Glass Half Full

Mississippi State is an unsung contender of the SEC. Here's a look at their offseason and why confidence mixed with the right amount of frustration can be a recipe for wins. I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Description of Mississippi State’s preseason has a lot to do with Nick Saban’s least favorite word- expectations.

            “I want our team to be harder working, more disciplined- a tougher football team than we were last year,” Mullen said.

            A lot of things have changed since Coach Mullen came to the school says MSU defensive lineman Fletcher Cox. “We are expected to execute on the highest level. This year we want to win the west.”

            “Its about expectations. He tells us to reach our potential every day, to handle our business,” MSU running back Vick Ballard said. “We’re 18, 19, 20-year-olds, young men, and he expects us to act like it.”

            During every preseason, teams must fill roster holes. Some have greater needs than others, but quarter back Chris Relf sees Mississippi State’s situation in a “glass half full” way.

            “We’ve got more than just one guy coming back.”

            Relf says their strengths this season are young players that are “going to be good.” But Mississippi State, like others in the conference are dealing with losses in the line backing core. Young players full of potential makes that scenario lose its sting, but there are still intangibles that have to be proven in order for that worry to go away completely.

            “We have some talent,” Mullen said. “These guys need to step up. I know we have the talent but it is the mental strength. Are these guys mentally ready for the big stage?”

            That’s a question going through EVERY college football coach’s mind right now. Are they ready? And, how do you transition from one season to the next?

            “What I’ve learned is you don’t try to replace players, you build around their strengths,” Mullen said. “Put them in a position to be successful.”

            Last season the Bulldogs saw glimpses of great success but in the end went no further than an 8-4 record and beating Michigan in the Gator bowl. It was a decisive 52-14 win to end their season but it certainly isn’t where their expectations lead today.

            “The whole expectation is: We had a nine-win season last year, and we look at it as a motivator,” Ballard said. “You don’t want to get complacent.”

             Now, spirits on the team are lifted, pugnacious and ready to learn from the past. For Vick Ballard, their toughest games last year were Auburn and Arkansas who served as big lessons to the competition in the SEC.

            “They both came down to the wire, we didn’t finish,” Ballard said.

            For the Bulldogs that is motivation in 2011.

            “After every workout we do this thing called fourth quarter," Ballard. "After you think you’re tired, do something to make yourself even more tired- push that level.”

            Quarter back Chris Relf will have to do just that in order to excel further in the quarter back position.

            “I had a lot of concerns with [Relf] when he first got to Mississippi State with his commitment to being quarterback,” Mullen said. “But after the first year he started to understand it.”

            Mullen was waiting for his quarterback to mature and anxiously waited for his responsibilities on and off the field to click. Thankfully it has.

             “Now he’s taking it to a whole other level,” Mullen said. “He bought into the program, he understands the expectations for the leadership role and understands the work needed on and off the field to be a quarterback in the SEC.”

            Relf says he is working on timing and quickness to increase his arsenal. Defensive lineman Fletcher Cox says he’s working on being a more dynamic pass rusher- both know everyone is expected to step up their game. 

            “Confidence is real high right now,” Cox said. “But we’re talking about execution now. Making those big plays.”

            Despite the big plays and confidence, the Bulldogs still haven’t forgotten the unfulfilled season of 2010.  When a reporter asks Relf if it helps playing with a chip on your shoulders- there is no hesitation when he answers, “yes it does.”

Where Did All The Champions Go?

Cause they sure as hell aren’t in Baton Rouge. LSU players are allegedly involved in a bar fight. Why that pisses me off extra.

            Last Saturday at Tuscaloosa’s only movie theater, Hollywood Cobb 16, there was a shooting where 17-year-old Arthur Bryant Jr. was arrested for allegedly shooting a man in the head after a large group was sighted arguing. The victim, also in his teens, was treated in the hospital and later released. Tuscaloosa police say the argument escalated quickly, could have been gang related and may have even started after words were exchanged on a social media site. I don’t know what words could make someone invincible enough to pull out a gun and shoot someone in the presence of a group larger than 40 in number.

            Five days later- that Thursday in a very different city of Baton Rouge, a group fight broke out where as many as 50 LSU players happened to be. Four in particular, including LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson, were summoned to tell police their side of the story but instead chose to hire a defense attorney and postpone cooperation with police.

             These are two very different situations but both have to do with people thinking they’re bigger and better than they actually are. If you think you are a thug, you’re not. If you think you are a gangster- you’re an idiot and if you think you are a college football player- think again because that title can be easily stripped and it means leading an example which no one in college football has done lately. Actually let me rephrase. That title used to be easily stripped and it used to mean leading an example. The definition, at least my definition of an athlete will never be the same.

            If 50 players have to go out to celebrate the end of two-a-days then they aren’t ready for the week in and week out competition of the SEC. Good luck LSU. You’ve got a gaggle of idiots running around in Baton Rouge celebrating the “end” of hard work, already thinking they’re a big deal.

            Sgt. Donald Stone with the Baton Rouge Police told the Associated Press that he could confirm one of the players kicked one of the four victims in the head but could not confirm which one. All four victims were injured. Three with minor injuries, one with a more serious injury that could bring forth a felony charge.

            I don’t know what the victims did to antagonize the attack but I know it wouldn’t be gangster if someone wasn’t kicked in the head.

            It wouldn’t be gangster if a team didn’t celebrate the end of intense practices as a season full of fourth–ranked-in-the-nation-expectation wasn’t on the line in a 13-day future.

            It wouldn’t be gangster if there wasn’t criminal scandal days before an out of conference test against a pugnacious Oregon Duck opponent- ready to pay the SEC back.

Pryor & Tressel Talk it Out

            It wouldn’t be gangster if you didn’t try to get a free car out of the power of a name or a pay for play scam- but those are different stories.

            It might not be gangster, but it is champion caliber, something that should be expected of an athlete and football player given the chance to play on the stage of College Football.

            I am naive but I refuse to stop holding athletes accountable to being good people. For those who defend inexcusable behavior by saying these young adults are just juvenile in the ways of the world and dealing with fame and recognition. I answer by saying I still don’t expect them to be juvenile and reckless when threatening human life.

            There should be no double standard. There should be a zero tolerance policy where morals and dignity are protected in a respectable creed to hold a standard to be better people on and off the field. No, it’s not possible- but its not champion unless we strive for it.

Then again, I never expect champions from Baton Rouge.

ha.