The Maginot Line

     THE MAGINOT LINE

Remnants of the Maginot Line

In the 1930's France invested heavily in building a series of strong, supposedly impenetrable fortifications along its 280 mile border with Germany to protect itself from an invasion like it had experienced in WWI. Consequently the French developed a false sense of security. They were overwhelmed within 6 weeks as the Germans simply invaded through Belgium, went around the fortresses, and eventually through the line. Last weekend's win over Arkansas gave Miss. State fans (including yours truly) and seemingly our coaches and players the same sense of security that the French had in their fortifications. Our 'Dogs were back, and the Georgia Dawgs were ripe for an upset. Despite their 7 - 1 record and national ranking, UGA had struggled through a series of close calls with UT-E, Auburn, TSUN, and most recently Florida. Their running game and their defense had played well below their standards of recent years. State had shown the ability to compete with the SEC's elite, forcing both Tennessee and Texas to overtime. The MSU defense was improved, and the offense had demonstrated big play capability. Even some objective pundits foresaw trouble for UGA. The trap was set for an upset. Alas, in the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend!" 

Time for true confession: As game time drew near, I had talked myself into really believing that State could -- and maybe even would -- spring the upset. Our 'Dogs were clearly an improved team that had finally learned how to close out a win over an SEC team, and their Dawgs hadn't been the dominating Georgia team we had learned to expect. Opportunity seemed to be knocking -- only the real knocking was done by UGA. It turned out be be a case of a 

Big Sonny punishes little Floyd

middleweight going up against a powerful heavyweight. For us boxing fans it was poor little Floyd Patterson (180 lb., 72" reach) going up against the fearsome Sonny Liston (220 lb., 84" reach). (For those too young to know or who didn't follow boxing back then, Liston took Patterson's heavyweight title and defended it in a rematch, and neither bout lasted a full round.) Like Floyd against Sonny, State's 'Dogs were mere Pugs against Georgia's Mastiffs. Both sides of State's line reverted to 2024 form, particularly the defensive line. Georgia rushed for a season high 303 yds., 120 yds. more than their season's average.

The Sad Truth

For the first time since the Texas A&M game, MSU was clearly outmanned. It was boys against men.Whether injuries have piled up so that our limited depth has eroded to the point that competing in the SEC is unlikely, or whether we just faced a team so much more talented and physically superior that we tossed in the towel, I'm not sure. But at some point near the end of the 2nd quarter or early in the 3rd, we seemed to roll over and stick our legs up in the air. Not everyone, mind you, but collectively the fight had gone out of the team. To the fans' credit, they stayed fully engaged until the score went to 24 - 7; but having expectations built up by MSU's initial march down the field to take a 7 - 0 lead, only to see both the defense and offense being overwhelmed was unwatchable. And full disclosure: I was one of the ones who left early (when we fell behind 38 - 7). At 68 years and counting as a State fan, I simply find a noncompetitive butt-kicking unpalatable. Fair weather fan? Not at all; I was at the Astrodome in 1969. Hurricane Camille/Katrina weather fan? Hell, no!

Were there some bright spots yesterday? Yes, a few: In his first extended playing time against an SEC opponent Kamario completed 60% of his passes, including a 57 yarder and led State with 53 yds. rushing for 3 TD's. Thompson continued to demonstrate his ability to catch the long ball with a 57 yd. reception en route to 92 receiving yds. And finally, Kelly Jones continued to cast an impenetrable blanket over all receivers who were given the unenviable task of venturing into territory he patrolled. These positives were the exception rather than the rule, however.

Oh, no you don't! Not in Mr. Jones's neighborhood!

On the negative side, UGA essentially doubled State in categories like 1st downs earned, rushing yds., yds. per carry, and total offense. The freshest man in the stadium yesterday was the Georgia punter, who we have yet to see outside of his pregame and halftime warmups. Their offensive line didn't allow Stockton to get his uniform dirty either, as MSU had zero sacks for the day. This season MSU has been known for chunk plays, but yesterday Georgia's Nate Frazier was the chunk-maker with runs of 13, 33, and 59 yds. on his way to 181 yds. gained on just 12 carries, an avg. of 15 yds./carry. 

Frazier on the loose again

And Lebby got into the disappointing act by passing up yet another field goal opportunity that could've kept State within a TD with 2:25 to go in the first half. Instead our 'Dogs turned the ball over on downs, giving UGA another scoring opportunity, which they took full advantage of, and well, I'll let the late Larry Munson (Georgia's answer to Jack Cristil) tell you in his own inimitiable words https://youtu.be/T8H15GTy4cQ?si=ioxIYiWoJelIv-Z6&t=30 . 

Bowl Chances?

Even though we're talking about the modern day equivalent of the Poulan Weedeater Bowl, we DOS fans are wondering if we've been teased into visions of a bowl game by those 4 early wins (especially the upset of the Sun Devils), the painfully close losses to both orange UT's and UF, and the long-awaited SEC win over the Piggies. There are still 2 chances left to break even this season and earn that long-awaited trip to some postseason paradise like Birmingham, Houston, or Charlotte. The first -- and many would argue best -- shot comes Saturday in Columbia, MO. Mizzou earned an early season ranking, but injuries have dragged them down to their 3rd team QB, and they've now lost 3 games (including last week's thrashing by aTm). Looking for more good news? In the loss to A&M yesterday the Tigers' 3rd team QB completed a mere 7 of 22 passes for a paltry 77 yds. and was sacked twice. The bad news? Remember young Mr. Frazier of UGA's many sashays through our defense yesterday? Mizzou had not 1, but 2 rushers who gained over 100 yds. each on the vaunted Texas Aggie defense. (One is Ahmad Hardy, a portal addition from Lawrence Co., MS via LA - Monroe, who leads the SEC in rushing with over 1,000 yds. gained for the season on just over 6 yds/carry. Yes, we tried to get him in the portal, but were apparently outbid. But we're Fluffier for it.)

Assuming our airports are still open this weekend, and that we have functioning TSA and air traffic controllers, your intrepid blogger, my son, and my grandson will continue our visits of the SEC stadiums (only OU and UT-W to go, barring future additions to the conference) by following our Bulldogs to Faurot Field in CoMo. I've been curious to see what I grew up knowing as a Big 8 field and atmosphere. As for the game, my expectations have gone from low to medium back to low, but we shall cheer lustily for the Maroon & White! (Hey, maybe the colors alone will give them flashbacks of yesterday's thumping by aTm and they'll be frozen with fear?!)🤞

HAIL, STATE!!