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Tell me about Mel Tugger (that’s gold, Jerry!)

Fondren & Main

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28,794

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He’s a good coach. He was on the Ohio State defensive staff that won the national championship in the 2002 season. That defense was tough as nails. After DC Mark Dantonio left to take the Cincinnati job, the decision Tressel had to make on whom to elevate to DC was either Jim Heacock or Mel Tucker. He chose Heacock (whose brother coaches at ISU). Tucker moved on. I can’t recall where. Google it for yourself. 

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The Dog

The Dog 44,073

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He may be a good coach this is literally his first winning season as a head coach. He lost to Rutgers in his first game at Sparty.

MSU is playing a heavily backloaded schedule. I'd wait to see how they do the rest of the way before making any determination. 

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28,794

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5 minutes ago, The Dog said:

He may be a good coach this is literally his first winning season as a head coach. He lost to Rutgers in his first game at Sparty.

MSU is playing a heavily backloaded schedule. I'd wait to see how they do the rest of the way before making any determination. 

You play the hand you’re dealt. He’ll probably lose to Michigan on Saturday. That won’t make him a bad coach. Michigan is favored by 4.5 points.

Should be a good game. It would be a statement win if Tucker can pull off the upset. And Sparty’s had two weeks to prepare. 

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George Clooney

George Clooney 378

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He’s hired good assistants and put together a great support staff (Saeed Khalif is one of the premier DPPs in college football). They play well on special teams and usually win the turnover margin battle. They have two very athletic receivers (Jayden Reed and Speedy Nailor) and a good RB in Kenneth Walker III who are explosive plays waiting to happen. That being said, they still have to play three teams who are much more talented than them. I think highly of him, and I think they’ll eke out a win on Saturday.

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28,794

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10 hours ago, George Clooney said:

I think highly of him, and I think they’ll eke out a win on Saturday.

Don’t tease me. But then I live in a paradoxical world where I know in my head that it’s best for the conference if Michigan is good. But my heart can’t help but root against them in every game (except when they play Notre Dame).

But when it comes to Ohio State’s fortunes this season, the outcome of this game either way won’t really matter. Both teams are undefeated and one of them is going to take a loss. For now it doesn’t matter to the Buckeyes which one it is.

I’m really looking forward to this game. Of course I’d love to see tOSU ruin Michigan’s undefeated season and win the B1G East. But still...

GO GREEN!

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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5,571

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6 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

You played 7 games against teams that are 19-30.

It is part way through the season - right now MSU is 64 SOS, the remaining season SOS is 4, so it will all play out. I mean people are excited, but it isn't College Station, nobody is hanging any banners. Though it will be nice if Paul stays in East Lansing for another year Post a reply 1837765953

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George Clooney

George Clooney 378

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11 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Don’t tease me. But then I live in a paradoxical world where I know in my head that it’s best for the conference if Michigan is good. But my heart can’t help but root against them in every game (except when they play Notre Dame).

But when it comes to Ohio State’s fortunes this season, the outcome of this game either way won’t really matter. Both teams are undefeated and one of them is going to take a loss. For now it doesn’t matter to the Buckeyes which one it is.

I’m really looking forward to this game. Of course I’d love to see tOSU ruin Michigan’s undefeated season and win the B1G East. But still...

GO GREEN!

I think Michigan is the better team, but I like the intangibles of Michigan St and their home environment. I think McNamara will make a key mistake that costs them the game, and their fans will call for McCarthy to start.

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MonkeyDoughnut

MonkeyDoughnut 10,334

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On 10/26/2021 at 11:58 AM, Fondren & Main said:

How the hell has this guy turned Michigan State around so fast?

As others have pointed out... he hasn't.... yet.  Schedule has been everything. By end of season Herbstreit will be asking "What happened to Michigan State?" after talking them up this past week.

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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5,571

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1 hour ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

As others have pointed out... he hasn't.... yet.  Schedule has been everything. By end of season Herbstreit will be asking "What happened to Michigan State?" after talking them up this past week.

He has - there have been losses to those shitty teams over the past years, so don't just blow it off as schedule

2020 Losses included Rutgers, Iowa, Indiana
2019 losses included Arizona St, Illinois, 
2018 losses included ASU, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Oregon (7-6 in the Red Box bowl)

believe me, I've watched enough of these game to realize there have been plenty of losses to shitty team or in games that should have been won; this team hasn't done that  (yet)

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MonkeyDoughnut

MonkeyDoughnut 10,334

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10 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

He has - there have been losses to those shitty teams over the past years, so don't just blow it off as schedule

2020 Losses included Rutgers, Iowa, Indiana
2019 losses included Arizona St, Illinois, 
2018 losses included ASU, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Oregon (7-6 in the Red Box bowl)

believe me, I've watched enough of these game to realize there have been plenty of losses to shitty team or in games that should have been won; this team hasn't done that  (yet)

That's true, they should have lost the Nebraska game and certainly could have lost the Indiana game but they didn't. That being the case they'll likely to go 0-5 in the final games to make up for it. 😏

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2,815

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Waiting on my next call, here are some deeper thoughts on the team, the record, the conference, what's ahead and Tucker. 

The team is mediocre good to good. They have some very good players on both sides of the ball. As usual with good Michigan State teams, they are not loaded with 4 and 5* type players. They are loaded up with good football players from flyover country who are tough and smart and have heart. They include a lot of Dantonio era recruits as top performers. On D, S Xavier Henderson is the best player - Ohio product and Coach D recruit. Jacub Panasiuk is a very good pass rusher. Dantonio. Slade a very good DT. Dantonio. The list goes on. On Offense, QB Thorne is a Dantonio recruit. Reed transferred in from Western MI under Coach D. Nailor is a Dantonio recruit. 4/5 of the OL and pretty much the entire 2nd unit. But that isn't to say that top end talent wasn't lacking. It was. The RB room was mediocre at best. Walker is a stud and they are very fortunate to have landed him. Tuck hit the portal hard and brought in some great talent at DB also from the SEC. A starting LB from the SEC. Together they have gelled and formed a decent team. 

Last year didn't count. For anyone. If you are trying to compare anything using last year as a stake in the ground, punch yourself in the nuts. This is true across the board but particularly for MSU considering Tucker came in about a two weeks before everything shut down and didn't get to go on the road to recruit, host recruits, or meet or practice with players. Then Covid went through the team and knocked half of them out. 

The conference is mostly shit outside of Ohio State. That is mostly true of all conferences, and is certainly true of the B1G. Maybe Iowa is good? Maybe PSU is good with Clifford at full strength? I don't really think anyone can compete with Ohio State. They pull this shit every year when they're breaking in a new QB. Start slow, show cracks in the armor and then steamroll. Overall they are a pro team in a college conference. Expecting even UM or PSU or Wisconsin to compete with them on a year-in, year-out basis is a fool's errand. Sometimes a team will jump up and knock them off their perch but it certainly shouldn't be considered the norm. I know it is everyone's wet dream to get the conference back to a place where Michigan is right up there with OSU but that shit isn't happening anytime soon, and certainly not under Harbaugh. Everyone also always likes to assume that UM and PSU are far superior to the MSUs, Wiscos, Iowas because of the talent they recruit, but those teams are all on a relatively even plane and far below the plane of OSU. 

MSU could well finish 11-1 losing to OSU 56-14 and still would just be "ok". Nothing would shock me but I expect the round robin games between MSU, UM and PSU to all be relatively close. 1-1 all around would be a good guess. 

OSU could slip up. Who knows. But they are the only team worth a shit in the conference from a national perspective in my opinion. 

Tucker has done a nice job. He's kept the "good continuity" going from the Dantonio era and snuffed out the rot that was starting to become a little more common. He's super savvy with social media, with the transfer portal, recruiting. Basically he's the kind of coach you want moving forward in the NIL era. Plus from what I have seen - he can coach a little. My eyes bugged out of my head the first time I saw this team block this year. Now that's not all on Tucker, a lot of that can be due to the fact that (maybe?) OL coach Chris Kapilovic is very good. And that (almost certainly) Mark Staten was very bad. But I haven't seen hat on hat, no missed assignments like that basically ever for MSU that I can remember. Since then some polish has come off but it was really nice to see. I hope he sticks around and I think he will, at least for a few years. But I'm wrong a lot. 

Me? I don't really give a shit. I am going to watch the game Saturday but win or lose it's not really going to affect me. The past couple of years have kind of put a damper on things for me for a variety of reasons. College football just isn't a huge priority for me right now. 

 

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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5,571

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13 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

Waiting on my next call, here are some deeper thoughts on the team, the record, the conference, what's ahead and Tucker. 

The team is mediocre good to good. They have some very good players on both sides of the ball. As usual with good Michigan State teams, they are not loaded with 4 and 5* type players. They are loaded up with good football players from flyover country who are tough and smart and have heart. They include a lot of Dantonio era recruits as top performers. On D, S Xavier Henderson is the best player - Ohio product and Coach D recruit. Jacub Panasiuk is a very good pass rusher. Dantonio. Slade a very good DT. Dantonio. The list goes on. On Offense, QB Thorne is a Dantonio recruit. Reed transferred in from Western MI under Coach D. Nailor is a Dantonio recruit. 4/5 of the OL and pretty much the entire 2nd unit. But that isn't to say that top end talent wasn't lacking. It was. The RB room was mediocre at best. Walker is a stud and they are very fortunate to have landed him. Tuck hit the portal hard and brought in some great talent at DB also from the SEC. A starting LB from the SEC. Together they have gelled and formed a decent team. 

Last year didn't count. For anyone. If you are trying to compare anything using last year as a stake in the ground, punch yourself in the nuts. This is true across the board but particularly for MSU considering Tucker came in about a two weeks before everything shut down and didn't get to go on the road to recruit, host recruits, or meet or practice with players. Then Covid went through the team and knocked half of them out. 

The conference is mostly shit outside of Ohio State. That is mostly true of all conferences, and is certainly true of the B1G. Maybe Iowa is good? Maybe PSU is good with Clifford at full strength? I don't really think anyone can compete with Ohio State. They pull this shit every year when they're breaking in a new QB. Start slow, show cracks in the armor and then steamroll. Overall they are a pro team in a college conference. Expecting even UM or PSU or Wisconsin to compete with them on a year-in, year-out basis is a fool's errand. Sometimes a team will jump up and knock them off their perch but it certainly shouldn't be considered the norm. I know it is everyone's wet dream to get the conference back to a place where Michigan is right up there with OSU but that shit isn't happening anytime soon, and certainly not under Harbaugh. Everyone also always likes to assume that UM and PSU are far superior to the MSUs, Wiscos, Iowas because of the talent they recruit, but those teams are all on a relatively even plane and far below the plane of OSU. 

MSU could well finish 11-1 losing to OSU 56-14 and still would just be "ok". Nothing would shock me but I expect the round robin games between MSU, UM and PSU to all be relatively close. 1-1 all around would be a good guess. 

OSU could slip up. Who knows. But they are the only team worth a shit in the conference from a national perspective in my opinion. 

Tucker has done a nice job. He's kept the "good continuity" going from the Dantonio era and snuffed out the rot that was starting to become a little more common. He's super savvy with social media, with the transfer portal, recruiting. Basically he's the kind of coach you want moving forward in the NIL era. Plus from what I have seen - he can coach a little. My eyes bugged out of my head the first time I saw this team block this year. Now that's not all on Tucker, a lot of that can be due to the fact that (maybe?) OL coach Chris Kapilovic is very good. And that (almost certainly) Mark Staten was very bad. But I haven't seen hat on hat, no missed assignments like that basically ever for MSU that I can remember. Since then some polish has come off but it was really nice to see. I hope he sticks around and I think he will, at least for a few years. But I'm wrong a lot. 

Me? I don't really give a shit. I am going to watch the game Saturday but win or lose it's not really going to affect me. The past couple of years have kind of put a damper on things for me for a variety of reasons. College football just isn't a huge priority for me right now. 

 

tl:dr 

#GoGreen

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UDontKnow

UDontKnow 10,447

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On 10/28/2021 at 10:21 AM, Juicy said:

Will be tough for Mercenary Mel to turn down SEC money. Imagine the transfer portal squad he could put together down there where they will literally let anyone in. 

 

If Mel Tucker moves this offseason, it will suck for Texas trying to retool its roster.

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ousux

ousux 5,601

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If Mel Tucker moves this offseason, it will suck for Texas trying to retool its roster.
Doesnt matter who corndog gets, the new HC recruiting bump combined with the built in advantages of kids being born with tigah blood down there means the next few recruiting cycles will be a battle for all P5 Texas programs plus BlowU. The Ogre being canned wont even help us with '22 thanks to this epic shitshow of a season.
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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2,815

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On 10/27/2021 at 4:47 PM, Baboontyme said:

Waiting on my next call, here are some deeper thoughts on the team, the record, the conference, what's ahead and Tucker. 

The team is mediocre good to good. They have some very good players on both sides of the ball. As usual with good Michigan State teams, they are not loaded with 4 and 5* type players. They are loaded up with good football players from flyover country who are tough and smart and have heart. They include a lot of Dantonio era recruits as top performers. On D, S Xavier Henderson is the best player - Ohio product and Coach D recruit. Jacub Panasiuk is a very good pass rusher. Dantonio. Slade a very good DT. Dantonio. The list goes on. On Offense, QB Thorne is a Dantonio recruit. Reed transferred in from Western MI under Coach D. Nailor is a Dantonio recruit. 4/5 of the OL and pretty much the entire 2nd unit. But that isn't to say that top end talent wasn't lacking. It was. The RB room was mediocre at best. Walker is a stud and they are very fortunate to have landed him. Tuck hit the portal hard and brought in some great talent at DB also from the SEC. A starting LB from the SEC. Together they have gelled and formed a decent team. 

Last year didn't count. For anyone. If you are trying to compare anything using last year as a stake in the ground, punch yourself in the nuts. This is true across the board but particularly for MSU considering Tucker came in about a two weeks before everything shut down and didn't get to go on the road to recruit, host recruits, or meet or practice with players. Then Covid went through the team and knocked half of them out. 

The conference is mostly shit outside of Ohio State. That is mostly true of all conferences, and is certainly true of the B1G. Maybe Iowa is good? Maybe PSU is good with Clifford at full strength? I don't really think anyone can compete with Ohio State. They pull this shit every year when they're breaking in a new QB. Start slow, show cracks in the armor and then steamroll. Overall they are a pro team in a college conference. Expecting even UM or PSU or Wisconsin to compete with them on a year-in, year-out basis is a fool's errand. Sometimes a team will jump up and knock them off their perch but it certainly shouldn't be considered the norm. I know it is everyone's wet dream to get the conference back to a place where Michigan is right up there with OSU but that shit isn't happening anytime soon, and certainly not under Harbaugh. Everyone also always likes to assume that UM and PSU are far superior to the MSUs, Wiscos, Iowas because of the talent they recruit, but those teams are all on a relatively even plane and far below the plane of OSU. 

MSU could well finish 11-1 losing to OSU 56-14 and still would just be "ok". Nothing would shock me but I expect the round robin games between MSU, UM and PSU to all be relatively close. 1-1 all around would be a good guess. 

OSU could slip up. Who knows. But they are the only team worth a shit in the conference from a national perspective in my opinion. 

Tucker has done a nice job. He's kept the "good continuity" going from the Dantonio era and snuffed out the rot that was starting to become a little more common. He's super savvy with social media, with the transfer portal, recruiting. Basically he's the kind of coach you want moving forward in the NIL era. Plus from what I have seen - he can coach a little. My eyes bugged out of my head the first time I saw this team block this year. Now that's not all on Tucker, a lot of that can be due to the fact that (maybe?) OL coach Chris Kapilovic is very good. And that (almost certainly) Mark Staten was very bad. But I haven't seen hat on hat, no missed assignments like that basically ever for MSU that I can remember. Since then some polish has come off but it was really nice to see. I hope he sticks around and I think he will, at least for a few years. But I'm wrong a lot. 

Me? I don't really give a shit. I am going to watch the game Saturday but win or lose it's not really going to affect me. The past couple of years have kind of put a damper on things for me for a variety of reasons. College football just isn't a huge priority for me right now. 

 

Nothing has changed. Lock him up, lifetime contract. He's got a good thing going, and if anyone expected us to compete with OSU, they're a moron. The goal is to get talent on the PSU/UM level and combine that with Mel's approach and MSU's typical tough guy, chip on shoulder approach. Never going to compete with OSU or Bama on a year in and year out basis unless a massive sinkhole opens up underneath Columbus. 

Edit - and good call Clooney on the MSU/UM game. 

Edited by Baboontyme
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