ESPN.com ’s Pat Forde’s take on State
ESPN.com - NCF - Forde: Forde-Yard Dash
It Ain’t Any Prettier In Starkville
Ole Miss fans can take cold comfort in the similar struggles for Mississippi State under first-year coach Sylvester Croom (23). Good thing Croom won the historic opener against Tulane, because he’s followed it with blowout losses to Auburn and LSU sandwiched around a 9-7 loss to — ummmm, uhhhh, not a misprint — Maine. And now the Bulldogs have lost quarterback Omarr Conner (24) to a knee injury for at least two games, at Vandy and home against UAB.Croom inherited a mess from Jackie Sherrill (25), as becomes more obvious with each passing Saturday. The Bulldogs were 8-27 Sherrill’s final three years, as the coach became more involved in Nixonian paranoia than program upkeep. Even Sherrill’s decently touted final recruiting classes have splintered, leaving Croom with only a fraction of the talent he could have had.
Bottom line: State won’t be back anytime soon as a contender in the SEC West.
