Imagine if you will, Larry Templeton is still MSU's athletics director in 2026....

[vhdawg]

....God forbid, I know, but I wondered what would a Larry Templeton 2026 schedule look like this season, with the exact same opponents and the exact same home/away designations. The only external consideration I took was keeping both Texas and Oklahoma off the Red River date. Check this out and tell me it doesn't belong on a poster in Impact font with Jackie Sherrill's picture on it.

09/05/2026 Louisiana–Monroe*
09/12/2026 at Minnesota*
09/19/2026 Auburn
09/26/2026 at LSU
10/03/2026 at South Carolina
10/10/2026 Vanderbilt
10/17/2026 Tennessee Tech [HC]*
10/24/2026 Oklahoma
10/31/2026
11/07/2026 at Texas
11/14/2026 Alabama
11/21/2026 Missouri
11/28/2026 at Ole Miss

Strangely, I think I like it better. It feels spiritually more normal. Even has Mizzou in the traditional Arkansas Trap Game slot.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

We would have sold at least one of the home games probably Oklahoma to play it in a neutral site like Dallas or even Norman

Raffo would be our baseball coach after taking over when Polk retired again in 2016. The New Dude would not exist.
He would have run off Stansbury about the same time Stricklin did and then hired Butch Pierre followed by Derrick Zimmerman a couple of years ago
Mullen would have never been hired. Larry would have given Croom until at least 2011-2012. He would have made 3-4 perfectly ****** coaching hires in the last 13-14 years like Chad Morris level ****** hires
Womens basketball would have never hired Vic & had their solid run.
MSU might be in the damned Sunbelt now

 

[Walkthedawg]

Just when you think things couldn't be much worse... someone finds a way to make us say "Yes. Absolutely that would have been worse. I retract my previous statement." And it's even with someone who was already employed for years in the position that could be worse.

 

[PBRME]

 

[40 acres and a mule]

Croom would still be football coach.

 

[thatsbaseball]

 

[BulldogBlitz]

 

[TheBannerM]

I can't imagine how bad we would be in the current environment of college football (NIL, rev share, etc) with Templeton as AD. It would make 2025 Oklahoma State look like 2026 LSU.

 

[L4Dawg]

How long has he been gone now? Jeez.

 

[Maroon13]

Agreed. I like bama in November and a meaningful home game before a road egg bowl.

Even with a sec opponent there will be less than 30k state fans at that point in November with deer season starting. But... better than the 10k that show for the cupcake games.

Leach's last home game, v TSU, may have been the smallest crowd I've ever seen since stadium expansion. The percentage of seats filled had to be the lowest in my lifetime.

 

[Maroon13]

But in the spirit of LT, If I was an AD, I'd try to sell that Oklahoma game to Jerry Jones to make a few million.

No sarcastericks.

 

[Maroon13]

Speaking of nostalgic schedule let me ask this hypothetical.....

should that TN Tech or any one game be moved to Jackson?

 

[GloryDawg]

If I was him, I would have gotten that booger out of my nose before filming Thunder and Lighting.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Speaking of nostalgic schedule let me ask this hypothetical.....

should that TN Tech or any one game be moved to Jackson?

There is no way an SEC team is playing a football game in Jackson in the year of our Lord 2026. The high school state championships aren’t even played in Jackson anymore.

 

[BrunswickDawg]

There is no way an SEC team is playing a football game in Jackson in the year of our Lord 2026. The high school state championships aren’t even played in Jackson anymore.

No normal SEC team would. But, we are talking about MSU.....

 

[vhdawg]

How long has he been gone now? Jeez.

Many years ago, this was after Byrne was AD and while LT was working for the SEC, I flew to Orlando, and while walking away from the gate toward baggage claim, I saw LT coming the opposite direction toward a gate, and I tell you I have never wanted to sucker punch someone so badly.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

No normal SEC team would. But, we are talking about MSU.....

We haven’t played in Jackson in almost 40 years now.

 

[DawgsOnTheWing]

....God forbid, I know, but I wondered what would a Larry Templeton 2026 schedule look like this season, with the exact same opponents and the exact same home/away designations. The only external consideration I took was keeping both Texas and Oklahoma off the Red River date. Check this out and tell me it doesn't belong on a poster in Impact font with Jackie Sherrill's picture on it.

09/05/2026 Louisiana–Monroe*
09/12/2026 at Minnesota*
09/19/2026 Auburn
09/26/2026 at LSU
10/03/2026 at South Carolina
10/10/2026 Vanderbilt
10/17/2026 Tennessee Tech [HC]*
10/24/2026 Oklahoma
10/31/2026
11/07/2026 at Texas
11/14/2026 Alabama
11/21/2026 Missouri
11/28/2026 at Ole Miss

Strangely, I think I like it better. It feels spiritually more normal. Even has Mizzou in the traditional Arkansas Trap Game slot.

 

[Maroon13]

Obviously to play in Jackson again, a lot would have to change. Starting with a renovation upgrade of that stadium.

With all that said, I'd like to know the net income on a game v Tn Tech in late November. These schools want to generate new revenue. I'm not sure State needs 7 home games if you can trade off one for a big pay day.

 

[vhdawg]

Obviously to play in Jackson again, a lot would have to change. Starting with a renovation upgrade of that stadium.

That's never going to happen....JSU would rather have a stadium on their campus, and they've accumulated enough land east of their main campus to do it, they just don't have the funding. And the bill that Haley Barbour (!!!) signed that gave the stadium to JSU specifies as soon as JSU has another facility, that entire property goes to UMMC, who has future plans for the area that don't involve a 60,000 seat football stadium.

This is a side topic, but I expect at some point it will become worth it for the state to fund an on-campus stadium for JSU in order to free up that land for UMMC.

 

[Bobby Ricigliano]

....God forbid, I know, but I wondered what would a Larry Templeton 2026 schedule look like this season, with the exact same opponents and the exact same home/away designations. The only external consideration I took was keeping both Texas and Oklahoma off the Red River date. Check this out and tell me it doesn't belong on a poster in Impact font with Jackie Sherrill's picture on it.

09/05/2026 Louisiana–Monroe*
09/12/2026 at Minnesota*
09/19/2026 Auburn
09/26/2026 at LSU
10/03/2026 at South Carolina
10/10/2026 Vanderbilt
10/17/2026 Tennessee Tech [HC]*
10/24/2026 Oklahoma
10/31/2026
11/07/2026 at Texas
11/14/2026 Alabama
11/21/2026 Missouri
11/28/2026 at Ole Miss

Strangely, I think I like it better. It feels spiritually more normal. Even has Mizzou in the traditional Arkansas Trap Game slot.

I won’t.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

....God forbid, I know, but I wondered what would a Larry Templeton 2026 schedule look like this season, with the exact same opponents and the exact same home/away designations. The only external consideration I took was keeping both Texas and Oklahoma off the Red River date. Check this out and tell me it doesn't belong on a poster in Impact font with Jackie Sherrill's picture on it.

09/05/2026 Louisiana–Monroe*
09/12/2026 at Minnesota*
09/19/2026 Auburn
09/26/2026 at LSU
10/03/2026 at South Carolina
10/10/2026 Vanderbilt
10/17/2026 Tennessee Tech [HC]*
10/24/2026 Oklahoma
10/31/2026
11/07/2026 at Texas
11/14/2026 Alabama
11/21/2026 Missouri
11/28/2026 at Ole Miss

Strangely, I think I like it better. It feels spiritually more normal. Even has Mizzou in the traditional Arkansas Trap Game slot.

I used to love looking at those schedule cards and analyzing them, home games always in caps. It always felt like there was some science behind it, and back when the conferences were semi-equal, almost felt like there was some ideal consistency to it. And yeah then you argue about how such and such schedules, this and that, inside those paramaters.

But I keep getting older, and realizing it's all about money. No idealism. And that's what makes me most cynical about MSU, is how hopeless it is. Not only are schedules and rivalries all jacked up, but we've done nothing but add harder teams to the SEC, and also another game PLUS the P4 OOC game. And it sucks because we had FINALLY figured out a realistic, consistent way to field football teams in the old system, then poof, NIL/portal and all this expansion make is harder than ever before.

But at least we still have the money. It feels weird to say that we may be in a better situation than many other schools out there simply due to that, regardless of winning.

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

6:00 games until October, then 1:30 kickoffs. No loud music or fun being had.

 

[vhdawg]

6:00 games until October, then 1:30 kickoffs. No loud music or fun being had.

Big Yellow Taxi played over the PA during a commercial break in the 3rd quarter at 3:30 PM while we're down three touchdowns

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

I left off my list earlier:

5 home football games because our fan base cannot afford season tickets when we have 6 or 7 home games

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

Big Yellow Taxi played over the PA during a commercial break in the 3rd quarter at 3:30 PM while we're down three touchdowns

Lest we forget, the 'Templeton Troughs'.

 

[vhdawg]

I left off my list earlier:

5 home football games because our fan base cannot afford season tickets when we have 6 or 7 home games

Well as you know LT grew up in the shadow of Scott Field where he grew up expecting there to be about three home games in Starkville most years, so he thought a) he was giving us more than we expected, but b) not more than we could handle. He was a giver.

 

[vhdawg]

Lest we forget, the 'Templeton Troughs'.

Those are gone, right? I haven't peed on the east side in over 25 years, I really have no idea.

 

[BreckyBratt]

 

[aTotal360]

....God forbid, I know, but I wondered what would a Larry Templeton 2026 schedule look like this season, with the exact same opponents and the exact same home/away designations. The only external consideration I took was keeping both Texas and Oklahoma off the Red River date. Check this out and tell me it doesn't belong on a poster in Impact font with Jackie Sherrill's picture on it.

09/05/2026 Louisiana–Monroe*
09/12/2026 at Minnesota*
09/19/2026 Auburn
09/26/2026 at LSU
10/03/2026 at South Carolina
10/10/2026 Vanderbilt
10/17/2026 Tennessee Tech [HC]*
10/24/2026 Oklahoma
10/31/2026
11/07/2026 at Texas
11/14/2026 Alabama
11/21/2026 Missouri
11/28/2026 at Ole Miss

Strangely, I think I like it better. It feels spiritually more normal. Even has Mizzou in the traditional Arkansas Trap Game slot.

We would lose the same number of games and not have LED lights.

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

Yes.

Those are gone, right? I haven't peed on the east side in over 25 years, I really have no idea.

Gone but not forgotten.

 

[L4Dawg]

MSU fans are like a vengeful ex. Enough already….its been A long time. I have personal reasons to dislike the guy…..it’s been a LONG time. Enough already. It won’t help a damn thing.

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Leach's last home game, v TSU, may have been the smallest crowd I've ever seen since stadium expansion. The percentage of seats filled had to be the lowest in my lifetime.

Sorry, fact check. Leach's last home game was against East Tennessee State on Nov 19, 2022. We won 56-7 and the attendance was 49,117.

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

How long has he been gone now? Jeez.

Since 2007