Not sure why but I'm not really concerned about today

[MetEdDawg]

We did a bunch of stuff that we obviously aren't going to do in SEC play. Williams will never see the field unless Dak gets hurt. The 2nd team defense played I think I counted 7 or 8 full drives and there were full position subs other times. Lot of man nickel coverage on defense which we will do against very few SEC teams. Miss 2 extra points in one game? Won't see that again. Plus we saw a QB for the first time that we had never seen on film who totally torched our defensive game plan.

Did Mullen do some dumb stuff? Yes. Did the defense look bad? Yes. But this was UAB. We weren't up, Mullen stopped the momentum, but we were clearly superior to UAB. I think we need to step back from the game, accept the fact that we played a lot of 2nd teamers agian, and we won by 13 (Should have been 20 no thanks to Irvin Sills). I'm just not that worried. We didn't play our best and we still put up 40 points on offense, had a pick 6, and racked up 500+ yards of offense. I'm just gonna take a step back and not make some rash judgments that we are no better than 7 wins.

[Boston]

+1 I expected a let down. Maybe not to this extent but a win none the less.

[shoeless joe]

I tend to agree.

While I'm not happy about what happened I'm not freaking out. Mullen does need to pull his head out of his ass about some stuff but we still have very good players who can make plays. That's how you win big games...players make plays. In the past we haven't had that, we do now.

If D lays another dudd next week and doesn't adjust to some things then my tune may change.

[BulldogBear]

Most of it , early at least, was a terrible game plan. Hopefully, they'll learn from this (coaches). You expect a letdown after opening week in this case. JWS approves that statement. Anyway, the only thing that really concerns me was poor secondary play. UAB seemed to average about 30 yards per catch. I'm still waiting for our DL to get much pressure on an opponent's QB. There are moments of greatness, but honestly, we are not scary when it comes to pass rush.

[SDDawg]

I think our lack of adjustments in the secondary and our offensive rotations (including RBs) were not what they should have been. Once it was clear that UAB came to play, we should have put our foot on their throats. They're a decent C-USA team, but we could have beaten them by 5 scores today in spite of the blown coverage on a number of long passes. I would like to see the coaches show a little more urgency, but I thought that our D line and LBs looked good and Dak and JRob looked great when we needed them to.

[MaxedOutMaroon]

We always struggle against one below average team. I know it's a fall back, but a win is a win. I came here to get away from the negative of SixPack. Don't give up after the second game. At least we know what to work on, long passes. Just take a minute and really think about it. We are fine! Some of you are probably the dude that slam your cowbell and throw NCAA controllers. Besides big plays, we played well. We will adjust

[missouridawg]

Thank God our schedule allows us to lay the proverbial early season egg against a UAB instead of Auburn like we are normally tasked with. Lots of teachable moments today that we will need to get fixed for USA and LSU.

[MaxedOutMaroon]

Also, if you were there, you know how hot it was. That's hard to play in and keep concentration in.

[MetEdDawg]

The thing about the first two weeks, especially if you play teams with new coaches, is that there are always surprises. That Briscoe kid surprised us and caught our defense off guard. Offensively I think Mullen was trying to save Dak but the defense just didn't give him that option and Williams didn't do anything on offense.

Him not playing and 1st team defense taking more snaps will significantly alter the outcome of our future games. I'm ok with not looking pretty against teams like this. What does winning 49-0 get us? I don't need style points to help me evaluate my team. We will either perform or we won't in Baton Rouge. Beating the brakes off UAB or only winning by 13 wasn't going to change that. People saying Dak needs every series he can don't get it. 3 extra series against UAB isn't a huge deal. It should be obvious that Williams needs reps. I agree we should have ended our little every other drive experiment earlier but I never thought we were ever going to lose that game even when we fell behind.

[Todd4State]

My take on it is this:

Subbing QB's was dumb. I do think part of that was Dak being hurt. Damien has to step up too. He was bad throwing the ball. Dak wasn't great despite the 4 TD's, he was under 50% passing. He was great running the ball though. But I do think we would have Dak more like we did last week had there not been an injury. We just couldn't pull it off because Damien didn't get the job done. Part of me says that Dan will stop "rewarding" guys for practice come LSU, but I'm scarred by 2012. I wouldn't be shocked at all if Dan rotates the second string 1B's during SEC play.

I do think UAB is better than they were last year, and I don't think it's a stretch at all to say that USM upset them last year. I don't know what the coaching change status was when they played USM either, but it possibly could have affected them that one game. I bet UAB beats USM this year.

I also think that UAB had the advantage of the unknown in that they basically ran the ball almost every play against Troy, and that's likely what we game planned for. And then they pull out this new QB with a really big arm that we hadn't seen on film and he was actually more accurate on deep balls than he was on short and intermediate routes and he burned us a few times. One on Calhoun who had hurt his foot earlier in the game, and then the last score was on Jahmere-Irvin Sills who is a freshman in garbage time, which made it look a little bit closer than it probably was in reality.

The kicker situation is as bad as South Panola's. The rest of the special teams unit wasn't too bad to be honest with you. Bell had a good game for the most part. Graham was an upgrade at PR. We blocked a punt, which I thought was kind of funny because we blocked it right after the announcer called him UAB's "secret weapon" or something like that. We lost contain on a punt cover once, but that's going to happen from time to time to everyone.

It was a sloppy game on our part.

[SDDawg]

I'm ok with not looking pretty against teams like this. What does winning 49-0 get us? I don't need style points to help me feel good about my team. We will either perform or we won't in Baton Rouge. Beating the brakes off UAB or only winning by 13 wasn't going to change that.

Nailed it. BTW, this is exactly what Bama said after a tough game against WV last week and we all know as outside observers that they're right. It's harder to see that sometimes when it's your team and you have high expectations. Great point MED.

[Todd4State]

The thing about the first two weeks, especially if you play teams with new coaches, is that there are always surprises. That Briscoe kid surprised us and caught our defense off guard. Offensively I think Mullen was trying to save Dak but the defense just didn't give him that option and Williams didn't do anything on offense.

Him not playing and 1st team defense taking more snaps will significantly alter the outcome of our future games. I'm ok with not looking pretty against teams like this. What does winning 49-0 get us? I don't need style points to help me evaluate my team. We will either perform or we won't in Baton Rouge. Beating the brakes off UAB or only winning by 13 wasn't going to change that. People saying Dak needs every series he can don't get it. 3 extra series against UAB isn't a huge deal. It should be obvious that Williams needs reps. I agree we should have ended our little every other drive experiment earlier but I never thought we were ever going to lose that game even when we fell behind.

Those three long TD passes are skewing things against our defense. Those three plays were probably about 200-250 yards of their total offense.

[IMissJack]

Also, if you were there, you know how hot it was. That's hard to play in and keep concentration in.

I just don't buy this for 2 reasons 1) UAB played in the same heat 2) These guys are by in large used to practicing in this heat.

[Coach34]

Mullen is playing his back-ups alot early to get them meaningful reps instead of blowout reps. Whether you agree with the strategy or not- that's another story.

Mullen isnt concerned with point spreads- he's worried about making the team as good as he can. I dont totally agree with it- I think Dakota needs more consistent reps early in games- we'll see what next week brings

[MetEdDawg]

Those three long TD passes are skewing things against our defense. Those three plays were probably about 200-250 yards of their total offense.

Bingo. We played our safeties back very little. We obviously watched film on their game against Troy. New coach and they ran the football a lot. That's what we game planned for and you could see it in the way our safeties were aligned and the type of defense we played which was a lot of nickel man with safeties in run support.We won't do that much again and we won't see many more opponents that we don't know hardly anything about.

[CadaverDawg]

Also, if you were there, you know how hot it was. That's hard to play in and keep concentration in.

Wut?? Is this for real?

Holy crap, we sound like OM fans

[Johnson85]

I'm not freaking out, but that was a shit show.

Good teams usually have a game (or more) like that over the course of a season, but it's more concerning coming before we've proven anything yet. Maybe this was one bad game, or maybe this is 2012 redux, where we convince ourselves of all the reasons we look like shit against weak teams and then we basically play the same against teams with a pulse.

[CadaverDawg]

I'm not freaking out, but that was a shit show.

Good teams usually have a game (or more) like that over the course of a season, but it's more concerning coming before we've proven anything yet. Maybe this was one bad game, or maybe this is 2012 redux, where we convince ourselves of all the reasons we look like shit against weak teams and then we basically play the same against teams with a pulse.

+1

[thf24]

I'm not worried about the defense at all. The ultimate problem was that the d-line was flat as hell and not getting decent pressure. As far as coverage, we adjusted after the first few deep balls and actually had them covered pretty well, they were just making great throws and catches. Main thing is that if the d-line had been on their game, which I'm sure won't be a problem after practice this week, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to keep throwing those deep balls.

[mparkerfd20]

I'm not freaking out but lost most of my winter coat of wool today. Expectations went way down from expecting 9-10 wins to hoping for 8.

[Coach34]

or maybe this is 2012 redux, where we convince ourselves of all the reasons we look like shit against weak teams and then we basically play the same against teams with a pulse.

remind me in what games in 2012 where we played the 2nd offense for 4 1st half drives??? And also played the complete 2nd defense for 8 drives?

[MaroonMike]

I agree. Mullen was playing a ton of different players today. We did give up a bunch of bombs, but I think that was a package a coverage that we won't see in the future.

[BrunswickDawg]

We have to keep our OOC annual shit shows in perspective. While this game had issues, it was nothing like 2010 UAB (29-24), 2011 La Tech (26-20 OT), 2012 Troy (30-24), 2013 Bowling Green (21-20). All of those games were in doubt, and we questioned our ability to control a game when it mattered.

On the Dan Mullen Shitters Full Scale of OOC Shit Shows, this was a runny fart instead of Golden Coral shit storm.

[Coach34]

I'm not freaking out but lost most of my winter coat of wool today. Expectations went way down from expecting 9-10 wins to hoping for 8.

Why because our starting D gave up 10 points?

[Todd4State]

We have to keep our OOC annual shit shows in perspective. While this game had issues, it was nothing like 2010 UAB (29-24), 2011 La Tech (26-20 OT), 2012 Troy (30-24), 2013 Bowling Green (21-20). All of those games were in doubt, and we questioned our ability to control a game when it mattered.

On the Dan Mullen Shitters Full Scale of OOC Shit Shows, this was a runny fart instead of Golden Coral shit storm.

And we have fans that want to play a more "challenging schedule".

[MetEdDawg]

remind me in what games in 2012 where we played the 2nd offense for 4 1st half drives??? And also played the complete 2nd defense for 8 drives?

I'm with you here coach. This isn't like 2012. We are better than that team by a lot. We literally played our entire second string defense 8 drives and subbed out entire position groups multiple different times. Like you said, arguing the philosophy is another story. But sitting here and saying we suck and will be lucky to win 8 games when we alternated QBs the first 7 drives and we played all defensive backups 8 drives just isn't rational.

[ShotgunDawg]

We will be fine. We played bad and stupid decisions were made. Good thing is that this performance allows our coaches the chance to get after our player's asses this week.

The kicking game concerns me above all.

[TrapGame]

We will be fine. We played bad and stupid decisions were made. Good thing is that this performance allows our coaches the chance to get after our player's asses this week.

The kicking game concerns me above all.

Yep, this will not be the same team that trots out to play LSU in two weeks. But, the kicking is still gonna suck.

[State82]

Also, if you were there, you know how hot it was. That's hard to play in and keep concentration in.

I don't even know how to respond to this. No offense, but this is about as ridiculous a statement as I've seen here in a while. However, in the minuscule chance it is remotely true, this football team has major issues. Regardless, I've seen absolutely nothing elite about this team so far. In any phase. Time will tell, but Mullen and Collins should donate their next paycheck to the engineering, business or vet school where it can be put to good use.

[gravedigger]

Solid,solid post, meteddawg.

I will say the players deserved 49% of the responsibility, and poor coaching decisions 51%, but at the end of the day we survived an opponent that was the basketball equivalent of shooting 90% from 3 point range. Alarming that they dropped a number of throws they were wide open on.

We won and that won't change. Hope the team lights a fire under themselves.

[Coach34]

Time will tell, but Mullen and Collins should donate their next paycheck to the engineering, business or vet school where it can be put to good use.

Why???

We are 2-0 and our 1st 2 games have never even been in doubt.

[mparkerfd20]

Why because our starting D gave up 10 points?

I'm mote worried about coaching, kicking and the DBs as both 1and 2 got beat badly.

[HailState39110]

UAB scored 3 of their TDs on the same play ( a bomb off the skinny post)I'm concerned about today but not worried .

I type this while East Carolina is beating South Carolina and Troy (who UAB beat 48-10 last week) is beating Duke

[State82]

Why???

Because I have zero tolerance for Charlie Foxtrots from individuals in that pay grade. They aren't dunking fries in a bucket of grease at McD's. And yes, I am tough to work for and expect all out effort in every endeavor.

[MarketingBully01]

UAB scored 3 of their TDs on the same play ( a bomb off the skinny post)I'm concerned about today but not worried .

I type this while East Carolina is beating South Carolina and Troy (who UAB beat 48-10 last week) is beating Duke

I'd have been okay with everything personally if Dak runs for the 4th and 1 (why did we pass there?) and put on one more score to make it 54-27. To me, that would have taken the fight out of them and they wouldn't have tried the bull shit Hail Mary to make it 47-34.

I understand to an extent why you take Dak out on the last two series but when they keep the 1s in and we have the 3rd or 4th string corner back in they are obviously still trying to win the game.

But difference of opinion I guess. We absolutely have to do something about our kicking game. I like Graham at PR though. The secondary problem will be fixed.

[Coach34]

Because I have zero tolerance for Charlie Foxtrots from individuals in that pay grade. They aren't dunking fries in a bucket of grease at McD's. And yes, I am tough to work for and expect all out effort in every endeavor.

So our coach got his whole team involved and experience- and you are unhappy about a fairly easy win?

[bluelightstar]

So our coach got his whole team involved and experience- and you are unhappy about a fairly easy win?

Coach, come on. This was one of the dumbest football games I've ever watched.

[mstatefan91]

It was one of the dumbest game plans I've ever seen, and we still won. Hope the philosophy is justified in the end...

[BrunswickDawg]

Coach, come on. This was one of the dumbest football games I've ever watched.

Then you haven't been a State fan for very long, because this one doesn't even rank in my top 10. Hell, I don't think it even makes the top 5 in The Mullen era.

[Joliet Jake]

It was one of the dumbest game plans I've ever seen, and we still won. Hope the philosophy is justified in the end...

While this game has caused me to pump the brakes a bit, I'll just leave you with two things that put this statement in perspective.

3-2
Maine

[mstatefan91]

While this game has caused me to pump the brakes a bit, I'll just leave you with two things that put this statement in perspective.

3-2
Maine

Still a dumb game plan any way you want to slice it. Have their been worse game plans? Sure but that doesn't justify what I saw the coaches doing today

[Todd4State]

Because I have zero tolerance for Charlie Foxtrots from individuals in that pay grade. They aren't dunking fries in a bucket of grease at McD's. And yes, I am tough to work for and expect all out effort in every endeavor.

So, you expected us to treat playing UAB like we were playing Alabama and were only going to be happy with a 70-0 score?

There's a difference between expecting "all out effort" and expecting perfection.

[JDog13]

While this game has caused me to pump the brakes a bit, I'll just leave you with two things that put this statement in perspective.

3-2
Maine

you mean this mane?

http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/296/files/2014/07/Bo-Wallace-BOREAL-1.jpg

[Bulldogbeing]

We better get it cleaned up soon. Lsu is coming soon.

[99jc]

We did a bunch of stuff that we obviously aren't going to do in SEC play. Williams will never see the field unless Dak gets hurt. The 2nd team defense played I think I counted 7 or 8 full drives and there were full position subs other times. Lot of man nickel coverage on defense which we will do against very few SEC teams. Miss 2 extra points in one game? Won't see that again. Plus we saw a QB for the first time that we had never seen on film who totally torched our defensive game plan.

Did Mullen do some dumb stuff? Yes. Did the defense look bad? Yes. But this was UAB. We weren't up, Mullen stopped the momentum, but we were clearly superior to UAB. I think we need to step back from the game, accept the fact that we played a lot of 2nd teamers agian, and we won by 13 (Should have been 20 no thanks to Irvin Sills). I'm just not that worried. We didn't play our best and we still put up 40 points on offense, had a pick 6, and racked up 500+ yards of offense. I'm just gonna take a step back and not make some rash judgments that we are no better than 7 wins.

Nm

[Political Hack]

I'm more concerned with the missed tackles in the front 7 and the big plays given up in man up, along with our kickers... if you can still call them that.

I'm not overly concerned because teams always have a let down game. Day game in September against a non-conference opponent following a blow out/shut out seems ripe for that. When you play that poorly and still easily handle what should be the CUSA champion this season, there's also something to be said about that. We looked like dirt and still walked away with an easy W... that hasn't been the case at State for a long, long time.

[Dawgface]

Nm

Yep. People can rationalize it any way they want. But we have bad problems. Starting with the head coach who continues to make head scratching decisions.

[State82]

There's a difference between expecting "all out effort" and expecting perfection.

And we got neither from the staff. A staff of this calibre should be near perfection in their planning and game management. And players should give the all out effort. Players won't be perfect in their skills and execution but they should not have to overcome incompetent decision making/planning from their coaches.