Mississippi State Bulldogs (4 days until)
1. MAROON AND WHITE BOARD TALKS TEXAS AND JEFF LEBBY
- Thread 1 – You would have seen we were 4-3 after 7 games, I bet everyone would say absolutely this is great. We have been in every game and yes it sucks to lose. But most thought Lebby had a 3 to 4 win team. We have been close the last several games. Maybe Texas is the one we finally get over.
- Comment 1 – Lebby setting low expectations for himself after sucking all last year doesn’t excuse the absolute baffling decisions that were made to end that game.
- Comment 2 – Several things can be true at the same time. We should at least be 5-2 or 6-1 and an argument could be made to be 7-0.
- Comment 3 – Just find a way to win 2 of the last 5
- Thread 2 – Does the season come down to Texas?
- Comment 1 – I think if we can’t get Texas this coming weekend we are staring 0-16 in the SEC right in the face and Selmon will have a decision to make.
- Comment 2 – If we can score 24 we could beat Texas unless we Mississippi State it away like we did FL and UT
- Comment 3 – Can we rally our fanbase one more time? We need to have an Arizona State like crowd.
2. COACH PRESSER – Jeff Lebby on Monday
- On QB Blake Shapen’s second-half performance against Florida: “Man, he’s frustrated. He’s down because the outcome wasn’t what we wanted. There’s a bunch of plays inside the game. He understands if we go do exactly what we need to go do, we take full control of the game. The ending of it has all of the intention because of the outcome of the game. He understands that. That is part of playing the position. That is part of being the head coach and that comes with it. There’s great frustration. We’re trying to build on the positives and how tough these guys are playing and how we were able to create explosives, pitch and catch, playing in rhythm. But we got to finish drives. We got to finish now and I talked about that a ton.”
- On the idea of teams struggling “learning how to win”: “I know for me and for us in this building. there’s been zero talk of last year. That’s not this year’s football team. You think about the improvement and how much better we’re playing the game right now. It’s not even in the same spectrum. That’s the stress for our guys. There’s a lot of noise. From what I’ve been told through text messages that I receive, they are incredibly supportive. I mean, I’m like we’re 4-3 and two plays away from being 6-1. We’re not.”
- On Arch Manning and the Texas Offense: “I think what they’re doing right now fits him and they’re playing to who they are. They’re trying to protect the ball, be incredibly high percentage. Very timely when they are pushing the ball down the field and giving him a ton of freedom to go run the offense. I think Sark understands exactly who they are, defensively, and they’ve been really good. For them, I think it’s about running the football at a really high level, being able to have some play pass in it, and then taking great care of the ball.”
Week 8 College Football Top 25 Power Ratings (.977 out of 1.000 = 97.7 Grade)
Tier 1 – (Championship Material)
1. Ohio State Buckeyes – .991 – (7-0)
2. Alabama Crimson Tide – .971 – (6-1) – UP 1
3. Georgia Bulldogs – .963 – (6-1) – UP 1
Tier 2 – (Championship Contender)
4. Indiana Hoosiers – .920 – (7-0) – UP 5
5. Oregon Ducks – .917 – (6-1)
6. Miami Hurricanes – .916 – (5-1) – DOWN 4
7. Texas A&M Aggies – .910 – (7-0) – DOWN 1
8. Ole Miss Rebels – .900 – (6-1) – DOWN 1
Tier 3 – (Playoff Material)
9. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – .835 – (7-0) – UP 3
10. Texas Longhorns – .832 – (5-2) – UP 1
11. Oklahoma Sooners – .823 – (6-1) – UP 5
12. LSU Tigers – .816 – (5-2) – DOWN 4
13. Notre Dame Fighting Irish – .814 – (5-2) – UP 4
14. Missouri Tigers – .813 – (6-1) – UP 1
15. Texas Tech Red Raiders – .811 – (6-1) – DOWN 5
16. Tennessee Vols – .810 – (5-2) – DOWN 3
Stats that Might Matter (Last Two Seasons)
Jeff Lebby at Home against the Power 4: (1-5)
Jeff Lebby against Ranked Power 4: (1-7)
Jeff Lebby at Home against the SEC: (0-5)
Jeff Lebby against the SEC: (0-11)
Jeff Lebby’s Record for Games that kick off between 2:30-3:30 pm against P4: (0-6)
Steve Sarkisian on Road against the Power 4: (5-2)
Steve Sarkisian against Unranked Power 4: (6-1)
Steve Sarkisian on Road against the SEC: (4-1)
Steve Sarkisian against the SEC: (9-3)
Steve Sarkisian’s Record for Games that kick off between 2:30-3:30 pm against P4: (6-2)
