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<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"> <font size="4" face="Tahoma">BRAD LOCKE:One last chance to get it all right</font>
<font size="2" face="Tahoma">11/25/2008 6:00:31 AM
Daily Journal</font></p> </td> <td valign="top"> <div align="center">
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<font size="2" face="Tahoma">STARKVILLE - For Mississippi State's football team, Friday's game at Ole Miss is important almost beyond description. But not because it's the Egg Bowl.
In the big picture, the rivalry aspect is almost negligible.
Heresy, you say.
I say, MSU's present troubles and its uncertain future greatly overshadow the need to gain bragging rights or knock Ole Miss out of the Cotton Bowl.
I mean, those are nice, and it's not like the Bulldogs have a bowl to play for, but that should not be the focus for coach Sylvester Croom, his staff or his players.
MSU's focus ought to be playing its best game of the year and having something to build on heading into the long offseason. The things that haven't worked against quality teams need to start working.
- The Bulldogs (4-7, 2-5 SEC) could pick up their first road win - they're 0-5 away from Davis Wade Stadium.
- They could, for the first time this year, win two straight games.
- They could beat a legit top-25 team. (Vanderbilt? Please.)
- The offense could play as well-rounded and efficient a game as it did against Arkansas, only this time versus a real defense.
- Some of the lineup tweaks could start paying off. Maybe what Croom has been throwing against the wall will finally stick.
On that last note, Croom has tried, with little success, to find roles for Arceto Clark, Wade Bonner, Chris Relf, and others, but he keeps saying that the situations didn't often present themselves, that he wanted to wait until his team was in control of the game before putting those guys in.
In control of the game. Well, there's something else MSU could do that it hasn't done.
A win would certainly be salve for a team that's been beat up, both on the field and, in the case of the coaching staff, on the message boards. It would not, however, subdue all the negatives that surfaced this fall.
It would remain obvious that something needs to change on offense. For the sixth straight year, MSU will finish in the bottom 20 in the country in total offense. There are all kinds of reasons for that, but it's hard to excuse it by pointing to the "state of the program" when Croom arrived, especially considering how well the defense has played over that same span of time.
What this Egg Bowl means for Mississippi State football is the chance to see the beginning of a sea change. If this coaching staff indeed stays together for next season - and for all the discussion thereof, nobody really knows whether it will - there will need to be signs this weekend of forward movement.
Because this season has been one giant step back. Use whatever motivation necessary - the rivalry, the spoiler role, the momentum of the Arkansas win - but this fact remains: The Bulldogs would need this game just as badly if the opponent were someone else.
It's a chance to make things start working.</font></p>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"> <font size="4" face="Tahoma">BRAD LOCKE:One last chance to get it all right</font>
<font size="2" face="Tahoma">11/25/2008 6:00:31 AM
Daily Journal</font></p> </td> <td valign="top"> <div align="center">
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<font size="2" face="Tahoma">STARKVILLE - For Mississippi State's football team, Friday's game at Ole Miss is important almost beyond description. But not because it's the Egg Bowl.
In the big picture, the rivalry aspect is almost negligible.
Heresy, you say.
I say, MSU's present troubles and its uncertain future greatly overshadow the need to gain bragging rights or knock Ole Miss out of the Cotton Bowl.
I mean, those are nice, and it's not like the Bulldogs have a bowl to play for, but that should not be the focus for coach Sylvester Croom, his staff or his players.
MSU's focus ought to be playing its best game of the year and having something to build on heading into the long offseason. The things that haven't worked against quality teams need to start working.
- The Bulldogs (4-7, 2-5 SEC) could pick up their first road win - they're 0-5 away from Davis Wade Stadium.
- They could, for the first time this year, win two straight games.
- They could beat a legit top-25 team. (Vanderbilt? Please.)
- The offense could play as well-rounded and efficient a game as it did against Arkansas, only this time versus a real defense.
- Some of the lineup tweaks could start paying off. Maybe what Croom has been throwing against the wall will finally stick.
On that last note, Croom has tried, with little success, to find roles for Arceto Clark, Wade Bonner, Chris Relf, and others, but he keeps saying that the situations didn't often present themselves, that he wanted to wait until his team was in control of the game before putting those guys in.
In control of the game. Well, there's something else MSU could do that it hasn't done.
A win would certainly be salve for a team that's been beat up, both on the field and, in the case of the coaching staff, on the message boards. It would not, however, subdue all the negatives that surfaced this fall.
It would remain obvious that something needs to change on offense. For the sixth straight year, MSU will finish in the bottom 20 in the country in total offense. There are all kinds of reasons for that, but it's hard to excuse it by pointing to the "state of the program" when Croom arrived, especially considering how well the defense has played over that same span of time.
What this Egg Bowl means for Mississippi State football is the chance to see the beginning of a sea change. If this coaching staff indeed stays together for next season - and for all the discussion thereof, nobody really knows whether it will - there will need to be signs this weekend of forward movement.
Because this season has been one giant step back. Use whatever motivation necessary - the rivalry, the spoiler role, the momentum of the Arkansas win - but this fact remains: The Bulldogs would need this game just as badly if the opponent were someone else.
It's a chance to make things start working.</font></p>
