Interesting Mike Leach stat...

[CougPatrol]

Just saw this stat, and it caught my attention. I knew he struggled against top opponents, but I didn't realize it was this tilted.

"Mike Leach is 20-52 against Top25 programs in his career 8-22 at WSU and 12-30 at Texas Tech."

Following him in the SEC is going to be fun. Honestly, I hope he does well, as I've always liked him, but I think he'll struggle to win more than 7 games.

 

[royhobbs2]

I think he wins 8-9 games his first year. Look at their schedule. He could very well do what petrino did at Arkansas.

Miss has a lot of instate talent and MSU averages top 25 classes.

 

[CougPatrol]

I think he wins 8-9 games his first year. Look at their schedule. He could very well do what petrino did at Arkansas.

Miss has a lot of instate talent and MSU averages top 25 classes.

Boy, I don't know. Their schedule looks brutal to me. They also only threw the ball 29% of the time last year.

 

[Coug1990]

Just saw this stat, and it caught my attention. I new he struggled against top opponents, but I didn't realize it was this tilted.

"Mike Leach is 20-52 against Top25 programs in his career 8-22 at WSU and 12-30 at Texas Tech."

Following him in the SEC is going to be fun. Honestly, I hope he does well, as I've always liked him, but I think he'll struggle to win more than 7 games.

It will be related to how well he can recruit there. If he can pull in 4 star players, he can win against top 25 teams. If he recruits the same level as he did at TT or WSU, then he will struggle.

 

[Brent H.]

I think he wins 8-9 games his first year. Look at their schedule. He could very well do what petrino did at Arkansas.

Miss has a lot of instate talent and MSU averages top 25 classes.

7 wins would be good for them. Air Raid takes a few years to implement. Trips to LSU, Alabama (back to back), Kentucky and Ole Miss. Home games to Aggie and Auburn and Tulane who isn’t terrible could be the noncon game that Leach loses.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Just saw this stat, and it caught my attention. I new he struggled against top opponents, but I didn't realize it was this tilted.

"Mike Leach is 20-52 against Top25 programs in his career 8-22 at WSU and 12-30 at Texas Tech."

Following him in the SEC is going to be fun. Honestly, I hope he does well, as I've always liked him, but I think he'll struggle to win more than 7 games.

I imagine that number is going to improve since most of the east coast/ SEC is highly overrated to begin with and he'll be playing them on the regular.

 

[CougPatrol]

7 wins would be good for them. Air Raid takes a few years to implement. Trips to LSU, Alabama (back to back), Kentucky and Ole Miss. Home games to Aggie and Auburn and Tulane who isn’t terrible could be the noncon game that Leach loses.

No, they fire 7-win coaches historically. They're also paying Leach $1.5M/year more than the coach they just got rid of. He finished 6-7 after losing their bowl game, just like us.

 

[CougPatrol]

I imagine that number is going to improve since most of the east coast/ SEC is highly overrated to begin with and he'll be playing them on the regular.

Mississippi State plays in the SEC West. They'll be facing Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and Texas A&M every season.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

No, they fire 7-win coaches historically. They're also paying Leach $1.5M/year more than the coach they just got rid of. He finished 6-7 after losing their bowl game, just like us.

Yes.

I feel like everyone, Leach included, is under the impression that SEC talent is/ was the missing ingredient from taking his wizardry to the NC.

 

[CougPatrol]

Yes.

I feel like everyone, Leach included, is under the impression that SEC talent is/ was the missing ingredient from taking his wizardry to the NC.

I agree. The problem with that logic is that, while his recruiting classes will likely improve, the divisional teams he routinely faces will be significantly better than Oregon, UW, Cal, Stanford, and OSU.

 

[ElComanche]

Their 2020 recruiting class has one 4 star WR and one 4 star WR . I know zero about their Qb situation and really could n t care now. But i will watch the score board to see how his team fares next season.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Mississippi State plays in the SEC West. They'll be facing Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and Texas A&M every season.

and?

He plays teams for the east as well. And he'll get over on 1 or 2 of those west teams, who will be overrated, like I said.

 

[dgibbons]

Their 2020 recruiting class has one 4 star WR and one 4 star WR . I know zero about their Qb situation and really could n t care now. But i will watch the score board to see how his team fares next season.

Does that make it two 4 star WRs?

 

[CougPatrol]

Their 2020 recruiting class has one 4 star WR and one 4 star WR . I know zero about their Qb situation and really could n t care now. But i will watch the score board to see how his team fares next season.

Ironically, the QB recruit Miss St just signed was offered by Leach to WSU.

 

[royhobbs2]

Leach has owned tamu, ole miss is a toss up, they will crush Tulane. They will start off 4-0 with cupcakes. UNM, bama a&m, Tulane,nc state, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky...…….they will win one of tamu/ole miss. That's 8. LSU and Bama are losses, Auburn probably a loss. They get tamu and auburn at home.

7 wins at worst, 9 wins at best

 

[dgibbons]

Ironically, the QB recruit Miss St just signed was offered by Leach to WSU.

The guy from Brandon, MS.

 

[royhobbs2]

Shaefer is going to be a soph, started as a freshman, 4 star offered by Bama and Florida. Id imagine he starts.

 

[CougPatrol]

Here's their schedule. If they win 6, it'll be a good year. NC State and Tulane aren't locks by any means.

New Mexico
at NC State
Arkansas
Tulane
Texas A&M
at Alabama
at LSU
Auburn
Missouri
at Kentucky
Alabama A&M
Ole Miss

 

[FnuLnu]

Just saw this stat, and it caught my attention. I knew he struggled against top opponents, but I didn't realize it was this tilted.

"Mike Leach is 20-52 against Top25 programs in his career 8-22 at WSU and 12-30 at Texas Tech."

Following him in the SEC is going to be fun. Honestly, I hope he does well, as I've always liked him, but I think he'll struggle to win more than 7 games.

Kelvin Sampson was 2-30 vs the Top 25 in 7 years at WSU.

 

[cboom]

Just saw this stat, and it caught my attention. I knew he struggled against top opponents, but I didn't realize it was this tilted.

"Mike Leach is 20-52 against Top25 programs in his career 8-22 at WSU and 12-30 at Texas Tech."

Following him in the SEC is going to be fun. Honestly, I hope he does well, as I've always liked him, but I think he'll struggle to win more than 7 games.

So Leach has beaten top 25 teams over 1/3 of the time. I think that is really impressive for a guy coaching at schools that can’t recruit anywhere close to top 25 classes. I’m to lazy to look it up, but I would bet Petersen didn’t have a better winning percentage than that over top 25 teams at UW? And he could get top 25 recruiting classes.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

I think he wins 8-9 games his first year. Look at their schedule. He could very well do what petrino did at Arkansas.

Miss has a lot of instate talent and MSU averages top 25 classes.

Roy, I think the change in systems/personnel as well as educating the players means they won't win more than 7 the first year, and it might be 6. The next year I'd expect him to win at least 1 more game than he won in his first year.

 

[CougPatrol]

So Leach has beaten top 25 teams over 1/3 of the time. I think that is really impressive for a guy coaching at schools that can’t recruit anywhere close to top 25 classes. I’m to lazy to look it up, but I would bet Petersen didn’t have a better winning percentage than that over top 25 teams at UW? And he could get top 25 recruiting classes.

It’s not bad at schools like Tech and WSU, but the stat was mentioned in reference to the number of perennial top-25 teams he’ll face every year in his division alone.

 

[cboom]

It’s not bad at schools like Tech and WSU, but the stat was mentioned in reference to the number of perennial top-25 teams he’ll face every year in his division alone.

I understand that. But he is clearly going to a place serous about football. His new salary alone proves that, and then look at he money he gets for assistants . He is in a place now he can recruit top 25 classes, or be real close. Will be interesting to see what he can do with that.

 

[dgibbons]

Just saw this stat, and it caught my attention. I knew he struggled against top opponents, but I didn't realize it was this tilted.

"Mike Leach is 20-52 against Top25 programs in his career 8-22 at WSU and 12-30 at Texas Tech."

Following him in the SEC is going to be fun. Honestly, I hope he does well, as I've always liked him, but I think he'll struggle to win more than 7 games.

Numbers like this need some context. What is someone like Saban? Whittingham? Dan Doeren? Bill Snyder?

 

[fingerdisco]

Leach has owned tamu, ole miss is a toss up, they will crush Tulane. They will start off 4-0 with cupcakes. UNM, bama a&m, Tulane,nc state, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky...…….they will win one of tamu/ole miss. That's 8. LSU and Bama are losses, Auburn probably a loss. They get tamu and auburn at home.

7 wins at worst, 9 wins at best

We thought that way until we started losing to the likes of Portland State

 

[royhobbs2]

Roy, I think the change in systems/personnel as well as educating the players means they won't win more than 7 the first year, and it might be 6. The next year I'd expect him to win at least 1 more game than he won in his first year.

they will have a good defense and a good dc, you know what it comes down to-what it always comes down to with leach and the air raid...……..the qb.

Could be a bad fit or a kid who cant go through his reads, or he may have a natural fit. Hard to say.

Some may disagree but Gordon wasn't a good air raid qb imo.

 

[royhobbs2]

We thought that way until we started losing to the likes of Portland State

hes got really good talent there, study their roster. You might be right when facing tamu, auburn but his out of conference games-he will be able to out talent them.

 

[Coug90]

So Leach has beaten top 25 teams over 1/3 of the time. I think that is really impressive for a guy coaching at schools that can’t recruit anywhere close to top 25 classes. I’m to lazy to look it up, but I would bet Petersen didn’t have a better winning percentage than that over top 25 teams at UW? And he could get top 25 recruiting classes.

20-52 is closer to 1/4 than 1/3...FYI. That’s not impressive.

 

[CougPatrol]

I understand that. But he is clearly going to a place serous about football. His new salary alone proves that, and then look at he money he gets for assistants . He is in a place now he can recruit top 25 classes, or be real close. Will be interesting to see what he can do with that.

Mississippi St is not a place that’s serious about football. They’ve always been an also ran. Their fans say their unofficial motto is wait til next year.

 

[chipdouglas]

and?

He plays teams for the east as well. And he'll get over on 1 or 2 of those west teams, who will be overrated, like I said.

And he's up against THE most difficult division in CFB.

He gets 2 SECE teams. He could draw Vandy or he could draw Georgia or Florida. This is only partially concerning if you're taking over Auburn, but he's taking over a basement team in the hardest division in football. 3 conference wins this year. He will also draw Bama, Auburn, LSU and A&M every year. Ole Miss will give them everything they've got (rivalry).

There is no amount of hardware the SEC can win that will stop non-SEC fans rolling their eyes, but to "...and?" everything above is like Pravda-unfair.

 

[PINGDUDE4]

Mississippi St is not a place that’s serious about football. They’ve always been an also ran. Their fans say their unofficial motto is wait til next year.

LOL

Miss. St. had 3 players drafted in the NFL First round last year. They currently have over 30 former players currently on NFL rosters with many starters. If they are not serious about football they sure do a decent job of producing talent when they are just goofing around.

 

[95coug]

He could very well do what petrino did at Arkansas.

You mean his secretary?

 

[BiggsCoug]

Mississippi St is not a place that’s serious about football. They’ve always been an also ran. Their fans say their unofficial motto is wait til next year.

Wow

 

[CougPatrol]

LOL

Miss. St. had 3 players drafted in the NFL First round last year. They currently have over 30 former players currently on NFL rosters with many starters. If they are not serious about football they sure do a decent job of producing talent when they are just goofing around.

It’s all relative. Compared to their SEC counterparts, they’re a nobody. Very similar to WSU, actually. There are 7 programs in the SEC who double their football revenues. Up until yesterday, they were paying their football coach less than we were.

https://www.al.com/sports/2017/08/ranking_the_richest_and_poores.html

 

[COCoug]

Not completely sure about this theory that with better talent, CML is more successful. The point of these systems is that you win with role players and negate teams with better talent. Exactly like TB at WSU/Virginia. Obviously better talent on defense wouldn't hurt, but if he sticks to what he was doing at WSU, I'm not sure that better talent runs this offense much better than the Cougs did the last couple of years, and it still never won our Division.

 

[royhobbs2]

Not completely sure about this theory that with better talent, CML is more successful. The point of these systems is that you win with role players and negate teams with better talent. Exactly like TB at WSU/Virginia. Obviously better talent on defense wouldn't hurt, but if he sticks to what he was doing at WSU, I'm not sure that better talent runs this offense much better than the Cougs did the last couple of years, and it still never won our Division.

That’s not logical. The system with better receivers better lineman better backs better qb is of course more productive

nfl lineman give you all day to throw. Minshew makes the reads nfl receivers make impossible catches of course talent makes the system that much more effective

 

[CougPatrol]

Not completely sure about this theory that with better talent, CML is more successful. The point of these systems is that you win with role players and negate teams with better talent. Exactly like TB at WSU/Virginia. Obviously better talent on defense wouldn't hurt, but if he sticks to what he was doing at WSU, I'm not sure that better talent runs this offense much better than the Cougs did the last couple of years, and it still never won our Division.

Thats what I’m thinking too, but it’ll be interesting to see. I hope he wins in the SEC, but I see him going up against more teams every season with significantly better talent than he faced at WSU.

Oregon and UW have better talent than us. Cal, Stanford and OSU ether don’t, or it’s a wash.

In the South, only USC has superior talent. UCLA has better talent, but they’re a mess. Utah, Colorado, and the Arizona schools are fairly even with us.

Alabama, Auburn, and LSU not only have better talent, but they have some of the best talent Nationally. Texas A&M has better talent, and it’s only going to get better under Jimbo Fisher. Ole Miss and Arkansas don’t have better talent, at least not significantly.

In the East, Florida and Georgia are superpowers. Tennessee should be, but they’ve been a mess. Kentucky, Vandy, South Carolina, and Mizzou don’t have better talent. At least not significantly.

So the way I see it, the path to a conference title is overwhelmingly more difficult at Mississippi St, regardless of whatever spike in talent Leach gains compared with WSU.

 

[etowncoug]

The only team we were more talented than in the conference was Oregon St. Arizona too but they weren't on our schedule.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Thats what I’m thinking too, but it’ll be interesting to see. I hope he wins in the SEC, but I see him going up against more teams every season with significantly better talent than he faced at WSU.

Oregon and UW have better talent than us. Cal, Stanford and OSU ether don’t, or it’s a wash.

In the South, only USC has superior talent. UCLA has better talent, but they’re a mess. Utah, Colorado, and the Arizona schools are fairly even with us.

Alabama, Auburn, and LSU not only have better talent, but they have some of the best talent Nationally. Texas A&M has better talent, and it’s only going to get better under Jimbo Fisher. Ole Miss and Arkansas don’t have better talent, at least not significantly.

In the East, Florida and Georgia are superpowers. Tennessee should be, but they’ve been a mess. Kentucky, Vandy, South Carolina, and Mizzou don’t have better talent. At least not significantly.

So the way I see it, the path to a conference title is overwhelmingly more difficult at Mississippi St, regardless of whatever spike in talent Leach gains compared with WSU.

Kiffin will run circles around Leach for in state kids.

 

[COCoug]

That’s not logical. The system with better receivers better lineman better backs better qb is of course more productive

nfl lineman give you all day to throw. Minshew makes the reads nfl receivers make impossible catches of course talent makes the system that much more effective

Well Mr. Spock, consider this-
Our QBs have led the NCAA in passing the last two years, so I don't think a better QB will help. Our receivers have led the NCAA in receptions and yards this year, and for many years, so not sure better receivers will help. We only gave up 20 sacks in 13 games, and half of those were in the AC, so not sure better lineman helps that much. He doesn't run the ball, so a better back does nothing.

When you are a systems coach, you just find these guys to fill these roles, and all the 4 and 5 star stuff doesn't mean as much. Its just like saying Air Force would be better running the option if they had "more talent". They wouldn't, it would be pretty much the same.