Just what the hell happened to Mississippi State? I recall in 2000, when they came to Tiger Stadium with one of the best running games and one of the best defenses in the country. If I am not mistaken, they were in the top 25 then. That was the 2nd overtime game of the year at home for us and it seems like that was when MSU started tumbling into the abyss they now find themselves in. Can anyone tell me how they went from being a good team to a SEC West Vandy in 3 years?
MSU Problems I think that after that year, they lost a lot of talent. They then tried going extra heavy on the JUCO route - and they had a lot of problems on the team when the players didn't come together. I seem to recall that at that point the school directed Jackie to go more with the "normal" HS recruiting angle. But MSU doesn't have a lot to offer recruits - facilities, atmosphere, etc. so they're pretty much in a catch-22. At least that's my opinion....Maybe someone else knows more.
They had great talent on their defense, and their offensive line was talented as well. Madkin's sophomore year was their zenith, when they went to the SECCG... His junior year, they lost Smoot on defense, but they returned Pig Prather, who was decent. They also had Mario Haggan, and Tommy Kelly was a good talent as well. What they lost was on the offensive line. They had no big bruisers up front. Porkchop Womack suffered a stress fracture in his leg, and was limited in his action versus LSU. You could see him flag blocking in the 4th quarter. His senior year, as it was opined before, Madkin and his teammates suffered from a drop off in talent and cohesion. The constant JUCO recruiting caught up with them. Too many Torran Williams (ie-JUCO All-Americans who turned out to be End Guard Tackles-Sit on the End of the Bench, Guard the Water Bottles, and Tackle anyone who comes near them) type recruits ended all hope they had on offense. They also suffered because their running back was a hoss the year before read his clippings, and started eating like one. He reported to MSU fat as a cow, and never got back into shape. He was also suspended. He comes back-last year-and just never really got it going... They have no facilities, no educational value in their degrees, and about the only thing they have are excellent basketball and baseball teams...Sherrill took them as far as they can go, which is to contend in the SECW, but that's about all they can hope for. New blood needs to come in as head coach, and start fighting, before they lose all semblance of their recent fleeting success.
Tiger ed That was avery succint explanation. Good for you. How in the world do you keep up with other teams this much to be able to know this stuff?
