2016 Penn State & 2018 Mississippi State

[CookieMonster.sixpack]

I've seen some posters on here reference Joe Mo's first season with Penn State and specifically the blowout loss to Michigan in 2016. Yes Penn State went on to win the Big 10 after two demoralizing defeats (at Pitt in OT & at Michigan) early in the year BUT:

Here's the remainder of their schedule until the conference championship:

vs. 9-4 Minnesota in OT
vs. 6-7 Maryland
vs. 11-2 #6 Ohio State
@ 3-9 Purdue
vs. 8-5 Iowa
@ 6-7 Indiana
@ 2-10 Rutgers
vs. 3-9 Michigan State

One ranked team. A bunch of teams I'd expect most SEC West teams to beat. Now go look at our remaining schedule. Let's pump the brakes on that comparison.

 

[philduckworth]

if we lose to UF, we are most likely going to finish 6-6 assuming we can win at Ole Miss.

If we can beat UF and do it in a dominating fashion like 14+ points, then 9-3 is still in play.

 

[jack daniels dog]

Why don’t we pump the breaks on all these comparisons, and beratings, and calling for his head, and see if maybe just maybe he can learn from this and adjust. It’s iust one game (and hell yes it was atrocious) but let’s see what we have going forward.

 

[msstate7]

The comparison to penn st is ridiculous in my mind bc well, joe Moorhead wasn't their HC

 

[stateu1]

17. The point is the UK game did not destroy the season yet. Nobody's comparing anybody to anybody. Losing the 4th game of the season in the SEC west does not take you out of contention for anything.

 

[bulldognation]

Joe said the right things during the presser, but every team and season is unique. The proof of any change is going to be on the field come Saturday. If we continue looking sluggish and execute poorly we will lose to FL and will be looking at a very average season at best. Losing to Kentucky is a black eye, but less so if they turn out to be a contender in the East.

I was thinking the same thing Cookie when he compared us to Penn St. The difference is he still has 3 top-10 teams left to face this season and Texas A&M won't be a push-over either.

(Home) Florida
(Home) #10 Auburn
(Away) #5 LSU
(Home) Texas A&M
(Home) La. Tech
(Away) #1 Alabama
(Home) Arkansas
(Away) Mississippi

 

[MSUDC11]

I've seen some posters on here reference Joe Mo's first season with Penn State and specifically the blowout loss to Michigan in 2016. Yes Penn State went on to win the Big 10 after two demoralizing defeats (at Pitt in OT & at Michigan) early in the year BUT:

Here's the remainder of their schedule until the conference championship:

vs. 9-4 Minnesota in OT
vs. 6-7 Maryland
vs. 11-2 #6 Ohio State
@ 3-9 Purdue
vs. 8-5 Iowa
@ 6-7 Indiana
@ 2-10 Rutgers
vs. 3-9 Michigan State

One ranked team. A bunch of teams I'd expect most SEC West teams to beat. Now go look at our remaining schedule. Let's pump the brakes on that comparison.

Nobody is saying we’re going to bounce back and win the SEC. And yeah this team has a tough schedule, but it also has quite a bit of talent, and Moorhead’s scheme is a good one that makes a ton of sense when executed well. That didn’t disappear with our loss on Saturday. We were a Top 15 team before Saturday night for a reason. If we start clicking, Alabama is the only team on our schedule we can’t beat.

There’s every chance the doomsdayers are right and we go 6-6, too. But you also can’t rule out this team playing a lot better this season, because we have the means to do so. It obviously needs to happen fast because of our schedule though.

The comparison isn’t exact, but the point is that teams can get way better within the course of a season. That Penn State team started the season unranked, lost two of its first four games, then exploded shortly after. They weren’t just good because their schedule was so-so. They passed the eye test big time, and did beat two Top 10 teams if you include the Big 10 title game and had another Top 10 team beat in the Rose Bowl until USC made a late comeback.