Mississippi State news, notes and conjecture for January 21, 2015

School-record 47 baseball games to be televised in 2015 - HailState.com

There may not be adequate enough words to describe how much I love college baseball.  Even in years where the MSU basketball team was good, I still craved baseball season and everything it brought to campus.  Spring; warmth; the smell of grill smoke; doubles to the gap; that lady who sits right behind home plate and yells rhythmic encouragement.

While all of those things are a great part of the experience for those who get the chance to make it up to Starkville, some others don't get that chance.  And if that is you, the SEC Network is about to make it WAY easier for you to get to watch almost every single pitch with the announcement yesterday that they will carry more than 350 matchups this spring on either the SEC Network or SEC Network +, its digital counterpart.

As a part of that, MSU will have 47 games on TV or available via streaming, which make sup about 85% of State's total regular season schedule.  EIGHTY FIVE PERCENT.  As Matt Tyler said yesterday, you'll get to see every sac bunt John Cohen can conjure up this season: even if it's on a Tuesday night against Mississippi Valley State.

While this will be nice, I have to admit that there's just something nostalgic about tuning in on the radio to hear Jim Ellis call a game on Friday night.  I guess I will still have to mix that in somewhere in the sea of televised MSU baseball games for 2015.

Keenum to represent SEC on College Football Playoffs board - msstate.edu

This is a big honor for President Keenum who replaces Florida's President on the board.  I will say this, though, for those who may have been confused like I was: this is not the committee who votes on playoff teams.  This is the board, who manages the administration side of the whole process.  Still, a nice honor for the President and one I know he'll do a great job with.

2015 NFL mock draft: January 19, 2015 edition - SBNation.com

This mock has Benardick going 24th to the Cardinals, but no sign of Preston Smith in the first round.  I HAVE seen a mock somewhere that had Preston sneaking into the back end of the first round, but I can't find it this morning.  If do come across it, or if any of you can link it for me, I'll add it here later on.

Top 100 games of 2014 - SBNation.com

Miss college football already?  If you do, make sure you relive the year's best games with this fantastic list of the top 100 games we all got to witness this past season. MSU shows up in there a few times as well.

College football early signing period is recommended - USA Today

I meant to write a separate post about this a day or so ago when the news came out, but I wanted to at least include it here, because this is potentially big news for MSU.  Dan Mullen employs a recruiting style that brings commitments on board early and leaves him fending off competitors for recruits' services as February nears.  An early signing period would allow guys to sign early that truly have made up their minds and are done with the process, which means Dan's early scouting of a Chris Jones type won't go to waste when the rest of college football figures out at the 11th hour that he's a blue chip recruit.

To clear up any possible confusion: no, I'm not advocating for the early signing period as a way of trapping recruits into going to one school over the other.  But I am of the school of thought that if you give an 18-year old enough time, he's likely to change his mind, and probably more than once.  If he truly wants to be at a certain school, why not let him make that pledge a few months earlier?  And if he doesn't, then he can sign in February like normal.  No matter where you stand on this, it will certainly change things up in college football recruiting if it passes.