosphere perspective.  It was an SEC game so I assumed we would be loud, but it was also a morning game.  Unfortunately our fans were never really in it as far as noice was concerned.  Even during the inspiration video, it was almost radio silent.  I can't remember the last time this happened.

Weather:  The weather was perfect though so no complaints there.  The high was 59 degrees and a slight breeze.  Leaves were falling all around you as you walked into the stadium and not a cloud in the sky.  You just needed to be sure to wear sunscreen.  Don't be dumb like me in 2019 when I didn't wear sunscreen because "You can't get sunburn when it is this cold."  My client meetings were fun the following week that week.

Spirit:  The Mississippi State game on Saturday was Spirit's last flight before retirement.  She has been flying since 2002 and flew at my first game as a child.  I would not have missed this game for the world.  I had a special moment when she flew from her kennel under the flagpole, she took a turn and flew right above me in section three.  That was special for me to say goodbye to her, considering that was not supposed to be her flightpath.  I will remember that moment for as along as I live.

Veterans's Day:  As you might have guessed, Saturday was our military appreciation day.  I always love these as it is a great way to honor our service members.  This game we had three A10's do a flyover.  As a first, we had four service members lead our team out of the tunnel.  I always feel so honored to have these men and women on the field.  Our cheering even brought one veteran to tears, which always pulls at your heartstrings.

Our players:  Our guys really seemed together during this game.  More so than any other time this year really.  The very first play our defense asked us to get loud, and that was fun to see.  What you may not have seen on TV was when our defense was on the field, Bo Nix would find TJ Finley and throw the ball back and forth.  This is vastly different from other games where really both players were on the opposite sides.

Officiating:  I really hate to say anything and be that guy who complains about the refereeing, but man, how can I leave that out?  I don't understand how someone can be that bad at their job.  Even Tim Tebow said, officiating cost us a lot this year.  Think about some of these games we lost.  If we did not have those targeting calls alone, where would we be?  I just do not understand a lot of these calls, yet it is perfectly fine to fake injuries.

Bo Nix:  Bo Nix may very well be one of the most under appreciated players we have had in a very long time.  Bo broke his leg, and proceeded to throw for 108 more yards.  That shows me how much he loves this game, and how much he loves his team.  It took guts, but at the same time he was not selfish.  He didn't hide or lie about his injury.  He did what he could to help his team, until he couldn't do it any longer and TJ took the reins.  Bo finished with 377 yards, throwing to nine different receivers and 66% accuracy.  Also, the play he broke his leg?  It was a 44 yard completion where Bo stood in the pocket to throw it.

Coaching Decisions:  I am curious to know if Harsin knew if Bo broke his leg and still had him go out on the field.  I sure hope that is not the case, but I watched Bo go into the medical tent twice, so something was obviously wrong.  I knew that from in the stands.  I am not sure what to think of Harsin if he knew Bo was that injured and still played him.  TJ is more than capable, as well as DD.

Special Teams:  Posters keep complaining about Mike Bobo and Derek Mason, but why aren't we talking about Bert Watts, our special teams coach?  Every phase of the special teams game all season has been a nightmare.  I can't remember a time when we had so many blocked kicks and kickoff penalties.  Bert's call even got Anders injured.  As quickly as Harsin fired our wide receivers coach, why hasn't he done the same to Bert?  It just baffles me.

I understand this season at times has been frustrating, but this is also our first season with Harsin.  Give him the benefit of the doubt to develop the team he wants.  I do hope the recruiting picks up, but I am happy with the development of our current players.  The season is not lost, and I am excited to see how our team responds against South Carolina.  As always, .

Appreciate the post. Have a great trip.

[ToomersRevenge 284]

Everyone keeps bringing up Corn’s  firing without addressing that there may have been non-football related reasons for that if the rumors are at all accurate.

[aubiefifty 18,398]

Just now, ToomersRevenge said:

Everyone keeps bringing up Corn’s  firing without addressing that there may have been non-football related reasons for that if the rumors are at all accurate.

they disclosed what that was on the rant and past problems of the same nature and it supposedly was not football related. i have no idea if it is true being a rumor and i do not care to smear anyone.

[tigers23 687]

While I agree that the special teams coach needs to be gone immediately, the onside kick resulting in Carlsons injury is 100% on Harsin. After the inexplicable 2pt try, the onside kick became a necessity. 

[Hank2020 3,408]

5 hours ago, tigers23 said:

While I agree that the special teams coach needs to be gone immediately, the onside kick resulting in Carlsons injury is 100% on Harsin. After the inexplicable 2pt try, the onside kick became a necessity. 

I’ve seen that same mid-field on-side kick called and executed successfully many times. The injury not with standing it was not a bad call IMO.

[tigers23 687]

3 hours ago, Hank2020 said:

I’ve seen that same mid-field on-side kick called and executed successfully many times. The injury not with standing it was not a bad call IMO.

The onside wasn't,  the decision to go for 2 was

[Mikey 16,781]

11 hours ago, tigers23 said:

While I agree that the special teams coach needs to be gone immediately, the onside kick resulting in Carlsons injury is 100% on Harsin. After the inexplicable 2pt try, the onside kick became a necessity. 

I liked the two-point try then. You'd have to have it sooner or later. Trying it when we did, make it or miss it you know what will have to be done instead of trying it later when not making it could seal a loss.

[TigerPAC 1,034]

7 minutes ago, Mikey said:

I liked the two-point try then. You'd have to have it sooner or later. Trying it when we did, make it or miss it you know what will have to be done instead of trying it later when not making it could seal a loss.

With 3:30 left and moo-states O moving at Will the entire 2nd half, totally disagree.  Well, partly bc after that 2pt miss, you knew what was next...A big L.  Sorry but NO ONE will reason or convince me otherwise.  That was not smart football

[johnnyAU 3,745]

Our ST coach calling in plays on Sat.

[tigers23 687]

10 hours ago, Mikey said:

I liked the two-point try then. You'd have to have it sooner or later. Trying it when we did, make it or miss it you know what will have to be done instead of trying it later when not making it could seal a loss.

You always get it to a one possession game before going for 2. Thats coaching 101. And missing it when they did sealed the loss 

Edited November 16, 2021 by tigers23

[AUApostle 7,840]

Just now, tigers23 said:

You always get it to a one possession game before going for 2. Thats coaching 101

obviously not.

[Mikey 16,781]

10 hours ago, TigerPAC said:

With 3:30 left and moo-states O moving at Will the entire 2nd half, totally disagree.  Well, partly bc after that 2pt miss, you knew what was next...A big L.  Sorry but NO ONE will reason or convince me otherwise.  That was not smart football

 

3 minutes ago, tigers23 said:

You always get it to a one possession game before going for 2. Thats coaching 101. And missing it when they did sealed the loss 

Can y'all tell me why it would have been better to postpone the 2 point try until after we scored the next (hypothetical) TD?

At 43-35 (after the kick) it would have taken another TD to tie the score, plus a 2-point conversion. Better to try the 2-pointer when we did. That way you know what has to be done to win. Waiting to try the 2-pointer does nothing but delay the inevitable 2-point attempt, with the likelihood that there won't be time to react if the try after the next TD fails.

[tigers23 687]

7 minutes ago, Mikey said:

 

Can y'all tell me why it would have been better to postpone the 2 point try until after we scored the next (hypothetical) TD?

Because with 4 minutes left it is much more likely to get one scoring opportunity as opposed to 2 if you miss, which we did.

[3rdgeneration 6,675]

It would be interesting to know what percentage of our penalties this year have happened on special teams. Seems like we've been dinged for block in the back on returns in every game. They won't call holding on the lines, but they will call some ticky tacky block in the back. 🙄

[atl-tiger 655]

8 minutes ago, Mikey said:

 

Can y'all tell me why it would have been better to postpone the 2 point try until after we scored the next (hypothetical) TD?

At 43-35 (after the kick) it would have taken another TD to tie the score, plus a 2-point conversion. Better to try the 2-pointer when we did. That way you know what has to be done to win. Waiting to try the 2-pointer does nothing but delay the inevitable 2-point attempt, with the likelihood that there won't be time to react if the try after the next TD fails.

There was 3:37 left. Go for 2 and miss (like we did) you're now down 9 and relying on recovering 2 onside kicks and getting 2 scores.

Or you could have kicked xp and just needed a td and 2 point conversion to win and believe we had 2 timeouts. 

 

[gr82be 14,995]

Thanks @abw0004, for these threads. It was a disappointing loss, obviously due to the fact that it looked like a game that was in hand in the first half. As for Bo's injury, I don't believe Harsin would play him if he knew he was hurt as bad as he was. Bo is a warrior for sure. He's in the same book as Brandon Cox in that regard. Adrenaline and desire are a heck of a drug when mixed together and people can do some amazing things. The injury could have gotten worse as time went on. The 2 point conversion was just a total head scratcher for me. It's true that a conversion was needed at some point it to be only a 2 score game but you always take the easy points first. You have to give your team every opportunity to win and not converting at that point sealed their fate. Kicking the extra point gives them a chance down 8. Big difference from being down 9. Psychologically that's a big difference that late in the game. 

[Mcbowen327 63]

4 minutes ago, atl-tiger said:

There was 3:37 left. Go for 2 and miss (like we did) you're now down 9 and relying on recovering 2 onside kicks and getting 2 scores.

Or you could have kicked xp and just needed a td and 2 point conversion to win and believe we had 2 timeouts. 

 

If you kick the XP then get lucky and score again if you fail the two then it's game over. The way it was executed the staff left themselves time in the clock to come up with a game plan in case you fail the two. 

[gr82be 14,995]

17 minutes ago, Mikey said:

 

Can y'all tell me why it would have been better to postpone the 2 point try until after we scored the next (hypothetical) TD?

At 43-35 (after the kick) it would have taken another TD to tie the score, plus a 2-point conversion. Better to try the 2-pointer when we did. That way you know what has to be done to win. Waiting to try the 2-pointer does nothing but delay the inevitable 2-point attempt, with the likelihood that there won't be time to react if the try after the next TD fails.

Because at that point with that little time left in the game you play the odds. We had two opponents at that point, MSU and the clock. You have to beat them both in that scenario. Being down 7 or 8 is one score but being down 9 is two. The odds were better kicking, not perfect, just better. 

[Mikey 16,781]

4 minutes ago, tigers23 said:

Because with 4 minutes left it is much more likely to get one scoring opportunity as opposed to 2 if you miss, which we did.

That one more opportunity would have had to include a 2-point try anyway. The difference is that by trying it when we did, there is time to plan and react whether it's made or missed. Trying it with the clock running out leaves no time to react. We made the correct call.

2 minutes ago, atl-tiger said:

There was 3:37 left. Go for 2 and miss (like we did) you're now down 9 and relying on recovering 2 onside kicks and getting 2 scores.

Or you could have kicked xp and just needed a td and 2 point conversion to win and believe we had 2 timeouts. 

 

We still would have had to make a successful 2-point try. So, why not try it first while there's still time to react to the circumstances?

3 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Kicking the extra point gives them a chance down 8. Big difference from being down 9. Psychologically that's a big difference that late in the game. 

We'd need either a two-point conversion or a TD and field goal. I like the strategy of knowing what's needed with a little time to work with.

[Mikey 16,781]

1 minute ago, gr82be said:

Because at that point with that little time left in the game you play the odds. We had two opponents at that point, MSU and the clock. You have to beat them both in that scenario. Being down 7 or 8 is one score but being down 9 is two. The odds were better kicking, not perfect, just better. 

Why would there have been a better chance of being successful on a 2-point try later in the game? At a point when a miss equals an immediate loss.?

[gr82be 14,995]

1 minute ago, Mikey said:

Why would there have been a better chance of being successful on a 2-point try later in the game? At a point when a miss equals an immediate loss.?

Sorry you don't understand the math Mikey but the odds of making the two point conversion were the same. 

The odds of the game being a one score game after that TD were better with the XP than the 2PC. It's a simple concept. 

[atl-tiger 655]

5 minutes ago, Mcbowen327 said:

If you kick the XP then get lucky and score again if you fail the two then it's game over. The way it was executed the staff left themselves time in the clock to come up with a game plan in case you fail the two. 

So the gameplan is recover 2 onside kicks and have a backup qb make 2 scoring drives in 4 mins when we had 1 score the whole 2nd half? Or have our D make 2 stops, who gave up 40 unanswered, then still need 2 scores?

I'd much rather rely on a stop, scoring drive  and a 2 pt conversion. 

[TigerPAC 1,034]

This would be different if it were 6-7 minutes left but was only 330 left, as has been pointed out. TIME was against us

[tigers23 687]

7 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Sorry you don't understand the math Mikey but the odds of making the two point conversion were the same. 

The odds of the game being a one score game after that TD were better with the XP than the 2PC. It's a simple concept. 

Baffles me how this is so difficult to understand