Updated RPI outlook...

[EminenceBunt]

Moved up 5 spots to #45 after the victory over USM.

Other teams of note:

-Florida (#1): if we could take 2 out of 3 at their place it would obviously do wonders for our RPI.
-Ole Miss (#9)
-South Alabama (#11)
-A&M (#14)
-USM (#15)
-LSU (#19)
-Vandy (#21)
-UCLA (#27): 12-10 record on the year
-UGA (#50)
-Florida Atlantic (#54): 18-4 record on the year
-Alabama (#65)
-USC (#81): 11-12 record on the year
-Oregon (#110): 11-9 record on the year
-Auburn (#131)
-Oral Roberts (#134)
-Mizzou (#135)
-Oklahoma (#147): 12-13-1 record on the year
-ULM (#151): play them in Biloxi on a Tuesday later in the year
-Eastern Kentucky (#202): 11-14 record on the year
-Memphis (#219): 9-15 record on the year
-NDSU (#260): 4-18 record on the year
-Nicholls State (#268)
-UT-Martin (#272): double header against them next Tuesday, sigh.....
-Alcorn State (#288)
-MS. Valley State (#297)

OU, UCLA, USCw and Oregon have a combined record of 46-44-1. What initially looked like a strong OOC schedule now looks pretty weak, especially when you throw #134 ORU, #202 Eastern Kentucky, #219 Memphis, #260 NDSU, #268 Nichols State, #272 UT-Martin, #288 Alcorn State and #297 MS. Valley State in there.

 

[jack daniels dog]

Al Davis said it best, "just win baby"

 

[MSUDC11]

Oregon's plummet is really hurting. They were a Top 25 RPI team when we played them, now they aren't even in the Top 100.

I don't get the doubleheader against UT Martin. We need to find a way to only play one of those games. Heck, maybe it will rain so we don't have to play either.

Aside from several midweek games, we really did try to improve our OOC schedule this year, but it's blown up in our face with some of these teams being far worse than expected.

 

[8dog]

South dakota st is killing us too. Thats a team thats history says its a good schedule for rpi purposes. But they are 4-18 thus far.

Lsu bama and aub series are critical. We need road wins. Oregon, sd st, and the cali trip schools have put us in a real bind.

 

[57stratdawg]

It's a big week for Oregon. They have 4 straight road games against Notre Dame and Mich State. ND is #94, but Mich State is a top 25 RPI team.

It it would be great to see them make it though this at least 2-2.

 

[bsquared24]

If it is actually about RPI, and I don't think it is, then we need stop scheduling Alcorn, Valley, J State. It doesn't really matter if it helps them out or not if it hurts us.

Truthfully I think it is more about developing a team that is ready to roll into May, the SEC Tournament and then hopefully hosting a Regional. It is only when you start talking about hosting a regional that you start looking at RPI in my opinion.

 

[patdog]

What the hell is Oregon doing playing Notre Dame and Michigan St. this weekend?

 

[msudawg12]

Oregon's plummet is really hurting. They were a Top 25 RPI team when we played them, now they aren't even in the Top 100.

I don't get the doubleheader against UT Martin. We need to find a way to only play one of those games. Heck, maybe it will rain so we don't have to play either.

Aside from several midweek games, we really did try to improve our OOC schedule this year, but it's blown up in our face with some of these teams being far worse than expected.

Oklahoma is doing us no favors either and to be honest, its surprising UCLA is still where they are to me. they will continue to fall with some bad losses. Here's to hoping someone out of the Oregon,UCLA,Oklahoma trio pulls it together

 

[msudawg1200]

What the hell is Oregon doing playing Notre Dame and Michigan St. this weekend?

Probably because Colorado does not have a baseball team so someone in the PAC 12 will be off from conference play each weekend. Same for Michigan St in the Big 10 with Wisconsin not having a team, and ND with an odd number of teams in the ACC.

 

[EminenceBunt]

Missed one team, Troy who is (#72). We play them @ Troy on May 11th. Should be a good opportunity to bump up a spot or two with a W.

If we can get 7-8 wins between the series @Florida, @LSU, @Bama, and @Auburn we will be in good shape to finish in the top 20 RPI, assuming we take care of business at home.

 

[bulldogcountry1]

Our supposed strong OOC schedule is really letting us down. We started the season with many saying we had possibly the toughest schedule in the nation, but it's looking weaker by the day. There's only so much you can do. Putting FAU, Oregon, and the Cali trip on the schedule was a good move and should have been enough to build a resume. But one thing we MUST do is stop scheduling the perennial 250+ RPI teams that do nothing for us. Boyd's World has a nice layout of possible opponents nearby. We should be playing Samford or UAB at thier place next week instead of a DH against UT-M, which will drop us 10-15 spots if we win.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

Why don't they play baseball at Colorado?

 

[patdog]

Agree. Not much we can do about Oregon, Oklahoma, Southern Cal and UCLA. And I'm OK with single games against the in-state schools. But there's no excuse for playing 250+ out of state teams. Even if it's "just 4-6 games", that's 10% of a schedule that does us no good on the field and hurts us in RPI. We also need to be playing USM 2-3 times each year instead of only once.

 

[OleMissLogo]

Our supposed strong OOC schedule is really letting us down. We started the season with many saying we had possibly the toughest schedule in the nation, but it's looking weaker by the day.

BUT ENGIE SAYS 5% TOUGHER THAN 2015 FLORIDA!!

 

[OleMissLogo]

Agree. Not much we can do about Oregon, Oklahoma, Southern Cal and UCLA. And I'm OK with single games against the in-state schools. But there's no excuse for playing 250+ out of state teams. Even if it's "just 4-6 games", that's 10% of a schedule that does us no good on the field and hurts us in RPI. We also need to be playing USM 2-3 times each year instead of only once.

The California tournament was actually a pretty good move RPI-wise because 2 of the games counted as away games. Granted y'all ended up 1-1-1 so it was basically a wash, but the scheduling was a good move.

I've mentioned to some Ole Miss fans that I would like our basketball team to stop doing the neutral site tournaments and instead do a 3-day road trip to somewhere like Ohio and play Dayton, Xavier, and Cincinnati all away rather than 3 neutral site games.

Your point about the sub-200s is spot on, though. Nolan predicts that State will finish with 9 games vs sub-200 teams, with 5 of them coming in below 275. Just replacing 3 of those 5 with teams in the 150-175 range would likely bump State up about 6-10 spots (depending on final record, etc).

As for USM, I know that MSU doesn't like playing them in Hattiesburg so doing a 2-game series at each stadium isn't gonna happen, but Pearl and Biloxi could be done. Or y'all can pull a lower-Louisiana or Texas team to Biloxi (lower geography-wise).

 

[Arthur2478]

Why don't they play baseball at Colorado?

They did at one point. Shut the program down in the 80s. Title IX casualty.

 

[msudawg1200]

Why don't they play baseball at Colorado?

Cut in the 80's because of our old friend Title IX.