Nick Fitzgerald is getting some hype as a junior, but not as much as Dak did

Early on in summer football discussions, Nick Fitzgerald is getting some hype as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC. Some are calling him the best. That seems a little surprising to some, but considering how comparable his sophomore year was to Dak Prescott, it shouldn’t be.

After the 2013 Egg Bowl, Dak Prescott was launched into super-stardom in the state of Mississippi. After Jesse Palmer predicted he may become a darkhorse Heisman contender in 2014, folks started jumping on the Dak bandwagon. There was also a lot of hype around Dak within SEC circles. This was before MSU ever ascended to No. 1….and it was coming off a 7-6 season.

There was so much hype I wrote in ‘Maroon Magazine’ at the time that State fans might want to slow it down a little because he’s only one player….and expecting him to be a superstar that’ll win 10 games might be asking too much. I was wrong.

Prescott obviously showed a lot of grit, determination and guts as he endured injuries, heartache and a myriad of other things during the 2013 season. His intangible qualities certainly had folks gravitating towards him just as they do now in the NFL. But statistically, Nick Fitzgerald was about the same as a sophomore.

In 2013, Prescott threw for 1,940 yards, 10 TD and 7 INT. He also ran for 829 yards with 13 TD. Because of injury, blowouts and platooning with Tyler Russell he really only played enough time to equal roughly 8 out of 13 football games. So if you extrapolate those numbers over 12 games (same number Fitz really played) it would’ve been roughly 2,900 passing yards, 15 TD, 11 INT with 1,200 yards rushing and 20 rushing TD.  

Fitzgerald’s numbers for 2016 were: 2,423 passing yards, 21 TD, 10 INT with 1,375 rushing and 16 touchdowns. 

It’ll be interesting to see where Fitz lands in the preseason all-SEC voting next month at Media Days. 2nd team behind Jalen Hurts would seem like the ceiling. Dak was 2nd team all-SEC before the 2014 season.

We all remember the 2014 season, when MSU was No. 1 and Dak was the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy into November. But he was also heralded as a great player for months and months before the year began…much more praise than Nick has received.

Nick Fitzgerald is not Dak Prescott, but that doesn’t mean he can’t duplicate Dak’s success at Mississippi State. It shouldn’t be any surprise that Fitz is getting some of the hype Dak got (especially since he led the SEC in total offense!). The question will be how he handles it. Prescott had remarkable poise, we’ll see about Fitz.

Summer Thoughts

Here’s some summer thoughts I’ve had….

1. Summer solstice is ridiculous. It gets dark at 9:20 Eastern time. Sometimes I go to bed early on the weeknights because I have to get up early the next day, and the sun is still out.

2. I was trying to watch the U.S. Open last weekend, but I couldn’t get into it. It just doesn’t compare to the Masters – no golf tournament does. That got me thinking about my top 5 sports days of the year:

1. Day 1 (and Day 2) of March Madness
2. Saturday after Thanksgiving (rivalry week)
3. Week 1 of NFL season
4. Sunday at the Masters
5. Superbowl Sunday

3. How SEC stadiums came to be is interesting. I’ve already gone through a comprehensive look at Davis Wade Stadium’s evolution through the years. I’ve seen some YouTube videos of Neyland Stadium and how much it’s changed as they added more and more seats until it was a complete double-decker bowl all around. The SEC Network should do one-hour documentaries on each stadium during the summer….I’d watch it.

4. I’m not feeling all that confident about a bounce back football season this year. I’m leaning towards 7-5 on the high end and 5-7 on the low end for State. So 6-6 is probably where I’ll project us to land. The schedule is pretty tough when you have LSU and Alabama at home – teams Dan Mullen is 1-15 against.

5. Political division is so awful these days. I think a lot of it has to do with people spending too much time looking at TV and social networks and not enough time interacting with others. When you lock yourself in a bunker with people who only think like you do and call the other side a bunch of idiots, you develop an unhealthy disdain for people who have different views.  All of the sudden everyone who votes for the other ticket is a fringe lunatic who is trying to destroy everything you care about.

When I was in high school I swung by my friend’s house every day to pick him up and give him a ride to school. His viewpoints were the exact opposite of mine and we discussed them a lot. He was still one of my best friends.

The other day I had dinner with some folks who I know give money to causes I am vehemently against.  It was a very cordial dinner because they are nice people and we can all get along. I didn’t view them as folks with horns coming out of their heads and neither did they of me, so we were able to enjoy our time together without discussing politics.

It seems we can’t just accept the fact that others will think differently from us anymore. People are having a hard time accepting others with different viewpoints, which is creating divisions in interpersonal relationships.

Take a step back. Try to find out why that person believes the way they do. If we all did that instead of getting mad or angry we’d have an appropriate starting point for discussion.

 

 

What to make of the OM investigation, Rebel Rags, Leo Lewis, etc.

Baseball season is over, and it’s now time for another summer of how Mississippi turns featuring an NCAA investigation and lots of mudslinging.

We’ve reached a new benchmark in this extra-long saga involving the NCAA’s probe into Ole Miss football. Oxford, Mississippi retailer, Rebel Rags, has filed a civil suit against MSU football players Leo Lewis and Kobe Jones claiming the over $2,000 in merchandise they said to have received from Rebel Rags is defamation and civil conspiracy against the store.

First off, I don’t think this civil suit is going anywhere. Lewis and Jones were asked to talk to the NCAA, and were doing so with the understanding that their names would be protected. There’s some serious privacy issues that would be violated if they were forced to testify, and this probably falls under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. 

Nevertheless, I hate to see all of this escalate to where it has now. We can both bring each other down or we can coexist. I prefer the last 5-6 years with both schools doing well in football instead of going back to 2004-2006 when it was down-right awful in Oxford and Starkville.

Rest assured, if Ole Miss gets hit severely, they will find a way to hit us hard. There are skeletons in every closet – no program is lily white.

OM has already self-imposed a one-year bowl ban and a handful of scholarships. They are contesting the most severe charges against them that would likely end the tenure of Hugh Freeze if held up. What’s most likely to happen is a more severe punishment than what they’ve handed down on themselves, but not as bad as what some MSU fans are dreaming about.

I think it was pretty obvious to everyone that OM was cheating as they reeled in the recruiting classes they did…..with players from across the country coming to Oxford. They are now getting in trouble for that as they should.

I’ve enjoyed watching the saga unfold from 10,000 feet, but I kind of feel like it’s going too far now. It’s the summer and there isn’t any football to watch, but I’d rather be talking about rosters than lies and deceit.

Hopefully this will end soon. Ole Miss can take their medicine and move on. I just hope Mississippi State isn’t pulled down into the muck with them, but if Hugh Freeze is forced out I’m sure that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Total team effort wins the Hattiesburg Regional for MSU

Going into the Hattiesburg Regional I thought the only way MSU could win was to go through the winner’s bracket. When Riley Self had to close out Sunday morning’s game vs. Illinois-Chicago I was sure we were done for. But not this team, they found a way to get it done once again….this time by winning four games in two days – stretching from 10:00 AM Sunday to 12:48 AM Tuesday.

It was a total team effort. Go down the list of all the key contributions:

Josh Lovelady – this guy caught every inning except the last two (came out for a pinch runner). He’s gotta be dog tired and he was robbed several times but then belted a huge three run shot in Game 6. He only hit .188 in the Regional but had 5 RBI in the final two games!

Brent Rooker – other than a couple hits vs. UIC he was off his game until late Monday night. Two home runs and the game-winning RBI on a bloop hit in Game 7. He hit .300 for the Regional which is well below his season average but he got it done when it counted.

Hunter Stovall – always playing great defense at second base including some web gems vs. UIC. He crushed a two-run homer vs. South Alabama on Sunday night.

Ryan Gridley – while Rooker was struggling a bit, Gridley was picking him up by going 8 for 17 (.470) in the first four games. He finished with a .348 batting average and .400 on base % in the Regional.

Cody Brown – he was the MVP of the Regional and well deserving. He’s been an MVP all year, switching positions seemingly every other game. He played 3B during the Regional and did a fantastic job defensively. Offensively, he was 10 of 19 (.526) with 2 homers and 7 RBI.

Elijah MacNamee – suddenly Mac has started to be a threat offensively, hitting at a .333 clip in the final four games. Huge RBI for an insurance run late in Game 7 vs. USM….one of three in the Regional.

Jake Mangum – we all know Jake’s average has dipped from .374 to .327 since breaking his hand, but he’s still a solid hitter. He was 8 of 23 (.348) during the Regional – .421 in the final four games.

Hunter Vansau – he’s been the DH pretty much every time he’s started but all of the sudden he’s playing [in a rain-soaked] RF for this Regional. He played well out there and at the plate going 7 for 19 (.368) with 2 RBI.

Cole Gordon: he had two really rough outings on the mound, but he actually came to MSU as a hitter. He got the chance to be a DH twice and pinch hitter once: 2 for 8 with 1 HR (nearly three) and 2 RBI.

Konner Pilkington: he did exactly what was expected from our ace by getting into the 8th inning vs. UIC and picking up the win.

Peyton Plumee: his bases loaded Houdini act Friday vs. South Alabama was in vein but not the four solid innings he gave on Sunday night to get his first save of the year.

Jacob Billingsly: I thought we were toast in part because Billingsly had never gone more than five innings pitched in a game, but he delivered a complete game effort on Monday night when State needed it the most. 9 IP, 1 run on 6 hits. It was a welcome surprise to say the least.

Spencer Price: apparently his ankle is still in major pain, and that’s why his outings have been so short lately. But in Game 7 he delivered big time with three great innings (one bad pitch – a solo home run) and got the win.

Trey Jolly: in a losing effort vs. USA he kept State in the game throwing two scoreless innings, but the biggest thing he did was pitch 3.1 innings in Game 7 to hold back a surging Southern Miss team. He entered the game in the 1st trailing 4-1 but left it with only a 5-4 deficit in the 5th.

Riley Self: he has become the Dawgs’ closer and picked up two saves in his two appearances in the Regional. Overall, it was 3.2 IP and 0 runs. He was on the hill to seal the final victory.

Denver McQuary: two solo home runs was all he gave up in 5 IP vs. South Alabama on Sunday night, ultimately getting the win.

Gary Henderson: the hand he’s been dealt this year has been awful to say the least, but he’s done a phenomenal job nonetheless. Every pitcher that took the hill, except Cole Gordon, pitched really well.

Andy Cannizaro: the MacGyver of college baseball coaches. Tanner Poole has started 47 games this year and everyone of them up to the Regional but Cann sits him, and moves Vansau from DH to RF. Luke Alexander has been the starter pretty much all year (49 of them) but he never saw action except some 9th inning defensive substitutions. Cole Gordon had only four ABs in the previous two months but he starts him vs. UIC, and Cole responds with a big RBI hit. Harrison Bragg has barely played but he DH’d three times and went 3 for 11 (.273). But that’s not all, because when faced with elimination on Sunday morning he changes the batting order once again – moving Stovall to the leadoff spot, Gridley back to third, Brown back to cleanup and Mangum to the five hole….and it worked to the tune of four straight wins!

The unsung hero of the Regional was State’s defense. They did not commit an error in all five games. Wow.

This team is so fun to watch. One of the reasons is because they are playing with house money. I’ve never been more relaxed watching State play in a Regional than this year. It’s because, at this point, it’s all gravy. They are playing way over their heads considering the amount of adversity they’ve had to overcome with injuries and inexperience – you name the problem they’ve faced it.

We’ll see what happens in Baton Rouge vs. LSU. The Dawgs were swept by the Tigers at home to end the regular season so you wouldn’t figure they have a chance against them on the road (especially since LSU has won 14 straight), but this MSU team really knows how to dig itself out of a hole. I wouldn’t count them out.

The SEC should switch to a rotating schedule

I blocked off this section of the afternoon to watch MSU play Southern Miss in the Regional Final, but there’s a rain delay. So now that I scurried to get my work done, I’ve got some time. And here’s a thought….

What if the SEC football schedule looked a lot more like basketball, with a few permanent opponents and then rotating from there.

Due to seven-team divisions and only eight conference games, Mississippi State will rarely see some teams from the East in the years to come:

2017: at Georgia

2018: vs. Florida

2019: at Tennessee

2020: vs. Missouri (the Tigers will visit Starkville for the first time during their 9th year in the SEC)

2021: at Vanderbilt

2022: vs. Georgia

2023: at South Carolina

2024: vs. Tennessee

2015: at Florida

So that’ll be 15 years between visits to Gainesville. There was that 2010 win in the Swamp seven years ago and we’ll be back in eight. Maybe we could do better….

If you compiled all the games that certain schools just have to play because of rivalries, I don’t think you’d come up with more than two per school. Some schools like MSU might only say it’s one (Ole Miss) or others like Missouri may say none. There’s games like LSU/Alabama or South Carolina/Georgia that some would say should be preserved, but let’s get real and only include stuff like the Iron Bowl or World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

So I’ve picked out two teams for each program to play every single year. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Alabama: Auburn and Tennessee

Arkansas: Texas A&M and Missouri

Auburn: Alabama and Georgia

Florida: Georgia and South Carolina

Georgia: Florida and Auburn

Kentucky: Vanderbilt and Mississippi State

LSU: Texas A&M and Ole Miss

Mississippi State: Ole Miss and Kentucky

Missouri: South Carolina and Arkansas

Ole Miss: Mississippi State and LSU

South Carolina: Missouri and Florida

Tennessee: Vanderbilt and Alabama

Texas A&M: LSU and Arkansas

Vanderbilt: Tennessee and Kentucky

Obviously some of these games like Florida/South Carolina or Kentucky/Vanderbilt aren’t big time rivalries, and some legit rivalries didn’t make the cut, but there is just space for two per team so it is what it is.

So if the SEC did this, it would open up six rotational opponents. Here’s how quickly Mississippi State could play every other team home and away:

2017: at Georgia, vs. Florida, at Tennessee, vs. Alabama, at Arkansas, vs. Texas A&M

2018: at Vanderbilt, vs. Missouri, at South Carolina, vs. LSU, at Auburn, vs. Georgia*

(*two years in and already played a home/home with UGA)

2019: at Florida, vs. Tennessee, at Alabama, vs. Arkansas, at Texas A&M, vs. Vanderbilt

2020: at Missouri, vs. South Carolina, at LSU, vs. Auburn, at Georgia, vs. Florida

There you have it – by the fourth year the Bulldogs would already be playing Georgia and Florida for a third time, so it would only take about three and a half years to play each team in the SEC at home and away.

What about divisions? 

Just line ’em up 1-14 and take the two best teams to play in Atlanta for the championship. Half the time it’s a lop-sided affair when it’s been East vs. West. So what if we change it up?

Mississippi State’s history in Baseball Regionals

Mississippi State is set to play in the 2017 Hattiesburg Regional. It’ll be their 30th Regional appearance since the NCAA went to Regional play in 1975 (prior to that there were Districts – which MSU played in six from 1949-1974….making the College World Series in 1971).

MSU has won 12 of the 29 Regionals they’ve played in (41%).

State has hosted 13 of those Regionals, winning seven of them (54%). That means they have won five out of 16 road Regionals (31%)….which, of course, they will attempt to do this year.

Overall, the Bulldogs have a 73-42 record in Regional play. Here’s the break-down year by year:

Bold they won it, italicized they hosted.

1978: 2-2
1979: 4-1
1981: 3-1
1983: 3-2
1984: 3-2
1985: 3-1
1987: 1-2
1988: 2-2
1989: 4-2
1990: 4-1
1991: 2-2
1992: 2-2
1993: 0-2
1996: 1-2
1997: 5-1
1998: 4-1
1999: 2-2
2000: 3-1
2001: 3-0
2003: 2-2
2004: 1-2
2005: 2-2
2006: 2-2
2007: 3-0
2011: 3-0
2012: 1-2
2013: 3-1
2014: 2-2
2016: 3-0

UPDATE: MSU won the Hattiesburg Regional, making them 76-43 overall in Regional play. It’s their 13th win in 30 tries (43%).