Review and moving forward

[Dawg4Life]

I have to get some things off of my chest. I don't post a lot but I read this board daily and your opinion matters to me.

Egg Bowl Review:

1. I have been in denial for the last two years. When the national analysts said that UM was more talented than MSU, I scoffed. More talented? How do you lose to Memphis...Arkansas...and get blown out by Florida? After last night, it is very obvious that UM is more talented than us.

2. The Egg Bowl is currently a very bad matchup for MSU. UM and Bama can exploit the obvious weakness which is the OL. Where other teams cannot, these two teams simply destroyed us up front. No way to win against that except for fluke situations. The funny thing is that from 09-11 we were a nightmare matchup for them. Big, physical, zone-read option team with an above average defense. It was a blowout for three straight years. The table has turned...

3. Last night felt like "goodbye" more than a football game. Lots of tears and rumors that Dan is gone. Very weird feeling in the stadium. I've been in that stadium for 35 years and I've never felt anything like it.

Where do we go from here:

1. Dan is an outstanding coach and deserves to have the opportunity to stay or go. I've changed jobs and I understand that every man has to do what is best for him. If he feels like it is time to go, then all parties are better off parting ways. The last 7 years have been outstanding. I appreciate everything he has done and hope he stays.

2. How this team won 8 games with that OL is a miracle. The SEC has slowly started looking more and more like the Big 12. There are only 3 SEC teams that can control a game from the defensive line (Florida, UM, Bama) and UM is a notch below their standard from last year. The rest of us can't or choose not to. MSU won games this year without an offensive line because frankly, you don't have to have one except for 2-3 games. To be fair, the same is true for UM as well (see Florida) but UM improved greatly with the Tunsil return.

3. I miss the Relf offense. I miss good offensive linemen and a downhill, zone-read attack. I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand if we (a) chose to go away from that or (b) simply didn't have the horses. You coaches can tell me that. I just know that the Relf offense puts up points early on that UM team and controls the clock. Even with defensive issues, they can be masked with the Relf offense. That is a 3 point game with the old offense.

4. I haven't been happy with a MSU defense since 2010. I'm sick of watching the defense year in and year out. The defense gets a pass from most people on this board. The yards given up, time of possession, field position, lack of turnovers, etc. We have been piss poor for years on that side of the ball. The 2014 team makes the playoffs with an AVERAGE defense. I don't think the defense is any worse this year but I can't see much improvement.

5. Getting down 14-0 to LSU, 14-3 to A&M, 14-0 to La Tech, 14-0 to UM (I'm not counting the pick 6)...when does it stop? That is 56-3 in the first quarter and change! It's Big 12 bad guys and it pisses me off because in my whole life we have ALWAYS been able to find defensive players.

6. I don't want to talk about individual players but let's say this, we are a development program and that is great. However, we have missed on several players in the last 2-4 years. We need to recruit and recruit hard. I think this team can still be a bowl team next year. Recruit some nasty OL prospects, get some head hunters back in the defensive backfield (Whitley, Pig, Brown). Get back to being TOUGH.

Let me have it.

[FISHDAWG]

pretty good points all around but I'm going to have to disagree on the defense ... in the higher scoring games a lot of issues were working against us that wasn't the fault of the defense ... ie. - turn overs, weak play calling on offense, injuries, - I think Manny did pretty good with what he had to work with

[SDDawg]

This is an outstanding post, almost the opposite of much of what I've posted but clearly you were more prepared for last night than I was. I will say one thing though: I agreed with your Mullen sentiment last week, but not sure I do today. I really feel like he quit on us yesterday, and like you said it's his family and his decision, but no one cares for a "short timer" and I feel like he rubbed our noses in it as fans last night. His post-game press conference was very disappointing to me. He did well on paper but I feel like in the end he squandered the past 7 years last night. Many will say I'm overreacting and that's fine, just my 2 cents.

But overall, really good post and especially good point about missing on developmental guys. We are going to be last in the SEC for a while until we start recruiting better.

[Statefan]

Great post

I'm at a cross roads myself after being quite pro Mullen all this time. If we win our bowl game, we are looking at 10-3 and 9-4 back to back. 19-7 over a two year span. He is solely responsible for developing the all time greatest player in our history. He also won 9 games with Relf in a very tough West -- the same that UM has now with their 2013 class. He is the reason we have an expansion, Seal Complex, etc. Not to mention we were number 1 in the nation and went to a NY6 bowl. We have good QBs for the future

At the same time, he has struggled in the big game. I understand being hit in the mouth by bama, but we are always down big and starting slow at the beginning of big games. Hevesy is his choice and his decision to live or sink by. Our recruiting class last year was great, but we aren't seeing the effects this year of being #1.

I'm not on the fire Mullen train but if he leaves I'm not going to be too upset. Next year is a rebuilding year regardless of who the coach is, and we need to be playing good football by 2017 and 2018

[Dawg4Life]

pretty good points all around but I'm going to have to disagree on the defense ... in the higher scoring games a lot of issues were working against us that wasn't the fault of the defense ... ie. - turn overs, weak play calling on offense, injuries, - I think Manny did pretty good with what he had to work with

I like Manny. It very well could be a talent issue. I'll go so far to say most of it is a talent issue. Whatever it is, it must be changed. Jackie used to talk about the "hidden yardage." Yardage from defensive stops, punting, etc. This team is AWFUL at the hidden yardage and some of that is on the offense. Some of it is not though and I think that is an easier fix historically at MSU.

[Dawg4Life]

This is an outstanding post, almost the opposite of much of what I've posted but clearly you were more prepared for last night than I was. I will say one thing though: I agreed with your Mullen sentiment last week, but not sure I do today. I really feel like he quit on us yesterday, and like you said it's his family and his decision, but no one cares for a "short timer" and I feel like he rubbed our noses in it as fans last night. His post-game press conference was very disappointing to me. He did well on paper but I feel like in the end he squandered the past 7 years last night. Many will say I'm overreacting and that's fine, just my 2 cents.

But overall, really good post and especially good point about missing on developmental guys. We are going to be last in the SEC for a while until we start recruiting better.

I will agree with you in that last night just felt...weird. I got a text during the game that said "he gone." I wondered to myself, "is this why I am seeing this garbage?" We probably won't know the truth for awhile. It could have had an effect.