Dan Mullen was in a position to prevent all of this....

[5049]

And choked as usual. We should have been watching Georgia beat Ohio State or Clemson last night. But yet again, Dan Mullen will be remembered for what he didn't do at MSU, rather than what he did do.

[Commercecomet24]

I thought about that last night also. If danny boy coached the 4th quarter like he did the first 3 bama wouldn't have even been in the playoffs. Of course Kirby coached the 4th quarter last night like danny boy did.

[5049]

I thought about that last night also. If danny boy coached the 4th quarter like he did the first 3 bama wouldn't have even been in the playoffs. Of course Kirby coached the 4th quarter last night like danny boy did.

2009 LSU goal line loss, didn't make a bowl
2010 didn't sign Cam then lost a heartbreaker to him
2011 Auburn goal line loss
2012 Egg Bowl loss reignited their program
2014 loss to Bama's worst team of Saban's tenure since 2007 killed our season
2015 no one specific thing, just a waste of Dak's senior year culminated in egg beatdown at home and terrible recruiting
2017 Bama loss, stupid coaching, allowed the most terrible fanbase ever 70 miles from us to continue their damned dynasty
2017 Egg Bowl loss, though I can't blame it all on him, it's just one more thing in a long list

Some more particularly damaging things:
Total meltdown on NSD 2011
2012 we get to be the first bowl win ever for Northwestern yay
2016 shorts and South Alabama

He never won when something major was on the line. The only things that come close:
2013 bowl eligibility by winning 2 OT games
2014 being #1 though it ultimately meant nothing as we got no trophies
bowl streak

Only good thing I can say about him right now is that he left before he burned the whole thing to the ground like Jackie, and erased us as the coaching and quarterback graveyard. For that I'm thankful.

But good riddance to that dude

[BB30]

2009 LSU goal line loss, didn't make a bowl
2010 didn't sign Cam then lost a heartbreaker to him
2011 Auburn goal line loss
2012 Egg Bowl loss reignited their program
2014 loss to Bama's worst team of Saban's tenure since 2007 killed our season
2015 no one specific thing, just a waste of Dak's senior year culminated in egg beatdown at home and terrible recruiting
2017 Bama loss, stupid coaching, allowed the most terrible fanbase ever 70 miles from us to continue their damned dynasty
2017 Egg Bowl loss, though I can't blame it all on him, it's just one more thing in a long list

Some more particularly damaging things:
Total meltdown on NSD 2011
2012 we get to be the first bowl win ever for Northwestern yay
2016 shorts and South Alabama

He never won when something major was on the line. The only things that come close:
2013 bowl eligibility by winning 2 OT games
2014 being #1 though it ultimately meant nothing as we got no trophies
bowl streak

Only good thing I can say about him right now is that he left before he burned the whole thing to the ground like Jackie, and erased us as the coaching and quarterback graveyard. For that I'm thankful.

But good riddance to that dude

And those few good things "not running us into the ground" and "erasing us as the coaching and QB graveyard" are a pretty dang big deal. No other coach in 100+ years of football has been able to do the latter for sure when it comes to QBs.

That's our ticket to success having a versatile QB that is a dawg out there and can take over a game on his own.

[5049]

That's our ticket to success having a versatile QB that is a dawg out there and can take over a game on his own.

Let's look at that:

Here's our 2-loss seasons in recent memory:

1976: 9-2 (wasn't this a Rocky Felker team)
1980: 9-2 with a bowl loss (John Bond and good offense)
1999: 9-2 with a bowl win (great defense)
2014: 10-2 with a bowl loss (Dak Prescott and good offense)

We can go further and add some of our most talented teams in there:

2000: 8-4 with a bowl win (great defense)
2010: 8-4 with a bowl win (great defense)
2018: TBD (most complete team I can remember)

So what is the formula? When I look at those 1999, 2000, and 2010 teams, I see a ton of JUCOs mixed with a solid group of high school players and no real holes on defense. Obviously the hole was quarterback on those teams. Most people say we got lucky in 1999 with an easy schedule. So seems the good money is on an offensive system with a solid dual threat quarterback, mixed with a defense built on home grown talent, whether it's high school or JUCO. Imagine if Dak Muffins had realized this sooner, perhaps it wouldn't have taken him 10 years to build the complete team we've been waiting on for a long time.

[TrapGame]

2009 LSU goal line loss, didn't make a bowl
2010 didn't sign Cam then lost a heartbreaker to him
2011 Auburn goal line loss
2012 Egg Bowl loss reignited their program
2014 loss to Bama's worst team of Saban's tenure since 2007 killed our season
2015 no one specific thing, just a waste of Dak's senior year culminated in egg beatdown at home and terrible recruiting
2017 Bama loss, stupid coaching, allowed the most terrible fanbase ever 70 miles from us to continue their damned dynasty
2017 Egg Bowl loss, though I can't blame it all on him, it's just one more thing in a long list

Some more particularly damaging things:
Total meltdown on NSD 2011
2012 we get to be the first bowl win ever for Northwestern yay
2016 shorts and South Alabama

Line some of those years up with job searches and it gets more pathetic. Funny how we beat om in the years he wasn't whoring himself out or Nutt was the coach.

[NCDawg]

2009 LSU goal line loss, didn't make a bowl
2010 didn't sign Cam then lost a heartbreaker to him
2011 Auburn goal line loss
2012 Egg Bowl loss reignited their program
2014 loss to Bama's worst team of Saban's tenure since 2007 killed our season
2015 no one specific thing, just a waste of Dak's senior year culminated in egg beatdown at home and terrible recruiting
2017 Bama loss, stupid coaching, allowed the most terrible fanbase ever 70 miles from us to continue their damned dynasty
2017 Egg Bowl loss, though I can't blame it all on him, it's just one more thing in a long list

Some more particularly damaging things:
Total meltdown on NSD 2011
2012 we get to be the first bowl win ever for Northwestern yay
2016 shorts and South Alabama

He never won when something major was on the line. The only things that come close:
2013 bowl eligibility by winning 2 OT games
2014 being #1 though it ultimately meant nothing as we got no trophies
bowl streak

Only good thing I can say about him right now is that he left before he burned the whole thing to the ground like Jackie, and erased us as the coaching and quarterback graveyard. For that I'm thankful.

But good riddance to that dude

Yeah, you can say that now, but if you had said anything detrimental about Mullen's coaching while he was here, numerous posters on this board would have blasted you.

[Todd4State]

Yeah, you can say that now, but if you had said anything detrimental about Mullen's coaching while he was here, numerous posters on this board would have blasted you.

Tell me about it.

It's pretty funny how quickly many MSU fans across the Internet suddenly agreed with me and others that saw through Dan's BS as soon as Dan left. At least our fans are loyal to a fault I guess.**

I'm just glad I don't see MSU potentially getting rid of Dan being compared to Ole Miss firing David Cutcliffe anymore. Fortunately our coaching search went as smoothly as I expected too shooting down all of the "Oh yeah! Who would YOU hire that's better than Dan Mullen? Gruden? Dungy? They ain't coming to Mississippi State" posts.

We just had a coaching search where Alabama's DC was begging for our job and ultimately ended up being hired at Tennessee AFTER we made him our third choice. In the meantime we ended up with our first choice, hired a guy that appears to possibly be the football genius that Dan wished he was, will likely improve recruiting, and genuinely wants to be here. And the coaching search was praised by the media.

[Liverpooldawg]

I thought about that last night also. If danny boy coached the 4th quarter like he did the first 3 bama wouldn't have even been in the playoffs. Of course Kirby coached the 4th quarter last night like danny boy did.

That 4th quarter against Saban was kind of a common denominator wasn’t it?

[Commercecomet24]

That 4th quarter against Saban was kind of a common denominator wasn’t it?

Truth. Seems to be for every team that's close to bama in the 4th quarter.

[Tbonewannabe]

Truth. Seems to be for every team that's close to bama in the 4th quarter.

There seems to be a pucker factor that Saban somehow eliminates most of the time. The AU kick six and Clemson pick play are the rare times I remember Bama losing at the end. Bama for the most part seems to play loose when most tighten up. It could be just my perception of it but it is almost like we are trying not to lose and Bama just knows they are about to win.

[Commercecomet24]

There seems to be a pucker factor that Saban somehow eliminates most of the time. The AU kick six and Clemson pick play are the rare times I remember Bama losing at the end. Bama for the most part seems to play loose when most tighten up. It could be just my perception of it but it is almost like we are trying not to lose and Bama just knows they are about to win.

Yep. It seems like its always been that way with Bama, for as long as I can remember. Whether it was Bear, Stallings or Saban those coaches always seemed to be able to call on that bama mojo in the 4th quarter to pull things out.

[Maroonthirteen]

That 4th quarter against Saban was kind of a common denominator wasn?t it?

The common denominator is Alabama. 81, 91, 92, 94 and 99. All big games and all fourth quarter losses. 2012, 2014 and 2017 are par for the course.

[Jack Lambert]

I thought about that last night also. If danny boy coached the 4th quarter like he did the first 3 bama wouldn't have even been in the playoffs. Of course Kirby coached the 4th quarter last night like danny boy did.

Well also if Smart didn't coach like Mullen in the 4th.

[AROB44]

Damn....it's a real shame we had to endure Mullen's tenure !!! ********************

[Liverpooldawg]

Give it a rest guys. Mullen had more better seasons than any coach at MSU since the 40’s. Same goes for less bad seasons. The guy did a lot for MSU and I will always be greatful. I will also never appear ungrateful.

[5049]

Give it a rest guys. Mullen had more better seasons than any coach at MSU since the 40?s. Same goes for less bad seasons. The guy did a lot for MSU and I will always be greatful. I will also never appear ungrateful.

This is not true. Take away the 12th game against FCS competition (read: gimme win) and he was no better than Jackie. Muffins missed his opportunity to be the best MSU coach ever, I outlined that in the OP.

[Liverpooldawg]

This is not true. Take away the 12th game against FCS competition (read: gimme win) and he was no better than Jackie. Muffins missed his opportunity to be the best MSU coach ever, I outlined that in the OP.

It is definitely true. Don?t let facts get in your way though.

[Dawgface]

Damn....it's a real shame we had to endure Mullen's tenure !!! ********************

Ain't that the truth. He sucked so bad we have to refer to him by a different name.**

[TrapGame]

After the last 3 yrs of Jackie and Croompacolypse we've forgotten real football and Merlin coaches us like an average coach should do and we think he's actually done something fantastic. Freeze ass raped him too many times for me to give him glowing praise. Yeah, he changed our program for the better but there are other coaches after Croom that could have done the same thing.