OK, I've watched the game now from last night.
Let's just say it wasn't as bad as I was suspecting given all the hand-wringing. In fact, two State fans (one who was at the game) posted on my Facebook that it wasn't "really" as close as the end and a couple of things would have given us the game easily.
1) LSU Hangover
It's a real thing, folks.
In 2011, we lost to LSU in the infamous 9-6 game. Someone looking at the box score and seeing we beat State 24-7 would say, "See, no problem." But remember that MSU was a 5-4 team entering the game and we only led 10-0 entering the fourth quarter. We looked a little lethargic on offense for three quarters.
In 2012, we had the awesome screen to Yeldon.....and lost to Manziel the next week after falling behind 20-0 three possessions into the game.
In 2013, we played a classic with LSU that we pulled away from in the second half. MSU was a 4-5 team, but the game was 10-7 us with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. And we never looked that good against Auburn and, of course, we lost to Oklahoma.
In 2014, we climbed off the canvas when we were as good as dead in Red Stick and actually DID play well in the MSU game, the final score was artificially close.
OK, we did fine the last two years but more often than not, we've had trouble.
2) Close Games Concern Me
The thing is, we just don't play that many close games. And you HAVE to be able to win close games in order to win it all because you'll ALWAYS have "that one."
Go back and look at the scores of our close games since the 2010 Arky game.
2010 LSU, L
2010 Auburn, L
2011 LSU, L
2012 LSU W
2012 ATM L
2012 UGA W
2013 Auburn L
2014 Ole Miss L
2014 Arky W
2014 LSU W
2014 Ohio St L
2015 Ole Miss L
2015 Vols W
2016 Ole Miss W
2016 Clemson L
We're 6-9 in close games. (I did not count the 13 ATM, 14 MSU, or 15 Clemson games because they were truly artificially close in that the scoreboard looked closer at the end than the actual game....Clemson scored a TD in the final seconds to make the point margin five, for example).
Last year we only had one close game and even that one only got close at the very end - prior to Clemson. They played several close games and the difference was obvious. Same thing with 2013 Auburn, they lived on the edge all year so no big deal in a close game.
3) Jalen Hurts Is Clearly Developing
Just wow. He's doing better, and he never was bad.
Anyway, we still have some issues to fix and injuries to overcome, but I do like our chances.