We have a lot to discuss...

And I'm going to fly through the DAMN TALKING POINTS as quickly and efficiently as I can:

First off a big ole HOOOUUUAAAHHH!!! to the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Coach Dan Mullen for handing Michigan (winningest program in NCAA history) their worst bowl game loss in the program's history. Keep up the good work, Dawgs!

Now, the bad: Basketball.

Elgin "the Amputee" Bailey and Renardo "New Jack" Sidney come to blows in Hawaii.

Sidney is suspended from playing yet aGAIN (what ever happened to three strikes and you're out?).

Baily and Sidney are sent home from Hawaii and the rest of the road trip.

Rick "I recruit, they shoot" Stansbury waffles harder than a weak-willed fat kid in a candy store, and finally acquiesces to the "talent" he's been chasing and lobbying for over the last year and a half, leading to Elgin "Teddy Bear" Baily requesting a transfer.

Sidney is reinstated, cementing his importance in his own mind.

Twanny "Who?" Beckham is disgusted by the state of the program and sees his playing time greatly diminished with the return of Dee "I need a new watch" Bost, and also requests a transfer.

MSU basketball is 8-6 against a pretty weak OOC schedule (RPI somewhere in the 200's?) and now turns it's focus to the murderer's row known as the SEC.

Can Renardo "All me, all the time" Sidney and Dee "Damn a deadline" Bost change the complexion of this squad and have them in contention for a spot in the big dance come March? No.

That's right I said it.

Some experts have indicated that it will take an SEC west team such as MSU having 12+ conference wins in order to make the dance. Do I think these dawgs can pull together and win 12 of the next 16 games?

Absolutely not... and ultimately it all falls on Rick "X's and O's are for tic-tac-toes" Stansbury's shoulders.

He recruited the "players"(pronounced: prima-donas) and has "coached" them (the word "coached" is in quotation marks because any coach that can't find time to practice the fucking ZONE DEFENSE somewhere along the way BEFORE the season starts isn't doing their damn job, now are they?) to be what they are today. A bunch of individuals who are more concerned with their playing time and their potential NBA futures (pipe dreams) than representing their school and their fans.

Renardo "Double Stuff" Sidney clearly possesses some talent or he wouldn't have been so highly recruited by USC, UCLA and the scores of other schools, but he is literally getting too big for his britches (that's "bRitches", Sid... with an "R"... fatty). He will not magically be in "game shape" this Saturday after bellying up to the buffet twice a week for the last 2 years. He will pant and puff and wheeze and huff, he will quit on plays, and he will walk (not run) down the floor, likely on his 3rd or 4th possession of the game. He will do all this and more (less?) because he is already a star in his own mind, and people like Rick "the Kingmaker" Stansbury feed into that by letting him get away with murder...

Ok so it's not murder, but he did beat the shit outta Elgin.

Still, they are my dawgs and I will cheer them on and hope like hell I end up eating crow in march... I like mine with hot sauce.

Go Dawgs!

A quick look ahead with my predictions...I expect MSU to jump out to a 3-0 start in conference play, followed by a hideous 3 game skid against SEC east teams.

MSU v Bama -MSU wins by 5
MSU v OM -MSU wins by 2
MSU v Auburn -MSU wins by 4
MSU v GA -GA wins by 2
MSU v Vandy -Vandy wins by 6
MSU v Florida -Fla wins by 8


P.S. - In case you're a regular reader and wondering, this basketball team doesn't get theme music until I feel they deserve it.... good or bad.

The morning aftermath, Alabama State

Ravern Johnson was suspended for the game last night due to missing classes, but ultimately it didn't matter. The Bulldogs pulled out a win in classically sloppy style over Alabama State. The Bulldogs looked slow, lazy, and sloppy but there were some bright spots. Riley Benock seems to finally be coming out of his shell and has improved his offense. Elgin Bailey is looking better and better, and freshman Shaun Smith played well except for a few freshman mistakes.

Tonight marks the (hopefully) triumphant debut of Renardo Sidney on the hardwood. I expect Rick Stansbury to play Sidney 18-20 minutes to see what kind of "game-shape" he's in before heading to the Bahamas this weekend to take on Virginia Tech. Rumor has it that Rick and Renardo have been doing the P90X workout together for several weeks, which, if true, is good news for MSU fans who have expressed some concern about Sidney's weight and conditioning. Just a few short hours and this young man will finally be able to play again after an almost 2 year suspension by the NCAA for what they deemed as "lying to the NCAA." Insert sarcastic comment about Cam and Cecil Newton here.

Good luck, Bulldogs... make us proud, and GO DAWGS!

It's still football season, right?

As the MSU football teams preps for their visit to Jacksonville, FL for the 2011 Gator Bowl, the basketball team is already seven games into their season.

The Basketball Dawgs are now sitting at 5-2 after the first seven games. There are a couple of bad losses to Florida Atlantic and East Tennessee State that are going to hurt the Bulldog's chances come tournament time, so the Dawgs are hoping to find some production from their role-players until the duo of Dee Bost and Renardo Sidney return to the hardwood.

Dee Bost missed the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline by approximately 24 hours, causing the NCAA to suspend him for nine games. Renardo Sidney was the much maligned transfer student who was accused (but never proven) to receive improper benefits and the NCAA SUSPECTS that he lied, so he sat out an entire season plus sitting a third of this season as well. And for those of you keeping track, Cam Newton's dad asked for $200,000 for his son to play football at Auburn "without his knowledge"* which resulted in him being suspended between the hours of 9 pm and 9 am for one day, I guess, if he, sorta, you know, felt like being suspended, or whatever....

* - UTTER. BULLSHIT.

Anyway, the NCAA in it's infinite wisdom makes these decisions on a case-by-case basis, and CLEARLY it's always with the student-athlete's best interests at heart, but I digress.

The Basketball Dawgs are in the midst of a 5-games-in-5-days stretch. Having dropped the first of the five to East Tennessee St. the Bulldogs rebounded (get it? a little basketball humor for you there) with 2 straight wins over North Carolina A&T and a scrappy Nicholls State team that beat SEC West foe LSU on their home court earlier this season.

Conventional wisdom dictates that SEC teams shouldn't lose to "lesser foes" like Florida Atlantic, but it seems every season Rick Stansbury and the Basketball Bulldogs leave fans scratching their heads at the odd loss here or there. Hopefully when the Dynamic Duo of Bost and Sidney return (which one should be Batman, anyway?) the offensive production will pick up, and the outlook will become more palatable. For now, we have to look to players like Rayvern Johnson and Kodi Augustus to step in and produce until we get our full lineup back. Hang in there, Dawgs... January will be here before you know it.

Credentials applied for...

Please excuse the hanging preposition in the title...

The House of Hooch has applied for media credentials for the 2011 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL! Hopefully the reviewing committee considers my publication as valid as all of my loyal readers. Whatever the case, I make you this sincere promise, avid reader... I will have the best game-day sideline coverage of any MSU sports blog, period!

Either way, House of Hooch will be on hand for the Gator Bowl, so things are bound to get interesting!

Where is Everybody?**

**the notation is because this is all I had at the time of kickoff. My intent was to mock the lack of attendance for OM this season, and then say we would beat them by 6.5 points (1 TD). however to be fair that is now hind site, and anything that follows this is all that was said before kickoff. such is the speed of the internet.

____________________________________________________________________________



This week's song is a dedication to the Ole Miss Rebel Bears Country Jamboree and Petting Zoo fan-base and/or stadium. Take your pick, there won't be anyone there to argue.

Where is Everybody? - NIN

did you happen to catch
or did it happen so fast
what you thought would always last
has passed you by
is everything speeding up
or am I slowing down
I'm just spinning around
and I don't know why
all the pieces don't fit
but I really didn't give a shit
never wanted to be like you
but for all I aspire
I am really a liar
and I'm running out of things I can do...

I'd like to stay
but every day
everything pushes me further away
if you could show
help me to know
how it's supposed to be
where did it go?

pleading and
needing and
bleeding and
breeding and
feeding
exceeding
where is everybody?
trying and lying
defying denying
crying and dying
where is everybody?

well okay, enough,
you've had your fun
but come on thare has to be someone
that hasn't yet become
so numb and succumb
and god damn I am so tired of pretending
of wishing I was ending
when all I'm really doing is trying to hide
and keep it inside
and fill it with lies
open my eyes?
maybe I wish I could try

pleading and needing
and bleeding and breeding
feeding exceeding
where is everybody?
trying and lying
defying denying
crying and dying
where is everybody?

Bouncin' Back...

Well if you read the blog last week you'll know I called for MSU to beat Bama, but as it turns out my stipulation regarding turnovers was dead on. Unfortunately we were on the losing end of that particular statistic, and the rest, as they say, is history...

As a matter of fact, that's exactly the way the Bulldogs should look at it. It's history. We've got to move on because there's still games left to be played, and both of the remaining games have implications on where the Dawgs land in the college football bowl landscape.

At this time of year the swirl of rumors and speculations has reached category 1 hurricane levels. There is much supposition of which team will go where, who will get snubbed by this bowl, etc. I've personally seen predictions for MSU's bowl appearance ranging from Independence and Motor City all the way to Peach and Cotton. Of course our coaches and players can't focus on all this 'hooey' if they want to keep winning football games, so the theme for this week is Bouncing Back... and so it gives me great pleasure to segue this spiel towards a great band and close personal friends of mine, Young Agent Jones.

Oh Yeah - Young Agent Jones

Oh, yeah...

You lose a lot of drive
Thinking everything is fine
But the road will rise up to meet you
And you'll remember you love to drive.
Sure there's a lot of love lost between you
And who you used to be
But you can't think long about it
Since you both think differently.
If you're living inside a bubble
At least you're squeaky clean.
Bubble pop, clock stop, bottom drop
Here's a powerful dose of reality.

Oh, yeah...Welcome back
Oh, yeah...This is living
Oh, yeah...It's coming back
Oh, yeah...

I can think I can speak
I can move I can breathe
Can't believe I didn't lose my mind.
Finally a mission a chance to make decisions
Cheesy lyrics out of my mouth.
I'm worth more to myself than anybody else.
Gotta drill this stuff into my head.
Bouncing back from being useless
To absolutely ruthless.
Coming out as hard as I can!

Oh, yeah...

I could go on for days
About this life-changing moment
That woke my head up.
So I am driven
I know I'm a normal ordinary guy
But I've gotta do something
I've gotta do something...

So watch out you suckers
Watch out, I'm coming.
Watch out you suckers
'Cause now I remember!


It's time for the Bulldogs to "Bounce back from being useless to absolutely ruthless" and come out as hard as they can against Arkansas. It will take nothing short of MSU's best effort to walk away with a 'W' this week.

KEYS TO THE GAME -
OFFENSE - The Bulldogs took their lumps in Alabama, and I don't believe "flat" to be an accurate and expressive enough word to describe the MSU offense in that particular outing. You can trot out all the excuses you want, but in the end MSU did not execute anywhere near their level of skill, and the result was a big Bama lead early that was insurmountable.
The Bulldogs catch a break regarding what they'll be facing this week, though. If Alabama's defense is Asiago, then Arkansas' D is Swiss. That's right, I just made a cheese analogy. Be that as it may, Mississippi State will still need to see significant improvement in the passing game or Arkansas' swiss-cheese-deez is still going to load the box and try to stuff the run. Relf must make Arkansas respect the passing threat, which is a tall task givin what we've seen this season.

DEFENSE - The MSU defense should be able to hold serve in the run game, as they've proven throughout the season. The problem is Arkansas isn't going to line up and try to jam it down your throat (obligatory "That's what she said!"). Ryan Mallet will dissect the Bulldog secondary like a master surgeon unless he is pressured early and often. The MSU DB's will have to play lights out to keep the Dawgs in this one, and even so you can expect the Hogs to break at least 2 big (60 yd+) plays which could result in TD's, if not more. Manny Diaz will have to be creative to find ways to bring pressure on Mallet and still have adequate coverage on the Hog receivers.

BOTTOM LINE -
BIG PLAYS - As I said, even if the Bulldogs play their best game, you're not going to stop a passer like Mallet 100% of the time. Limiting big plays is key to hanging in there and being in a position to win late in the game. Likewise, MSU will need some position players to step up and make significant contributions on the offensive side of the ball. So if you're asking what MSU needs to win this game... in a word? Heart.

WILD AND WOOLLY PREDICTION -
MSU 41 ARK 38

REALISTIC PREDICTION -
MSU 27 ARK 24

Yes, I'm doing it again. I guess it's Dan Mullen's fault for "bringing the swagger back" to MSU. I feel confident that the Bulldogs can line up and be competitive with any opponent they face, and that is a crucial and often overlooked element to any successful program. And before you get in tither, even if we lose to Ark this weekend you can be damn sure I'll be calling for a win in the Egg Bowl next week, too. Hell I've got to be right at least once... right?

Stranger Danger!

We've got a lot to cover this week, so let's get to it... right after you watch this.

Good stuff, huh? Mad props go out to Derek Cody (@derekcody on twitter) for this and the rest of his videos we've linked in the blog this season. Great work, Derek!

This week's dedication goes out to, well, a lot of folks. It's dedicated to both Alabama and Mississippi State, since pretty much no one predicted that they'd be "wearing" identical 7-2 records going into this week's game. It's also dedicated to Auburn, Cam & Cecil Newton, Kenny Rogers, John Bond and a whole slew of others, because their collective cloak and dagger routine has the entire nation wondering just what the hell is REALLY going on?

So without further ado...

The Stranger - Billy Joel

Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and
Show ourselves
When everyone has gone.
Some are satin some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They're the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on.

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger.
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell.
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger?
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don't be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then.
You've done it, why can't
Someone else?
You should know by now
You've been there yourself.

There's a lot of meaning to be gleaned from those lyrics if one so chooses.

First, let's get the Rented Mule Saga out of the way. The timeline goes a little something like this (note: This information has been gathered from various message boards and blogs around the internet, so it is most likely 100% factual. However, we reserve the right to change/edit/update/remove this information as we see fit in light of any new information that comes to bear after the writing of this entry. If you have a question about our sources then learn2internet.):

1) Cam Newton is born.
2) Cecil Newton watches his mule, er, son grow into a talented football player and dollar signs roll up in his eyes like a damn cartoon.
3) Cam first goes to Florida, where he cheats his ass off and steals a laptop. He is dismissed from Florida.
4) Cam goes to JuCo.
5) Papa Cecil decides to cash in (possibly for a second time if he pulled this off at Florida?) on his son's new-found "free agency."
6) Papa Cecil skips his seminar on "how to subtly ask for money from college athletics 101".
7) Papa Cecil shops his mule, er, son around to various SEC schools.
8) Kenny Rogers tries to wedge his fat ass into the middle of this situation to make some bread by calling former teammates and soliciting funds.
9) John Bond rides in on a white horse like Sir Gallahad and blows the whistle on Papa Cecil, and, by extension, all the other dirty motherfuckers involved, by reporting the solicitation to MSU, who in turn reports it to the SEC as per Mike Slive's mandate.
10) Mike Slive does his best to brush this gigantic steaming pile of elephant dung under the proverbial carpet.
11) Rumors and allegations swirl between Dec. 2009 and July 2010.
12) More information comes to light in July and the NCAA steps in.
13) Thanks to the glory that is the Information Age all this evidence is hinted at and pussy-footed around all over the internet for weeks at a time, driving ratings and web page views through the roof.
14) Auburn claims no knowledge of any wrong doing throughout the entire process.
15) Auburn decides to sit Cam Newton for the Georgia game, just in case.
16) All across Alabama frantic 911 calls take place as Auburn's fans' heads explode, leaving family and friends to pick up bits of brain, skull, and other fucked up, repugnant shit.

Get all that? Good, now on to our game...

MSU faces Alabama in Tuscaloosa this Saturday night in what is an unexpected meeting between two 7-2 SEC West teams. Mississippi State is riding high on the crest of a six-game winning streak, whereas Bama limps into the game licking their wounds after the luckiest son of a bitch alive pulls another rabbit out of his gr-ass.

KEYS TO THE GAME -
OFFENSE - For Mississippi State to have a chance at winning this game, they must not only establish a serviceable (if not strong) running game, but they must also present a legitimate passing threat to keep one of the best defenses in the nation from loading the box and crushing hearts, skulls and dreams. Dan Mullen was quoted as saying that Chris Relf spent considerable time in the off-week working on his passing game, and hopefully something good will come of that.

DEFENSE - MSU caught several breaks this season in the form of key players being out, whether by injury or suspension. AJ Green was held out against Georgia. Demps did not play at Florida. Case Keenum was out for Houston. The list goes on, indeed, because Trent Richardson is questionable for this weekend's game against the Bulldogs. Even so the Dawgs must prepare for a solid ground game as Mark Ingram, who won the first ever Heisman for Alabama last season, will still be a factor. MSU has been successful stopping the run for most of the season, but Greg McElroy will test the Dawgs through the air, as well. The defense must create at least 2 turnovers that the Bulldogs turn into points on the board to get this game in hand.

BOTTOM LINE -
TURNOVERS - Since the LSU game, when MSU had 5 turnovers, the Bulldogs have done a good job of taking care of the ball. They need to take it one step further this weekend, and not only protect the rock, but find ways to steal it from Bama in order to lock this game down. If the Bulldogs end up with a negative turnover ratio in this game it's as good as gone.

WILD AND WOOLLY PREDICTION -
MSU 30 BAMA 27

REALISTIC PREDICTION -
MSU 17 BAMA 14

Yes, you heard me. I am calling an MSU win in Tuscaloosa this weekend. The Tide have little to play for now that they are officially out of the National Championship picture, and their tanks are close to 'E' after the emotional loss last week. MSU is coming of a bye week, and although it was very emotional with the loss of Nick Bell, the Bulldogs have dedicated the rest of the season to Nick, and you can bet they will go hard every single play in his honor.

Here's to you, Nick. Only the Good Die Young.