Shane's Drivel

MSU garners support for 1941 football national championship December 10, 2009

The Bleacher Report reports that while Alabama claims a national championship for 1941, reality is they were ranked 20th in the nation that year with 14 teams having a better record than them. Furthermore, Mississippi State won the SEC title that year.

Mississippi State had a better record than Alabama, having beaten Alabama that year. Unfortunately, Japan can add college football to the long list of things they screwed up in 1941. Mississippi State played its last regular season game in California that year. Afterwards, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the bulldogs were stuck on the road for a while.

Travel issues kept MSU from attending the Sugar Bowl, so Alabama was sent as a replacement. Bama won the Sugar Bowl and went on living with delusions of grandeur.

Get your 1941 Mississippi State National Championship t-shirt here.

MSU ranks #1 September 30, 2009

The NCAA says MSU has the toughest football schedule in the nation.

MSU football rumor August 28, 2009

Rumor is Mississippi State is about to announce future football games against gone but not forgotten in-state rival, Southern Mississippi. MSU and USM used to play every year. The rivalry ended many years ago when USM with its shrinking fan base insisted on 50% of ticket revenue.

These days, non-conference games have become difficult to schedule. Even small schools are commanding big money to come and play against SEC teams.

In recent years, MSU paid Jacksonville State several hundred thousand dollars to play in Starkville. Prior to the season, Jacksonville State canceled due to a higher bid from elsewhere.

Non-conference opponents that don’t require a huge pay-day usually require extensive travel to the likes of West Virginia or Oregon.

If MSU schedules USM, it is my opinion that finances were the motivating factor. MSU can offer USM guaranteed ESPN coverage. In return, USM probably agrees to more favorable financial terms and MSU’s stressed travel budget gets a break as well.

Not rumor is that MSU AD Greg Byrne has announced that a new football scheduling agreement has been made and an announcement is going to be made soon.

Just how bad was Croom-ball? August 11, 2009

Here are your Mississippi State career punting leaders (year, average per punt, attempts, yards punted).

1. Blake McAdams 2005-08 39.32 293 11,562
2. Dana Moore 1979-82 40.83 217 8860
3. Mike Riley 1987-91 40.24 213 8572
4. Dick McGraw 1965-67 39.08 214 8363
5. Jared Cook 2001-04 41.98 198 8313

Croom’s 4-year punter, Blake McAdams, has 30% more punting yards than the 2nd place guy. And McAdams wasn’t even a good punter.

Croom’s RB, Anthony Dixon, leads the school career rushing attempts. And he did it in only 3 years. Dixon has a barely decent 4.0 career yards per carry average. What that really means is that Croom ran Dixon over and over and over again for short yardage, then punted. Often.

On the bright side, I suspect Dixon might have a breakout year in Dan Mullen’s spread offense. In the spread, 8 and 9-man fronts may be a thing of the past.