Been watching replay of MSS vs Vandy. In all that's holy how did we lose to the them? I have no idea but our usual excuse of the Pirate having our number somehow. A swag is we had a shxxxty game plan that played into Leach's plan. Anyway, a game we should have won going away.

That was the game where we showed signs of being able to move the ball on the ground but everything had not clicked yet. So the offense left points on the field. The defense needed to get more pressure but every time we brought the 4th man they gashed us. Their QB was on an unbelievable groove against us. It happens

I don't know if y'all have really noticed, but we never beat them in anything…

Yeh , I guess that goes both ways. Anyway, btho Auburn.

QB1 said:

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Easy, rush 3, give the qb all day long with never an ounce of pressure…I mean how much more hospitable can we make it for an opposing qb in our house? Maybe only rush 2 next time??

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THIS

AgBQ-00 said:

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That was the game where we showed signs of being able to move the ball on the ground but everything had not clicked yet. So the offense left points on the field. The defense needed to get more pressure but every time we brought the 4th man they gashed us. Their QB was on an unbelievable groove against us. It happens

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This. We actually did okay on O. Our D hadno answers, even when we pressured in the 2nd half. MSU played a really good game. In retrospect, that early Calzada pick was HUGE, just like our earlypick vs Bama.

Divining Rod said:

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AgBQ-00 said:

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That was the game where we showed signs of being able to move the ball on the ground but everything had not clicked yet. So the offense left points on the field. The defense needed to get more pressure but every time we brought the 4th man they gashed us. Their QB was on an unbelievable groove against us. It happens

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This. We actually did okay on O. Our D hadno answers, even when we pressured in the 2nd half. MSU played a really good game. In retrospect, that early Calzada pick was HUGE, just like our earlypick vs Bama.

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I don't call it the Calzada pick. He hit the receiver (Demas?) who laid up a set to the defender that our volleyball coach would be proud of.

Alpha Texan said:

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Divining Rod said:

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AgBQ-00 said:

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That was the game where we showed signs of being able to move the ball on the ground but everything had not clicked yet. So the offense left points on the field. The defense needed to get more pressure but every time we brought the 4th man they gashed us. Their QB was on an unbelievable groove against us. It happens

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This. We actually did okay on O. Our D hadno answers, even when we pressured in the 2nd half. MSU played a really good game. In retrospect, that early Calzada pick was HUGE, just like our earlypick vs Bama.

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I don't call it the Calzada pick. He hit the receiver (Demas?) who laid up a set to the defender that our volleyball coach would be proud of.

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Exactly. That pick wasn't on the QB, it was on the receiver. The other issue was the space given by the CB's and LB's in coverage. Way too much cushion. You need more exotic blitz packages against them as well.

Water under the bridge, but we should have used Tyree Johnson more. The few times we got pressure was with him off the edge. LSU only rushed three against Miss State and they were able to contain their receivers with their back eight. It did not work for us. In retrospect, we would have been better off with random blitzes like Bama did to them.

Also, our OL was still a major work in progress.

The loss to Mississippi State will end up as the most disappointing. They will likely lose road games at Arkansas and Auburn and finish anywhere between 5-7 to 7-5 depending on their home games against Kentucky and Ole Miss. Our defense allowed 438 total yards, but limited the scoring to keep us in the game. Kyle Field got loud enough to cause Mississippi State to commit two false start penalties and burn a timeout. Consequently, they missed a 49-yard field goal, and Seth Small made a 44-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 24-22. Then, we forced a punt that put us in position to win the game with a field goal. Instead, we allowed a safety that proved costly.

After numerous shuffling multiple starting offensive line combinations, we gelled in time to beat Alabama. If we beat Auburn and lose at Ole Miss, we would beat both Alabama teams but lose to both Mississippi teams in the same year.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda. All we can do now as fans, is make Kyle a nightmare for Auburn and PVAMU to play in. I was at the Miss State game, and Kyle got so loud that Miss State jumped on two false starts and had to take a timeout, causing a missed FG. Let's try to do that every play on 11/6.

How were the TB Bucs 7-5 through 12 weeks last year? Not to mention 0-2 vs the Saints, one of which was a blowout loss 38-3 but then beat the Saints in the playoffs and dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, a team that had beaten them earlier in the season? The answer is football happens. An 8(or more) team playoff will end the insanity of the week to week beauty contest. The fact that 2 unranked teams(Iowa St and UCLA) were FAVORED over two top 10 teams this past weekend tells us what oddsmakers think of the current beauty pageant..it's ridiculous

Jimbo4win said:

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How were the TB Bucs 7-5 through 12 weeks last year? Not to mention 0-2 vs the Saints, one of which was a blowout loss 38-3 but then beat the Saints in the playoffs and dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, a team that had beaten them earlier in the season? The answer is football happens. An 8(or more) team playoff will end the insanity of the week to week beauty contest. The fact that 2 unranked teams(Iowa St and UCLA) were FAVORED over two top 10 teams this past weekend tells us what oddsmakers think of the current beauty pageant..it's ridiculous

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True, but I'd argue there is still a fairly tight talent spread between the worst NFL team and best NFL team.

If you watched the game, you know why we lost. Same for Arkansas.

As frustrating as the D was vs. State, and I hope/pray/think we will not do that again, it did what it was supposed to do. State effectively scored 21 points. That loss was on the offense and in particular QB Calzada. We lost by 4 points, Zach gave them 5 points with his first pass and last play.

That INT is 99.9% on Zach, you can't have that inaccurate ball placement to a WR that is on the move running a crossing route, it has to be out in front of him. Could Demas have caught it? Sure, but that is on the QB, not just my opinion, but Jordan Rodgers said so in the game, McGee said so in his film study, and even Jimbo alluded to it in his presser.

The safety, look I know if you take a grounding call in the EZ it is a safety, I also know the OL did not block that great on that play, but you cannot hold the ball there and take a safety. Throw it into the stands in the general direction of a receiver, throw it at your RBs feet, something, anything, but you can't hold the ball and take a safety there. If you get called for grounding, so be it, but you can't lower your eyes and look at the pass rush and bail on the play and just take the safety, period.

The OL was not great that game, but they were good enough. Zach was still leaving good pockets, missing wide open WRs, playing hesitant, etc.

HOWEVER, the great news is that was the last game Zach looked like that. Now, he still misses some reads and doesn't make some throws that he should make, but his play right now is a 1000% improvement over Pig and State. Give me the Calzada of Mizzou and USC, much less Bama, vs. Pig and State and we win those games easily. If Zach played vs. State like he did vs. USC or Mizzou we beat State 35-21.

We were never a top 5 team due to new QB and OL, the injury to King was disappointing, the growth of the OL took longer than hoped with a true fish OL playing OC we had not planned on... but it is all coming up roses now and I believe we will win 2 or 3 of our last 4 to have a very good season all things considered. As well, if they care to look and acknowledge it, all the naysayers can also see the Jimbo QB coaching and development happening at warp speed with the play of Calzada.

State was the most frustrating loss of the Jimbo era by a mile but if we played them again on Saturday we would handle them easily IMHO.

As it is, BTHO bye and Auburn!

Miss State played more physical than we did on the line of scrimmage, on both sides of the ball.

That was the difference. It pretty much starts and ends there.

State got away with a whole lot of holding on the OL, but you have to be able to fight through that.

On D, to beat the pirate, you have to be able to bring solid pressure one down out of three with 3 lineman down. A very good DL should be able to do that. We were not able to.

Our OL looked horrible. We were not moving people.

Fast forward - we were more physical on the line of scrimmage against SC, Missouri, and Bama. Yes, we won the LoS against Bama for the first half, and I give us a draw in the second half.

If our line continues to be as physical for the rest of the season, we are in a good position to win every game. Auburn and Ole Miss are both excellent teams, and we could drop one or even two of those games even if we play very well, but, if our lines show up on those games like they have been, we will be very competitive.

Alpha Texan said:

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Let go of the Arky and Miss St frustrations. Those losses were crucial in beating Alabama. 2 very different teams in Aggie uniforms played Miss St and Bama. No film from that Miss State game did Bama much good to watch because our weaknesses became strengths.

We're not the same team, so don't pain yourself and compare week 5 v week 9 and say, "what if."

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Great post. Such as it ever was… you could say the same about 2012. The conservative team that lost to Florida (and then was done in by placekicking against LSU) in 2012 was playing at an incredible level by week 11 when we beat Bama, in Bryant - Denny and then destroyed Mizzou at home. Woulda coulda shoulda played like that in mid season and had a natty then. But had we won against fl and lsu might we have seen different play calling, etc against Bama and lost then?

Ifs and buts, take a ny6 bowl and a top 5-7 ranking into the offseason

I hate that defense. If you can't run it correctly, a la Army against Wake Forest, it's a disaster. Dropping 8, the secondary needs to be in attack mode, instead they were on their heels. The zone has to be covering the man in your zone, not dropping into a zone and standing like a statue until the ball is thrown. Given where we knew we were on offense, that defensive game plan was a dud...just as it was against LSU in '19 where we were so soft Burrow could practically walk for 15 yards if he decided to.

Anyway, you can't get it back.