Zona Game Thread

[RisperDawg]

We need to chill out.

1. Those of you saying we are poorly coached just stop. We clearly are in transition, we play hard, physical, and when we aren’t on the field for 17 play drives we play really smart. This team is way better than Jomos that is poorly coached!
2. Idk what happened with the play selection. I refuse to believe that will continue. Arnett, Will, and Barbay will get that ironed out this week. They have to.
3. I don’t get the hate on our defense coaching, I thought they played pretty well. The only issue I have is our dline waited way to long to settle down and contain instead of rushing in. Hopefully this was a wake up call for next week with LSU. We just contain and don’t give scrambling Lains.
4. Idk if y’all have noticed but the SEC is very winnable this year. Nobody seems overly good. I expect most of our games are going to look like tonight. The winner is going to be the one better conditioned and who makes the least amount of mistakes. So pray for lots of wind sprints and focus for the boys and you need to take your blood pressure meds. It’s going to be a spicy year!

HAILSTATE

Yeah, this was an awful game by us but these reactions are insane... Just like they were last year. The 5-7 comments and the fire the entire staff comments arre unhinged in absolute terms but to have been proven wrong after last year's AZ thread, then come in here and do the same thing again. Just crazy.

Hopefully Barbay learns to trust Will's strengths and understand his limitations because he's what you have this year, like it or not.

One positive I can think of: Decam must've played pretty well based off not seeing a lot of him. Ha.

[Turfdawg67]

We need to chill out.

1. Those of you saying we are poorly coached just stop. We clearly are in transition, we play hard, physical, and when we aren’t on the field for 17 play drives we play really smart. This team is way better than Jomos that is poorly coached!
2. Idk what happened with the play selection. I refuse to believe that will continue. Arnett, Will, and Barbay will get that ironed out this week. They have to.
3. I don’t get the hate on our defense coaching, I thought they played pretty well. The only issue I have is our dline waited way to long to settle down and contain instead of rushing in. Hopefully this was a wake up call for next week with LSU. We just contain and don’t give scrambling Lains.
4. Idk if y’all have noticed but the SEC is very winnable this year. Nobody seems overly good. I expect most of our games are going to look like tonight. The winner is going to be the one better conditioned and who makes the least amount of mistakes. So pray for lots of wind sprints and focus for the boys and you need to take your blood pressure meds. It’s going to be a spicy year!

HAILSTATE

Do you sell those maroon colored glasses or do you hold them for yourself? I used to own a pair but they were destroyed by tears... Looking to re-buy cause I'm a 17'n glutton for disappointment.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Me stating that we only attempted 17 passes which is 12 less than last week is not defending Rogers, it's calling out the stupidity of the play calling. That's directly talking about the OC.

Yes it's you "directly talking about the OC" because the poster you were responding too was criticizing Will. The point of your post was to shift the blame off will and onto Barbay. Again, all your comments are pro Will and never about any other aspect of our team

[HoopsDawg]

This is the worst SEC I've seen in at least 20 years. Too bad.

[MBDawg601]

This is the worst SEC I've seen in at least 20 years. Too bad.

There is still hope. That may be the best qb we face all season.

[BlackSailsDawg]

Yes it's you "directly talking about the OC" because the poster you were responding too was criticizing Will. The point of your post was to shift the blame off will and onto Barbay. Again, all your comments are pro Will and never about any other aspect of our team

The OC playing was the issue tonight. 4 ints and a forced fumble and you have 14 points from it. It's directly the OC's problem and issue. It's him calling the plays, not the DC, not the HC, not the bench, not the refs, not the other team... BARBARY called that game.

The game should have been out of reach in the first half.

[Maverick91]

No, just no.

The defense was poorly coached because we gave up many 1st downs just based on inappropriate alignments for the down and distance. We also left men wide open all night, let the QB run on us, let men be open in the flats, and never adjusted.

Us "having to" adjust the playcalling doesn't mean they will. there is no law of nature that says we will have a good season- it's entirely possible Barbay is just an idiot, see tonight for evidence.

And winning the SEC???? Bud, about 10 SEC teams would have DESTROYED Arizona tonight. Zona was picked 4-8. Zona is comprised of P5 2nd and 3rd string transfers, but as their key starters. Zona gave us a +4 turnover margin and committed a lot of penalties. Those 2 things alone should mean we blew them out even if we were the 4-8 team made up of bench warmer transfers and picked to go 4-8 just like them

I cannot speak to every SEC team. I know many struggled. All I do know is we are BAD and you are delusional for even mentioned winning the SEC

If those things are your litmus tests then I guess every DC is terrible. Come on, that stuff happens every game with every team no matter who they are playing.

Yes… from what I have seen from all the SEC teams this year thus far there is no real clear winner. Meaning it is up for grabs, we have a lot to iron out, but why would we think we wouldn’t adjust. Have our coaches done anything to make any of us believe they won’t make adjustments?

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

If those things are your litmus tests then I guess every DC is terrible. Come on, that stuff happens every game with every team no matter who they are playing.

Yes… from what I have seen from all the SEC teams this year thus far there is no real clear winner. Meaning it is up for grabs, we have a lot to iron out, but why would we think we wouldn’t adjust. Have our coaches done anything to make any of us believe they won’t make adjustments?

The coaches have made dumb "adjustments" to get us here in the first place- like going from too pass heavy to a 70% run heavy offense tonight. That's a pretty dumb decision. That's what they've done to make me not be confident they'll suddenly start making smart adjustments in the future. If you call a plumber and the plumber breaks your water main and floods the house, would you have faith he's a good plumber? or would you worry about him Fing up the repair too?

[Maverick91]

Do you sell those maroon colored glasses or do you hold them for yourself? I used to own a pair but they were destroyed by tears... Looking to re-buy cause I'm a 17'n glutton for disappointment.

Lol I get it. It ant maroon glasses. I just don’t see the jomo issues to say poorly coached, I don’t see the lack of execution, I don’t see a staff that doesn’t make adjustments. I see a very senior laden team with a staff that has what like 100 years of SEC coaching experience and a head coach that has never pulled punches and wants to win.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I was just glad it was PAC 12 refs. EVERY conference has more honest, ethical refereeing than the SEC. Remember it was SEC refs that screwed us in Memphis and pretty much EVERY time we play Alabama. If that had been SEC refs they would not have overturned it.

If this was a game at Auburn, with SEC refs .... 100% MSU loses the game.

That's why an MSU fan understands the margin of error of SEC ball. Gotta factor the fix.

[Maverick91]

The coaches have made dumb "adjustments" to get us here in the first place- like going from too pass heavy to a 70% run heavy offense tonight. That's a pretty dumb decision. That's what they've done to make me not be confident they'll suddenly start making smart adjustments in the future. If you call a plumber and the plumber breaks your water main and floods the house, would you have faith he's a good plumber? or would you worry about him Fing up the repair too?

Are you referencing last year to this year?

If so, I don’t think it’s dumb we have been at BEST a balanced lean heavy run team the ENTIRE lifespan of State football. We don’t lose that in three very short seasons, especially since most of the oline was recruited by jomo who guess what was heavy run. This team can run this offense. Is their annoying growing pains yeah, should they be there that can be up for discussion. But your thought process to get you to the place to not trust them. I don’t see it at this juncture. Now if we wet the bed next week I will be getting closer to your corner, but only in the aspect of growing pains and working around them with the personal that we have.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Am I the only one annoyed about making Wright one-dimensional. Is he just a Wildcat or can he do play-action. Arizona dead meat to play-action.

Maybe all the good plays are being saved for SEC games

[Goldendawg]

Back from the game, I'll admit I wanted to see us run the ball more but tonight was pitiful. Arizona knows how to use a TE in an offense but we don't. Whittemore did not touch the ball the entire game. Our 3-3-5 has no sacks for the year unless I missed one last week. All pass completions went to a slot player or running back. We can't hit wide receivers. Will looks miserable in this offense. Without Arizona's turnovers, we get stomped. The 3-2 Croom loss may have been the worst loss I've seen in about 60 years and this may be one of the worst wins I've ever seen. Barbay needs to get his act together. I think I saw Holloway up the middle with Davis on a carry once. Our linebackers are slow, but we knew that last year. You can't expect DB's to cover for 6-10 seconds because of no pass rush. Other than that, I felt pretty good.***

[CaptainObvious]

Back from the game, I'll admit I wanted to see us run the ball more but tonight was pitiful. Arizona knows how to use a TE in an offense but we don't. Whittemore did not touch the ball the entire game. Our 3-3-5 has no sacks for the year unless I missed one last week. All pass completions went to a slot player or running back. We can't hit wide receivers. Will looks miserable in this offense. Without Arizona's turnovers, we get stomped. The 3-2 Croom loss may have been the worst loss I've seen in about 60 years and this may be one of the worst wins I've ever seen. Barbay needs to get his act together. I think I saw Holloway up the middle with Davis on a carry once. Our linebackers are slow, but we knew that last year. You can't expect DB's to cover for 6-10 seconds because of no pass rush. Other than that, I felt pretty good.***

Blitzers got picked up by then all night. Our rush against a dual threat QB with speed and accuracy is useless. We played 5 DBS and not once did they press the receivers and most of the time played further off the receivers then was needed for the first down. Our defense allowed them to shorten the game by using their short passing game, limiting our series, we ran 12 less plays this week than last. We gave up over 300 yards passing. We talk about our yards after catch with Will as QB, They had at least 150 of those yards after catch if not 200, Our tackling was abysmal.

BUT??? 31 for State and 24 for Arizona!