MSU News & Notes | Monday, October 29, 2012

With another weekend of football behind us, the Bulldogs now turn their attention to the Texas A&M Aggies, a team that in the midst of putting together quite a first season in the SEC. Before we plunge headlong into Aggies preview, however, we will have some News and Notes recapping last Saturday's game with Alabama. You can also look for our MSU Men's Basketball Preview Series this week as well, starting with a general preview this morning around 9 a.m. Now, here are your News and Notes:

• Obviously Saturday night was tough for just about all Bulldog fans. Nevertheless, State picks itself back up and gets ready for the Texas A&M Aggies, a team that has featured huge offensive numbers this season, led by freshman QB Johnny Manziel. Yesterday we finally found out that the Aggies and Bulldogs will kick at 11am next Saturday, which is obviously a huge, huge disappointment if you're a State fan. As soon as I saw the Georgia win Saturday afternoon I knew State had no chance, win or lose against Alabama, to receive the 2:30 home slot against Texas A&M on CBS. I will say however that I can understand where CBS is coming from, it's not necessarily a complete screw job by them in my opinion. State just got the shaft of having its biggest home game the same weekend as Alabama vs. LSU, which is for the second season the game which CBS chose as its night feature game. As part of CBS' agreement with ESPN, CBS has one day a season to select to have two games, one being a primetime night game, and this was it obviously with LSU and Bama set to battle in Baton Rouge. The problem with that was that the agreement stated that all games not LSU - Bama or the 2:30 CBS game had to then be played at 11a.m., which just completely screws MSU. It would not be as huge of a pain in the rear in my opinion if it wasn't the day after Bulldog Bash, only the biggest party of the football season in Starkville. You will now ask a student fan base to go out, most likely party until the wee hours of Saturday morning, and then turn around and be loud for an 11 a.m game the following day. Again, not the schools fault one bit and really not CBS' fault. I don't know who is to blame, really, I just know it blows.
• Speaking of the A&M - State game, we also found out yesterday that A&M opened as a 2.5 point favorite over State. That's not really a shocking line, considering they are higher than us in the polls now, and are coming off of a huge 42 point road win at Auburn. I'm not 100% sure if I think the line will move down towards a push during the week or move up closer to 4 or 5. One thing is for sure, after I doubted last week's 24 point Alabama favorite spread, I realize just how much more the Vegas bookies know than I, ha.
• I don't always link our posts in the News and Notes unless it's news type stuff, but I'm linking MBD's Playing to a Standard post here because I think it is really worth your read. He talks about how Nick Saban expects his players to play to the best of their abilities each game, and not to their opponents abilities. It really is the key to Saban's success at the college football level, and a goal that we certainly hope Dan Mullen can emanate in his own players sometime soon. Again, a good read, check it out.
• If you missed it, make sure you check out our Quick Hits and Game Recap posts from yesterday following up on the Alabama loss. Game Recap is not quite as meaty as usual, because I covered for Robbie, who does a much better job at that post than I. You can also check out game recaps from Marcello, Carskadon, and Locke. Also, you can check out the BSR post game show.
• Here is the animated drive chart from Saturday's game against Alabama, if you are interested in such things:

• Mississippi State did take a bit of a tumble in the polls Sunday, but probably not as bad as you might have expected. State fell to 17 in the AP and 18 in the Coaches' Polls, released yesterday morning.
  
• As for the BCS standings, State fell even less, descending from 11th to 15th. The Bulldogs next two opponents, Texas A&M and LSU, are both ranked in the top 15 as well. Lots of room to still improve our standings with wins in the next several weeks, if we can pull them off.
• BOWL PROJECTIONS: CBS has us in the Chick-fil-a against Clemson, ESPN has MSU to the Chick-fil-a, and SBNation has State tangling with Northwestern in the Gator Bowl.
• Don't ever think MSU has it bad. If you find yourself doing so, just think of Maryland, and D1 school who has now lost FIVE STARTING QUARTERBACKS, and will now start a freshman linebacker at quarterback, with a backup tight end as his back up. Your worse case scenario <<<<<<<<<<<< Maryland's.
• Spencer Hall reviews the entire top 25 of college football.
• Hey, the Giants won the World Series last night?! Did you know that before I told you just now?
• The golf team won the 2012 Bridgestone Golf Collegiate Championship this past weekend.
• Your TV crew for this upcoming weekend, the same crew that worked the Alabama game Saturday night:

ESPN crew this week will again be Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe. DirecTV bus will be on campus as well. #HailState

— Joe Galbraith (@joestate) October 28, 2012

That's it for today's News and Notes folks, have a good one!

BONUS MONDAY VIDEO:

Chris Cornell - Black Hole Sun (via folatom)