Sunday Morning QB- Birmingham Dragon edition

[Coach34]

The Dragon on their helmets reminded me of one of the best exchanges I've ever read:

Dad- "Son, what would you like for your birthday?"
Son- "a girlfriend that isn't crazy"
Dad- "why dont you ask for something more realistic- like a dragon?"

1. We are 2-0 as we expected to be. Enough said.

2. Ok, let's go ahead and get it out of the way. Dan Mullen has treated these first 2 games like scrimmages. He hasnt taken them seriously at all. He is rotating the 2nd teamers in to get playing reps with the game on the line. Why is he doing that? Because he wants those guys to have quality experience when they get in games later in the year vs SEC teams on the bigger stage. That is certainly better for those guys than getting garbage reps when we are up by 35-40 points. He is treating these openers like NFL preseason games and seeing what these guys can do. From that standpoint- it's a very smart move. On the flip side- is it hurting the growth and continuity of Dakota and the first offense? The 1st defense? We'll see. He's obviously not going to do this vs an LSU or anybody like that. I'll leave to you individually as to whether you agree with it or not.

3. Dakota and the 1st offense scored TD's on 6 of their first 9 drives. That's pretty damn good. I didnt like wasting four 1st half drives with Damien Williams and the 2nd offense- but hey, they got some experience. Doesnt Mullen realize people gamble on these games???? Even with wasting 4 drives on the 2nd bunch- we had 300 yards at halftime. The passing game never got in sync all day- but we did hit some big plays and still threw for over 200 yards. Dakota now has 8 TD passes in his first 2 games and 9 overall. Monster year coming. It should be 10- but he underthrew the pass to Jameon and it got picked. Cant make that mistake of leaving it to the inside as well.

4. #RTGDF- that is what this offense is about and what will make or break us. Dakota, JRob, and Jameon combined had 19 carries for 152 yards in the 1st half. For the game- JRob 20 for 124, Dakota 18 for 111. We ran the ball like we are supposed to. JRob is a beast. Didnt get much from Griff or Shump, but I dont expect alot out of them anyway. They arent even close to what we have in JRob. Any game JRob doesnt get 20 carries and Dakota 15 carries is a game wasted.

5. Glad to see RoJo and Stonehands get TD catches this week. Morrow got away with a slight push to get better position on his TD- but hey, it's only a flag if you get caught. Great job Joe. I'd like to see us throw the ball deep a little more often- we finally have WR's capable of going and getting it. Stretch that D a little more please. Walley Looks like he is going to be solid for us at TE. Did a good job blocking and made a couple of catches. Welcome aboard kid.

6. Head-scratching playcalls as usual from Mullen- the hurry-up 3rd and 4 with Williams in the game was a straight handoff, the slant on 3rd and 4 to Wilson in UAB territory (RTGDF with Dakota or JRob), the pass on 4th and 1??? Really Dan?? Also, why in the hell would you have Holloway in with the 1st offense on the possession right before half? C'mon Mane- there were 4 mins left and we could have had a really good drive- put a real RB in there. Holloway is a gimmick and shouldnt be in there for entire possessions. But of course, this is the Dan Mullen Preseason- so I see the thought process on why he is doing it.

7. I said before the season Preston Smith has a chance to work his way into the draft- and thru 2 games- he is doing it. It's rare to see a DE leading the team in interceptions, but by damn he is doing it. And the one yesterday was a great catch. Then a really good run to make it a Pick-6. Great job by Smith to start this season out.

8. We are so good at LB. Bennie Brown is outstanding. McKinney is too. It's nice having 2 of probably the top 5 or 6 LB'ers in the SEC. That said- there were a few missed tackles in the middle on their RB. A couple of times the RB got caught behind their linemen and slipped thru some cracks- but overall a good job vs the run. UAB only averaged 2.6 per rush.

9. We only gave up 10 points vs our 1st D. So that wasnt bad. I still didnt like seeing Calhoun getting torched- but it does happen at times to everyone at DB. The starting D playing solid football-even in the Secondary. The 2nd D and 3rd D? Not so much. Redmond had a bad day- getting burnt twice. We had some other guys getting torched back there as well. Youth and inexperience in the Secondary got served. Hopefully they get let that embarrassment from the game and film sessions make them better players. One thing to watch going forward- even though it was against our back-ups primarily- expect see more deep balls coming vs the D.

10. Cox looked like he had been shot yesterday. I was hoping for a severe hammy crap- but that's unlikely. It looks like a bad pull or possible tear. That's a big loss. Especially with Market getting his head gashed open. That's 2 Safeties in one day- altho Market will be back obviously. We have work to do to get the Safety position worked out before going to BR.

11. UAB would beat Vandy by 3 TD's. Good grief Vandy is horrible. Franklin left the cupboard slightly bare- but was it really that bad? Or is Mason about to have a short stay in Nashville? One thing is for sure- I'm glad they are on the schedule and it's late in the year. Good easy game late in the season to rest some guys.

12. I hope the 2nd D getting torched causes us to sub a couple of guys at a time next week- instead of putting a whole new unit out there. Our 2nd and 3rd D's played 8 entire series yesterday. That's way too many. I want to see our starters on both sides of the ball get tired vs USA. Why? Because they are going to be tired vs LSU in Tiger Stadium in that 4th Q with the game on the line. I want them to play tired so they can get used to fighting fatigue.

In Mullen We Trust,

C34

[thunderclap]

I know what you are saying about getting experience, but you have got to establish a killer mentality in these games. And Dan simply isn't doing that. You can't just suddenly turn it on when it comes to the SEC games.

[RC3]

I'll just say this about rotating offense thing. If we try that crap against USA next week before getting a pretty good lead, we will possibly lose. I understand what he is doing. I just don't agree with it. Put a team away before you start tinkering. The damn thing is, Mullen will do this next week regardless just to prove he is smarter than all of us questioning his decision. So might as well hope for the best

[Drugdog]

Great points. On the post game Mullen said I hope the secondary coaches get some family time tonight, because it is going to be an early morning. ( on Sunday).

[SignalToNoise]

Serious question- didn't we say the same thing in 2012 about getting younger guys "real reps", and then we turned out to be spectacularly average.

I know this is a different season and different team, so maybe one of you guys can highlight the differences for me.

I'll hang up and listen.

[MSUDawg4Life]

We were never in danger of losing to UAB. We won't lose to USA. I believe getting the backups experience and reps early in the game is more valuable than waiting and hoping to put them in if the game gets out of hand. Considering our players and what we have to do to develop them, Dan's way makes much more sense to me than you armchair coaches.

[Coach34]

Serious question- didn't we say the same thing in 2012 about getting younger guys "real reps", and then we turned out to be spectacularly average.

No

We never subbed like this in 2012. Not even close. What we did in 2012 was look very basic on offense and defense- and it seemed like we were just saving things for later. Instead- we just stayed very basic.

2012 and this season are two totally different concepts and situations

[MarketingBully01]

The Dragon on their helmets reminded me of one of the best exchanges I've ever read:

Dad- "Son, what would you like for your birthday?"
Son- "a girlfriend that isn't crazy"
Dad- "why dont you ask for something more realistic- like a dragon?"

1. We are 2-0 as we expected to be. Enough said.

2. Ok, let's go ahead and get it out of the way. Dan Mullen has treated these first 2 games like scrimmages. He hasnt taken them seriously at all. He is rotating the 2nd teamers in to get playing reps with the game on the line. Why is he doing that? Because he wants those guys to have quality experience when they get in games later in the year vs SEC teams on the bigger stage. That is certainly better for those guys than getting garbage reps when we are up by 35-40 points. He is treating these openers like NFL preseason games and seeing what these guys can do. From that standpoint- it's a very smart move. On the flip side- is it hurting the growth and continuity of Dakota and the first offense? The 1st defense? We'll see. He's obviously not going to do this vs an LSU or anybody like that. I'll leave to you individually as to whether you agree with it or not.

3. Dakota and the 1st offense scored TD's on 6 of their first 9 drives. That's pretty damn good. I didnt like wasting four 1st half drives with Damien Williams and the 2nd offense- but hey, they got some experience. Doesnt Mullen realize people gamble on these games???? Even with wasting 4 drives on the 2nd bunch- we had 300 yards at halftime. The passing game never got in sync all day- but we did hit some big plays and still threw for over 200 yards. Dakota now has 8 TD passes in his first 2 games and 9 overall. Monster year coming. It should be 10- but he underthrew the pass to Jameon and it got picked. Cant make that mistake of leaving it to the inside as well.

4. #RTGDF- that is what this offense is about and what will make or break us. Dakota, JRob, and Jameon combined had 19 carries for 152 yards in the 1st half. For the game- JRob 20 for 124, Dakota 18 for 111. We ran the ball like we are supposed to. JRob is a beast. Didnt get much from Griff or Shump, but I dont expect alot out of them anyway. They arent even close to what we have in JRob. Any game JRob doesnt get 20 carries and Dakota 15 carries is a game wasted.

5. Glad to see RoJo and Stonehands get TD catches this week. Morrow got away with a slight push to get better position on his TD- but hey, it's only a flag if you get caught. Great job Joe. I'd like to see us throw the ball deep a little more often- we finally have WR's capable of going and getting it. Stretch that D a little more please. Walley Looks like he is going to be solid for us at TE. Did a good job blocking and made a couple of catches. Welcome aboard kid.

6. Head-scratching playcalls as usual from Mullen- the hurry-up 3rd and 4 with Williams in the game was a straight handoff, the slant on 3rd and 4 to Wilson in UAB territory (RTGDF with Dakota or JRob), the pass on 4th and 1??? Really Dan?? Also, why in the hell would you have Holloway in with the 1st offense on the possession right before half? C'mon Mane- there were 4 mins left and we could have had a really good drive- put a real RB in there. Holloway is a gimmick and shouldnt be in there for entire possessions. But of course, this is the Dan Mullen Preseason- so I see the thought process on why he is doing it.

7. I said before the season Preston Smith has a chance to work his way into the draft- and thru 2 games- he is doing it. It's rare to see a DE leading the team in interceptions, but by damn he is doing it. And the one yesterday was a great catch. Then a really good run to make it a Pick-6. Great job by Smith to start this season out.

8. We are so good at LB. Bennie Brown is outstanding. McKinney is too. It's nice having 2 of probably the top 5 or 6 LB'ers in the SEC. That said- there were a few missed tackles in the middle on their RB. A couple of times the RB got caught behind their linemen and slipped thru some cracks- but overall a good job vs the run. UAB only averaged 2.6 per rush.

9. We only gave up 10 points vs our 1st D. So that wasnt bad. I still didnt like seeing Calhoun getting torched- but it does happen at times to everyone at DB. The starting D playing solid football-even in the Secondary. The 2nd D and 3rd D? Not so much. Redmond had a bad day- getting burnt twice. We had some other guys getting torched back there as well. Youth and inexperience in the Secondary got served. Hopefully they get let that embarrassment from the game and film sessions make them better players. One thing to watch going forward- even though it was against our back-ups primarily- expect see more deep balls coming vs the D.

10. Cox looked like he had been shot yesterday. I was hoping for a severe hammy crap- but that's unlikely. It looks like a bad pull or possible tear. That's a big loss. Especially with Market getting his head gashed open. That's 2 Safeties in one day- altho Market will be back obviously. We have work to do to get the Safety position worked out before going to BR.

11. UAB would beat Vandy by 3 TD's. Good grief Vandy is horrible. Franklin left the cupboard slightly bare- but was it really that bad? Or is Mason about to have a short stay in Nashville? One thing is for sure- I'm glad they are on the schedule and it's late in the year. Good easy game late in the season to rest some guys.

12. I hope the 2nd D getting torched causes us to sub a couple of guys at a time next week- instead of putting a whole new unit out there. Our 2nd and 3rd D's played 8 entire series yesterday. That's way too many. I want to see our starters on both sides of the ball get tired vs USA. Why? Because they are going to be tired vs LSU in Tiger Stadium in that 4th Q with the game on the line. I want them to play tired so they can get used to fighting fatigue.

In Mullen We Trust,

C34

Good points. We had someone say earlier that Cox and Market are alright and will play next week. In other words, hard to speculate about an injury when we don't know what it is...

[BrunswickDawg]

Keep in mind with us having lost so few off of last years team and having a size able number of guys we will lose after this year, we have a real logjam of players who won't get a good chance to get prime game reps unless we force it. I would rather force it a little this year rather than have multiple starters come in next year with no experience vs. #1s. Even with all the issues yesterday, I never felt like we were in danger and we won't be in danger against South Alabama.

[CadaverDawg]

Good read, Coach.

You hit on my biggest concern of all from yesterday. Fatigue. I'm worried that with our rotating units, none of our guys are getting a feel for playing with fatigue. Does this mean every time our starters get a little winded at Tiger stadium, we're going to sub in the second teamers to get torched? I sure as hell hope not.

But one thing's for sure....we're all kind of "counting on" Mullen to be doing things temporarily....and that scares me. Like Todd4State said last night, Mullen isn't the type of guy that usually tries things out and then abandons them. If we come out and shit our pants every other offensive series by bringing in Williams against LSU, there will be many grabbing pitchforks and torches, including myself.

And let's be honest here people, has these extra reps for Damien and the 1B offense truly made you feel better about him having to come in if Dak goes down? I keep hearing "it's good for Damien to get these reps". Is it? Because all it's shown me is that Damien isn't even looking as good as he did last year, and I'm sure it has hurt his confidence because he looks like he is regressing. So at this point, not only do I feel like it's dumb anyway, I feel like it's not even providing that one little benefit that everybody, including Mullen, wants to say it's providing.

If Dak goes down, we're toast. No first team reps against UAB for Damien is going to change that. Let's do like every other program that can't afford to lose their starter, and let him grab us a big lead early, and then pull him. Playing scared and preparing for disaster, creates disaster.

[cheewgumm]

I'm all about the subbing on the OL...especially. But I'd like it just to be less so our 1st team guys can get real comfortable together. I think good points on A) them playing together tired. Never thought of that and great point. b) Also I agree with thunder that we need to know we have a killer
Instinct and
Build it. LSU should be us at our best date. Hopefully Mullen is building to that.

[cheewgumm]

Also Chris Jones and P smith should be on the files together.

[HoopsDawg]

I will say this about Calhoun, he never had a chance against that WR. He never needs to be in a one on one situation without safety help against a fast WR. Redmond was at least in position.

We need to have a full dress rehearsal against USA. We need to act like we are playing LSU for the first 3 quarters. If the game is out of hand at that time, then you play the subs.

Coach, you didn't comment on the kicking, but what is there to say? We missed 2 extra points, one hit the upright and bounced in, and another barely got inside the upright. What a shame.

This offense is made for the slot guy. I'm a little surprised we haven't been able to get Jameon going and I don't think his backup is ideal for the slot position. We need to get Graham some work there or move Fred Brown to the slot.

Sometimes Dak makes up his mind where he is going with the football pre-snap. If he takes the snap and looks left, he is throwing right and vice-versa. I think he wanted to force it in to Lewis due to the circumstance, but he had Morrow streaking wide open for 6 and he just token looked that way before throwing to Lewis. He didn't read the secondary at all.

The only injury worse than Dak would be to J-Rob. Big dropoff from him to our backups.

One of my big concerns pre-season was our pass rush other than P. Smith. I still don't see it. We can only get pressure if we blitz. McKinney was a beast when we brought him.

[CadaverDawg]

I love your idea of getting Fred brown into the slot. He is a playmaker, and for whatever reason we aren't finding Jameon much so far this year. I would like to see Brown on the field more, and rotating with Lewis in the slot may be the best way to do it. He at least needs to take Gabe Myles' reps. I think Myles can be good down the road, but he's not at Freddy's level yet

[fccee1]

If our DB's cover like they did yesterday USA's QB will kill us.

[Coach34]

Kicking is lack of confidence. And I don't know where they are going to find it.

Dakota absolutely makes up his mind about where he is going with the ball at times solely off his pre-snap read.
he has to stop being so stubborn with that.

I think Graham looked real good catching punts. I hope he is an "ice water" type kid. We'll see in BR. He'll get more reps at WR as the season progresses is my guess

[Percho]

I will say this about Calhoun, he never had a chance against that WR. He never needs to be in a one on one situation without safety help against a fast WR. Redmond was at least in position.

We need to have a full dress rehearsal against USA. We need to act like we are playing LSU for the first 3 quarters. If the game is out of hand at that time, then you play the subs.

Coach, you didn't comment on the kicking, but what is there to say? We missed 2 extra points, one hit the upright and bounced in, and another barely got inside the upright. What a shame.

This offense is made for the slot guy. I'm a little surprised we haven't been able to get Jameon going and I don't think his backup is ideal for the slot position. We need to get Graham some work there or move Fred Brown to the slot.

Sometimes Dak makes up his mind where he is going with the football pre-snap. If he takes the snap and looks left, he is throwing right and vice-versa. I think he wanted to force it in to Lewis due to the circumstance, but he had Morrow streaking wide open for 6 and he just token looked that way before throwing to Lewis. He didn't read the secondary at all.

The only injury worse than Dak would be to J-Rob. Big dropoff from him to our backups.

One of my big concerns pre-season was our pass rush other than P. Smith. I still don't see it. We can only get pressure if we blitz. McKinney was a beast when we brought him.

I thought on first two deep passes our DR's could have covered them if they would have just have run with them instead of peeking into the backfield and slowing down at around 15 to 18 yards. On the Redmond plat, he went for the int and looked like he shorted armed the attempt and just was short.

[RiverCityDawg]

On the Redmond play, he went for the int and looked like he shorted armed the attempt and just was short.

Yeah it looked to me like Redmond mistimed his jump so he was coming down making it easy for the WR to out muscle him for the ball.

Taveze doesn't have the speed to run with fast receivers. Just not his game. Some guys can turn and run (Love), but some guys like Taveze have to be physical at the line to disrupt the route and give the pass rush more time.

[shoeless joe]

One of my big concerns pre-season was our pass rush other than P. Smith. I still don't see it. We can only get pressure if we blitz. McKinney was a beast when we brought him.

I feel like our pass rush hasn't been bad. We get push up the middle quite a bit. Now one thing we've struggled with is finishing the sack once we get close. But a lot of hurried, feet not set throws have been made against this D. I have been very happy with almost all the D line guys we've used. Maybe I'm just seein it differently but this doesn't concern me.

[thf24]

After seeing Holloway in the first two games, I'm not sure why he was even moved to running back, much less getting early reps there. I don't see him as being any more of a home run threat than JRob. JRob isn't the burner Holloway is but still pretty damn fast, fast enough to break away. And Holloway taking one to the house is contingent on being 100% untouched, while JRob can break a few tackles if he needs to before he can turn on the jets. All things considered, I just don't see Holloway's move to RB bringing anything more to the table that wasn't already there.

[Jack Lambert]

I think the offense played great. I do wish he would have left Dak in the entire game. He would have gotten his rythm down faster. We would have scored a few more touchdowns. Except for 4 long plays our 1st team defense was out standing.

The one thing I hate and it happened both last saturday and yesterday. In the 4th we are playing our 3rd and 4th while they are still playing their 1st team.

[Coach34]

Afternoon bump

[Dawgfan77]

I don't think Mullen likes to blitz. Out of the four DC he has Diaz was the only one he gave full control to blitz. We are agressive but we are still a read and react D.
DWill is Greg plump. Serviceable but not gonna go out there and win the game for you

[aerodawg]

9. We only gave up 10 points vs our 1st D. So that wasnt bad. I still didnt like seeing Calhoun getting torched- but it does happen at times to everyone at DB. The starting D playing solid football-even in the Secondary. The 2nd D and 3rd D? Not so much. Redmond had a bad day- getting burnt twice. We had some other guys getting torched back there as well. Youth and inexperience in the Secondary got served. Hopefully they get let that embarrassment from the game and film sessions make them better players. One thing to watch going forward- even though it was against our back-ups primarily- expect see more deep balls coming vs the D.


Agree with everything except the bold. He only got burnt once. One of those he had great position and went for the pick but didn't come down with it or stop the receiver from getting it. After watching the replay of it, it doesn't even make sense that he didn't come down with it.

[Coach34]

Agree with everything except the bold. He only got burnt once. One of those he had great position and went for the pick but didn't come down with it or stop the receiver from getting it. After watching the replay of it, it doesn't even make sense that he didn't come down with it.

Did they gain 30+ yards on the play against him? Why yes they did. Burnt

[shoeless joe]

Agree with everything except the bold. He only got burnt once. One of those he had great position and went for the pick but didn't come down with it or stop the receiver from getting it. After watching the replay of it, it doesn't even make sense that he didn't come down with it.

Understand your point, but when the wideout that you're covering scores a long TD then you got burnt...whether or not you were beaten down the field by pure speed. I'm sure Redmond will get the nickname "ashes" after that performance.

[War Machine Dawg]

I feel like our pass rush hasn't been bad. We get push up the middle quite a bit. Now one thing we've struggled with is finishing the sack once we get close. But a lot of hurried, feet not set throws have been made against this D. I have been very happy with almost all the D line guys we've used. Maybe I'm just seein it differently but this doesn't concern me.

Agree, people tend to equate pressure with sacks. But there's a lot more too it. The problem is that yesterday UAB's QBs had plenty of time to throw more often that we believe they should have. We'll see what happens in Mobile this weekend on that front. Definitely need to get better at finishing sacks when we get there, though.

[BulldogBear]

Bridge will be a much better scrambler/runner than anybody UAB threw at us at QB. I'm not looking for it to be much of an issue in the general running game but he's much more akin to Dak than TR. If we do get pressure, he's gone if we don't get him.

[aerodawg]

Outplayed yes, burnt no. Burnt means you got outrun on the play. The guy got behind you and was wide open. That was not the case.

It is the equivalent in basketball of letting a guy take a wide open shot for a 3, or having a hand in his face. Sure the defender should have hit the ball and it been no good, but there is a difference talent-wise between the two.

I'll let you guys take a CB who gets outrun on plays and I will take the guy who was in great position but just barely missed the pick and we will see who has a better season.

[MSUDawg4Life]

Outplayed yes, burnt no. Burnt means you got outrun on the play. The guy got behind you and was wide open. That was not the case.

It is the equivalent in basketball of letting a guy take a wide open shot for a 3, or having a hand in his face. Sure the defender should have hit the ball and it been no good, but there is a difference talent-wise between the two.

I'll let you guys take a CB who gets outrun on plays and I will take the guy who was in great position but just barely missed the pick and we will see who has a better season.

Agreed. Redmond was not burned, he just played the ball poorly. He was right there with his man each time.

[Todd4State]

I don't think Mullen likes to blitz. Out of the four DC he has Diaz was the only one he gave full control to blitz. We are agressive but we are still a read and react D.
DWill is Greg plump. Serviceable but not gonna go out there and win the game for you

We blitzed a good bit last year, and we did blitz some against UAB.

[drunkernhelldawg]

Excellent write up. Some good points to think about.

[Political Hack]

I will say this about Calhoun, he never had a chance against that WR. He never needs to be in a one on one situation without safety help against a fast WR. Redmond was at least in position.

We need to have a full dress rehearsal against USA. We need to act like we are playing LSU for the first 3 quarters. If the game is out of hand at that time, then you play the subs.

Coach, you didn't comment on the kicking, but what is there to say? We missed 2 extra points, one hit the upright and bounced in, and another barely got inside the upright. What a shame.

This offense is made for the slot guy. I'm a little surprised we haven't been able to get Jameon going and I don't think his backup is ideal for the slot position. We need to get Graham some work there or move Fred Brown to the slot.

Sometimes Dak makes up his mind where he is going with the football pre-snap. If he takes the snap and looks left, he is throwing right and vice-versa. I think he wanted to force it in to Lewis due to the circumstance, but he had Morrow streaking wide open for 6 and he just token looked that way before throwing to Lewis. He didn't read the secondary at all.

The only injury worse than Dak would be to J-Rob. Big dropoff from him to our backups.

One of my big concerns pre-season was our pass rush other than P. Smith. I still don't see it. We can only get pressure if we blitz. McKinney was a beast when we brought him.

Will was in great position on that TD he gave up. It hit his back hand, which has a cast on it and just got ripped away. He also saved a TD, maybe two... 1 on the WR pass when the safety lost deep contain and he recovered to chase the guy down. Another on that reverse that was perfectly set up and only gained 1 yard.

DBs get scorched and exposed a couple of times and it seems bad. Calhoun got burnt on that 1 play, but he had tight coverage most of the game. Our reluctance to change the scheme once we found out thy had two QBs who can drop the ball in a bucket 50 yards down the field is to blame some too. Once you give up 2-3 of those, you have to adjust. We never gave them safety help over the top.

[thf24]

Bridge will be a much better scrambler/runner than anybody UAB threw at us at QB. I'm not looking for it to be much of an issue in the general running game but he's much more akin to Dak than TR. If we do get pressure, he's gone if we don't get him.

I'm not worried as long as we play primarily our best players on defense and sub individually instead of as a unit. So... I guess I'm worried.

[BulldogBear]

I'm not worried as long as we play primarily our best players on defense and sub individually instead of as a unit. So... I guess I'm worried.
Yeah, it's kind of like that for me. I'm not really worried that we won't win but I'm afraid he's going to make us play closer to our potential!!

[rtdawg]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but the USA game is a big concern to me. It just sets up to be a big issue. My hope is that the UAB game will cause us to do some things differently as others have mentioned. See this being a tight game unfortunately.

[Johnson85]

Will was in great position on that TD he gave up. It hit his back hand, which has a cast on it and just got ripped away.

He was in great position to bat that ball away, just not to intercept it. Even then he probably would have been ok if he hadn't mistimed his jump. Calhoun just didn't have the speed to keep up with his guy. I feel like we'll be ok if people try to pick on Redmond later in the year based on this film. I'd like to think Calhoun will rarely be left without help in man to man coverage like that.

I'm more concerned about how UAB would have been able to move the ball if they hadn't dropped a lot of first down passes.

[Hypnodawg]

"I'm more concerned about how UAB would have been able to move the ball if they hadn't dropped a lot of first down passes." Yup. A&M will murder us. They don't drop those.

Why don't we jam the WRs at the line? If Calhoun doesn't have the speed to keep up with his guy, why isn't he laying into him?

[KennyPowers2]

Coach,

I agree with most of your assessment of the game as I think most people on here do. However, I was tired of ******* in-game antics and coaching a few years ago and Saturday just about made me punch my kid. I believe Mullen is a good eye of raw talent and develops players pretty well. I also feel he is a good game planner and motivator for the team but he leaves so so so much to be desired as far as an in game coach. He has done a lot for MSU and the program and I am thankful for that but I am not satisfied with it and I do want more. His stubbornness will be his downfall, and at the end of the year we will basically be in the same situation we have been for the last 4 years. Thinking to ourselves "man we are almost there, we are just about to breakthrough and make a name for MSU". The MSU faithful have had a taste of success during his tenure and we want more but he will not be the guy to bring us that if he cannot do it this year. 4th and 1, take a timeout and then come out to pass the ball? Really Dan?