Stolen from Reddit: You can change any loss in MSU's history to a win, but...

[vhdawg]

...but you have to change a win from the same season to a loss. Which games do you choose?

My easy answer is trade last year's Arkansas win for an Egg Bowl win beating Lane on his way out the door. The hilarity would be on its ninth month now.

 

[lazlow]

Maine/UF comes to mind, but that's LT's badge of honor to bare for eternity.

 

[dawgstudent]

Great topic.

I was trying to think if in 97, 99, or 2000 would trading an out of conference loss put us in the SEC Championship game if we beat Arkansas any of those years. Because going into the final 2 weeks - State controlled it's destiny. We lost to Ole Miss in 97 and 00 so that only leaves 99 which we really lost control of our destiny vs Alabama.

So with all of that - give me 2015 vs Ole Miss. Wanted Dak to beat them.

 

[vhdawg]

Great topic.

I was trying to think if in 97, 99, or 2000 would trading an out of conference loss put us in the SEC Championship game if we beat Arkansas any of those years. Because going into the final 2 weeks - State controlled it's destiny. We lost to Ole Miss in 97 and 00 so that only leaves 99 which we really lost control of our destiny vs Alabama.

1999 beating Arkansas would have gotten us an SEC West Champions banner like the one in Oxford.

 

[dawgstudent]

1999 beating Arkansas would have gotten us an SEC West Champions banner like the one in Oxford.

Like I said - can't include 99 either.

I almost chose beating Bama in 2014 b/c that would have let us win the West while losing to UAB or South Alabama. But I don't know if I would want to trade the 5 weeks of being #1. So in the spirit of @mstateglfr - #MidTopicSwitch

Would you rather have won the west in 2014 with a 10-2 (7-1) record with a loss in the SECCG or 5 weeks at #1 like it played out? Your two losses would have been UAB or South Alabama AND Ole Miss.

 

[8dog]

1999- beat Alabama, lose to Mtsu.

 

[dawgstudent]

1999- beat Alabama, lose to Mtsu.

Well damnit - I missed that. So 10-2 (7-1) with the loss to Arkansas.

 

[HailStout]

2014 bama game. Win that one and we clinch the west by beating Vandy. We would have won the SEC that year and likely played for the natty. I suspect the ole miss game would have been different if we had come in undefeated.

ETA: I suck at reading rules. I revoke my choice because any loss I pick F’s up the season.

 

[vhdawg]

2014 bama game. Win that one and we clinch the west by beating Vandy. We would have won the SEC that year and likely played for the natty. I suspect the ole miss game would have been different if we had come in undefeated.

ETA: I suck at reading rules. I revoke my choice because any loss I pick F’s up the season.

yep, you break that undefeated streak at any point and 2014 is a wash.

 

[maroonmania]

Well heck, just change the 1998 Memphis football game to a loss (which didn't count in the SEC standings) and change the 1998 SEC championship game against TN to a win. We are now 1998 SEC champs in football!

 

[dawgstudent]

Well heck, just change the 1998 Memphis game to a loss (which didn't count in the SEC standings) and change the 1998 SEC championship game against TN to a win. We are now 1998 SEC champs!

Another good one.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

1999- beat Alabama, lose to Mtsu.

1999 beat Alabama and lose to either Memphis State or Oklahoma State. I would much rather lose to one of them than MTSU.

 

[MaroonState]

Yeah winning the 1998 SEC Championship game and switch with any other win that season that lets us still play in the championship game.

 

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

I would trade a 1999 win vs Bama for a loss against Oklahoma State.

Non conference loss against OSU would not have hurt us in the SEC, and we win the west for a second year in a row with a win at Alabama.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

Easy.

1st place. Lose to Memphis on Sept 12 1998 then beat Tennessee in the SEC Championship game.

2nd place. Lose to Memphis on Sept 6 1980 and beat Florida in Gainesville on Sept 27 to go undefeated in the SEC.

 

[Xenomorph]

2025
Lose to N. IL
Win the EB

 

[OG Goat Holder]

1999 beat Alabama and lose to either Memphis State or Oklahoma State. I would much rather lose to one of them than MTSU.

I almost said this, but I think I'm gonna go with 2014 swapping Bama and Kentucky. That puts us at 6-2 and we still go to Atlanta over Bama, who would have also been 6-2 in conference had we beaten them. Yeah, we wouldn't have gotten to say we had won a game at #1, but so what, it was on the road, perfect let down spot, people would have gotten over it. We still got to be the first #1, still got our 3 hot weeks and Gameday, and honestly Dak might win the Heisman with the Bama win. AND, I think we would have had a better shot to beat 2014 Missouri than 1999 Florida.

I will say we might have gotten left out of the playoff, with FSU, Oregon, Ohio State and TCU/Baylor all there with 1 loss. But we'd have gotten left out of the title game in 1999 too. But we'd have gotten that SEC title which at the time, meant a lot more. BUT there again......Ole Miss could also claim they kept us out of the playoff but 17 that.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

I almost said this, but I think I'm gonna go with 2014 swapping Bama and Kentucky. That puts us at 6-2 and we still go to Atlanta over Bama, who would have also been 6-2 in conference had we beaten them. Yeah, we wouldn't have gotten to say we had won a game at #1, but so what, it was on the road, perfect let down spot, people would have gotten over it. We still got to be the first #1, still got our 3 hot weeks and Gameday, and honestly Dak might win the Heisman with the Bama win. AND, I think we would have had a better shot to beat 2014 Missouri than 1999 Florida.

I will say we might have gotten left out of the playoff, with FSU, Oregon, Ohio State and TCU/Baylor all there with 1 loss. But we'd have gotten left out of the title game in 1999 too. But we'd have gotten that SEC title which at the time, meant a lot more. BUT there again......Ole Miss could also claim they kept us out of the playoff but 17 that.

How about 1998 - lose to Memphis & beat Tennessee in the SECCG? Roy Kramer was not gonna let that crap happen ever!

 

[Mjoelner]

No brainer. I'll trade UAB for Bama in 2014. We win the SEC West. We would have boat-raced Missouri in the SEC Championship Game and possibly ended up in the playoffs.

 

[DT4248]

Top 5:

1. 1998 - Memphis for Tennessee. Doesn't affect SECCG qualification, and gives us the SEC Championship. Easy answer
2. 2017 - UMass for OM - Makes Florida not hire Mullen and in this timeline Fitz doesn't get ankle twisted. 2018 becomes an 11-1 year for Mullen in my fantasyland which pushes this to #2 for me.
3. 2014 - UT-Martin for Alabama. Would make for the most Mississippi State way to blow a #1 ranking and then still win SEC West.
4. 1999 - Clemson (Bowl Game) for Alabama. We win the West with a 10-1 regular season and only a 5 point loss @ Arkansas.
5. 1980 - Miami for Florida. 6-0 share of SEC Title.

Honorable Mention: 2025 - NIU for OM - pure spite

Honorable mention #2: 2016 - Samford for Alabama. Because it'd be a ******* hilarious 5-7 year going 4-4 in conference

 

[3-2 Dawg]

Would take any of the other scenarios that gets State to the SEC champ game but one that keeps coming to mind is if we had beat Bama in 2017 when we had them on the ropes I would gladly take a loss in the bowl game after Mullen left town. I really wanted that one.

 

[DT4248]

Like I said - can't include 99 either.

I almost chose beating Bama in 2014 b/c that would have let us win the West while losing to UAB or South Alabama. But I don't know if I would want to trade the 5 weeks of being #1. So in the spirit of @mstateglfr - #MidTopicSwitch

Would you rather have won the west in 2014 with a 10-2 (7-1) record with a loss in the SECCG or 5 weeks at #1 like it played out? Your two losses would have been UAB or South Alabama AND Ole Miss.

Answered this in my top 5. But I'm taking the best of both worlds and losing to UT Martin. I get to keep my trivia "who was the first #1 ever in the CFP" question, we lose it in the dumbest way possible, we get the Alabama monkey of Dan's back, we win the West. Honestly this should have happened this way instead.

 

[Fktdawg]

1999- beat Alabama, lose to Mtsu.

This is mine.

We are in the SEC championship game for back to back seasons. And who knows maybe we win that.

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

Take the guaranteed SEC title in 1998. What’s one more non conference loss in that season?

 

[OG Goat Holder]

No brainer. I'll trade UAB for Bama in 2014. We win the SEC West. We would have boat-raced Missouri in the SEC Championship Game and possibly ended up in the playoffs.

We ain't making no playoffs with a loss to UAB and then ending the season losing to Ole Miss. Not to mention the LSU/Auburn/Texas A&M run isn't nearly as good as it was.

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

1980 win vs Florida, loss to Illinois. Both State and UGA undefeated in SEC. Wonder who goes to Sugar?

 

[Beretta.sixpack]

1. 1998 Swaparoo to win the SEC Title against Tennessee

2. Any game to win the 97 Egg Bowl. I Still have PTSD from that game.

 

[gtowndawg]

2014 bama game. Win that one and we clinch the west by beating Vandy. We would have won the SEC that year and likely played for the natty. I suspect the ole miss game would have been different if we had come in undefeated.

ETA: I suck at reading rules. I revoke my choice because any loss I pick F’s up the season.

Yep, this was the first game that came to mind.

 

[Puppers]

How about swapping ASU last year for the egg bowl?

 

[patdog]

1980. Beat Florida, lose to Miami. SEC co-champions with Georgia at 6-0. Or if Florida had tackled Lindsey 17ing Scott we’re co-Chsmpions with Georgia & Alabama at 5-1.

 

[maroonmania]

1980. Beat Florida, lose to Miami. SEC co-champions with Georgia at 6-0. Or if Florida had tackled Lindsey 17ing Scott we’re co-Chsmpions with Georgia & Alabama at 5-1.

Yep, and we would have been in the Sugar Bowl because at the time I'm pretty sure the rule was the team that had not been in the Sugar Bowl the longest got to go when there was a tie since there was no head-to-head game between MSU and Georgia that year.

 

[RBcoach]

I would say 98. Beat Tennesee in the SEC Championship. Lose to Memphis.

 

[MagnoliaHunter]

You didn't specify football, so I'm going to go with changing the Ladies' loss in the national championship game to a win and changing any regular season win other than um to a loss.

ETA: added other than um because

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

1980 win vs Florida, loss to Illinois. Both State and UGA undefeated in SEC. Wonder who goes to Sugar?

Based on the Sugar Bowl/SEC contract at the time, the Sugar would have been forced to take MSU. The tiebreaker rule for the Sugar Bowl bid was that it went to the school in the tie that had longer since their last Sugar Bowl appearance. The contract was modified the next year to award the Sugar Bowl bid in the event of a tie to the school with the highest AP ranking.

 

[curseddawgs]

2021 La Tech (should’ve lost anyway) for 21 egg bowl

 

[thekimmer]

Good question. I think I'd trade the loss against Florida in 1980 with the win against Illinois. We would have finished 6-0 and shared the SEC Championship with UGA. We would have also gone to the Sugar Bowl based on the rules in place at the time.

It still smarts that the same thing would have happened that year anyway if not for the infamous 'run lindsay run' miracle by UGA against.....Florida.

 

[thekimmer]

...but you have to change a win from the same season to a loss. Which games do you choose?

My easy answer is trade last year's Arkansas win for an Egg Bowl win beating Lane on his way out the door. The hilarity would be on its ninth month now.

Good topic but that game wouldn't even be in my top 20.

 

[thekimmer]

Well heck, just change the 1998 Memphis football game to a loss (which didn't count in the SEC standings) and change the 1998 SEC championship game against TN to a win. We are now 1998 SEC champs in football!

Good point. I said Fla for illinois in 1980 for the same reason but UT in 1998 would have given us a more contemporary SEC title after expansion.

 

[ll Martain ll]

Either 2017 or 2018, I'm trading any of the regular season sec games to a loss, and the women winning a basketball national championship.

I would also trade the 1996 overtime win vs. Auburn for us to beat Syracuse and have a shot at the national title.

Honorable mention would be trading with Xavier in 03/04. Xavier wins the non-con game in December, MSU wins in the Round of 32 because that team could have gone far.

 

[POTUS]

2014 bama game. Win that one and we clinch the west by beating Vandy. We would have won the SEC that year and likely played for the natty. I suspect the ole miss game would have been different if we had come in undefeated.

ETA: I suck at reading rules. I revoke my choice because any loss I pick F’s up the season.

Win Bama, Lose a non-con. Win the West. Play in SECCG.