I'm curious

[Chickamauga]

Was the hype for your 2001 season anything like the hype so far for our 2009 season?

Or was Rosebowl an outlier?

 

[Toag Redloh]

so I wasn't around for Rosebowl's spill. But I do not remember anyone thinking we would be in a BCS game, I guess the possibility was what was exciting. I was a junior at the time, and I remember people being fired up, tickets selling like wildfire, etc., but there was always cautious optimism.

 

[615dawg]

We were coming off the most successful four year run in school history and our key skill positions were all seniors. We were two years removed from being in the top 10 and the year prior had smacked Florida around like most teams smack us around now.

We were preseason top 15 or so. I have never felt as positive about a MSU sports season. We kicked off against Memphis and although we were down 10-0 at halftime, we came back and won 30-10. The thought was "Memphis always plays us tough, and we beat them by three touchdowns, so we must be awesome."

2001 sucked, but I have always thought it was the anti -1999. In 1999, we pulled four wins out in the fourth quarter. In 2001, six of our eight losses were by less than a touchdown. 2001 was just bad luck and lack of being able to finish. We weren't that bad of a team in 2001. 2002 is when we really started sucking.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I looked back the other day because someone said that MSU was pre-season No. 8 in 2001. I found one poll that had MSU ranked No. 8 in the country pre-season. The rest had MSU around 15-20 on average. On nationalchamps.net, they've been averaging the pre-season magazine and online rankings for years now. In 2001, they had MSU's averge poll ranking at 19 pre-season. For 2009, they have our average poll ranking at about 10 pre-season, though obviously the sample size of pre-season rankings isn't that large at this point as it was for 2001, since all the polls aren't in yet.

2001 Poll

2009 Poll

They have all the pre-season polls listed at the bottom of the page, below the average ranking. I don't think the hype was quite the same, but it wasn't a whole lot different.

 

[DowntownDawg]

...and I told Jackie in Little Dooey's after the Memphis game that I had ordered my Rose Bowl tickets. Of course, I was joking. Jackie said we had a long way to go. He was not joking. Nevertheless, the blame for the 2001 collapse is shared equally by me and Osama bin Laden. I accept that.

To answer your question, I would say it was similar. We certainly weren't picked in the top 5 by Herbstreit or whatever. I'd say your hype comes from more legitimate sources. I think we were a preseason consensus top 20 teams, but only the wooliest of sheep were seriously talkin about a BCS game.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Yea, I was telling a friend there was no way we'd lose the 2003 Egg Bowl and he pointed out that you had beaten us in 2001 in Starkville despite finishing only 3-8. I pointed out to him that in 2001 you were actually a pretty good team that had either underachieved or received enough bad breaks to finish with a bad record. In 2003, you were just an awful team.

I think your 2001 team simply lost faith after a couple close losses, and I think they quit playing as a team. I think Sherrill simply lost the team mentally after a few early losses, and he wasn't able to get them back. They rallied to play well in the Egg Bowl, but that was really it.

 

[futaba.79]

and very similar to what you are experiencing with your team.

I bought into it until I talked with a respected SR leader right before fall camp began. He was pissed because the first depth chart had people he had never even met listed at the top. He loved Sherrill but thought he was on the verge of losing control of the team.

When we played Memphis I knew we were in trouble.

 

[DowntownDawg]

We beat them something like 30-12. Before that, it was always a close game. I thought we were on our way.

 

[Chickamauga]

is the team that may upend our season, as well. South Carolina is the first real team we play.

Also, on the night that we beat LSU in Baton Rouge in 2001, a certain NAFOOM poster told me at The Chimes that we "owned" Arkansas, our upcoming opponent. Four quarters and seven overtimes later, I knew that I would always blame him for the ruination of that season.

 

[Toag Redloh]

He didn't show up to any preseason workouts. Got too cocky and showed no leadership. The seniors on that team were good but didn't set an example. That **** trickled down through the whole team, for a long time.

Fant should have started earlier in '01, but that still wouldn't have taken away those losses to Florida and LSU, where the lines were just outmanned. It was the "beginning" of Jackie's loss of control, by not benching Madkin.

 

[futaba.79]

by the previously mentioned player. He told me they hadn't earned their positions and it would cost us. So I watched them and, even from the upper deck, you could see that there appeared to be some division. Tommy Kelly was in his own little world, he wouldn't even get down in his stance til the instant the ball was snapped.

Then came the USC debacle and, on the game clinching drive, it was clear that my source was right.

 

[jakldawg]

it was the anti -1999. In 1999, we pulled four wins out in the fourth quarter. In 2001, six of our eight losses were by less than a touchdown. 2001 was just bad luck and lack of being able to finish. We weren't that bad of a team in 2001. 2002 is when we really started sucking.

With the exception of the "bad luck" being the Troy State game. But when the wheels totally fell off the next season, they STAYED off.

 

[DowntownDawg]

on a 3rd and extremely long? So frustrating. Damn that team.

 

[graddawg]

I thought it was their big, slow FB or RB.

 

[DowntownDawg]

...gamecock running wide open right at me right down the middle of the field. I want to say he was not their starter, but a situational type qb.

 

[futaba.79]

The quotes are revealing. It was Cory Jenkins who made the run that sealed it.<a href="http://www.dailytexanonline.com/sports/south-carolina-edges-mississippi-state-16-14-1.1268095">

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/sports/south-carolina-edges-mississippi-state-16-14-1.1268095</a>

 

[Agentdog]

I drove down from Memphis just to attend the fan day pre-season. I wanted to see the next Smoot- Hollywood Wright, Tommy Kelly, and Arizona juco phenoms. I still have pictures I took that day of Joe Lee and the Arizona boys, Sherrill on stage with Madkin, Fant, and company. A picture of Josh Morgan and other dbs.

One memory of that day. A giant of a human being standing by himself not saying a word to hardly anyone. Nobody asking for his autograph. So, I got a photo of him and a signature.....David Stewart.

 

[LeedyDog]

I remember after the Snow Bowl thinking it was going to be rough losing Blade, Golliday, and Wyms on the DL especially after the defense kind of lost their way in the second half of the season. Not to mention losing great players/leaders in Pork Chop, Smoot, and Westerfield.

Of course, when all the consensus preseason hype the following summer I was wooly just like everyone else.