Let's revisit the Egg Bowl now that we've all cooled a bit.

[BossDawg]

And forgive me if some don't want to think about it, but.....What happened? Was it a scheme thing? Freeze flying drones over practice? Does he prepare a little each week for the entire season? Was it a mental thing? I just can't see UMiss being THAT MUCH more talented, but I also can't see how we've played completely flat for 2 years in a row.

What are your thoughts as to what happened?

[thedawg]

Dak came out too jacked up and turned if over twice early.. . The shit got rolling down hill in a big way with the pick six and the hole was too deep.. I thought we were relatively evenly matched but they won the first quarter by a lot and we couldn't catch up

[defiantdog]

And forgive me if some don't want to think about it, but.....What happened? Was it a scheme thing? Freeze flying drones over practice? Does he prepare a little each week for the entire season? Was it a mental thing? I just can't see UMiss being THAT MUCH more talented, but I also can't see how we've played completely flat for 2 years in a row.

What are your thoughts as to what happened?

Early mistakes that they took advantage of..... they got 21 unanswered points, and we couldn't catch up.

[PassInterference]

We couldn't catch up because we couldn't slow them down at all. They could have named the score.

[Todd4State]

They aren't that much more talented than us. We lost by 11 and we were -2 in turnovers including one which was a pick six. To me, turnovers are the great equalizer in football and while I don't have any stats to back this up, I would be willing to bet that most upsets are because the favored team didn't take care of the ball. Don't turn the ball over- you win more times than not.

I think it was more mental than anything else when you get to the root of it when you look at the game from a certain point of view. (Stars Wars week coming up!) It's very obvious to me that we do not place the emphasis on the Egg Bowl that we did when Dan first got here, and that to me is a HUGE mistake on his part. I'm not saying that Egg Bowl uniforms and countdown clocks guarantee wins in rivalry games- they don't. What they do is place emphasis on the game that helps keep the focus where it needs to be to give you the best chance to win a rivalry game.

Meteddawg had a really good post about a week ago that put into words better than I can how Dan should approach the Egg Bowl. He talked about among other things the team focusing on things like the Playoff in 2014 and the Sugar Bowl this year rather then keeping the focus on the game itself if I remember correctly. I just need to find it because he nailed it and I can't really do it justice.

Anyway- IMO until we start to place the focus back on the game like we used to we run the risk of coming out flat again. And it really puzzles me why Dan stopped all of a sudden. Just because you ran your mouth and you lost a couple it doesn't mean you should say "OK, well we're better than the Egg Bowl anyway- we focus on bigger things now". What he should do is figure out how to win the Egg Bowl the next year to make sure that whatever went wrong doesn't happen the next year.

And people may say "well, that's obsessed." But it's a rivalry and a heated one at that. Being obsessed with each other is part of it. Alabama being obsessed with Auburn hasn't stopped them from winning championships and having "bigger goals". Same with Florida State/Florida, Clemson/South Carolina, and maybe a bad example but Texas/Texas A&M are all or were the same way. To get to our championship goals we probably have to beat Ole Miss anyway.

[Todd4State]

We couldn't catch up because we couldn't slow them down at all. They could have named the score.

I disagree with that. If that was the case, why did they only win by 11 and essentially only score 31 on offense which is 9 points less than their average on the season? Especially with a coach like Freeze who is known to run up the score. Not to mention the fact we outscored them for the 2-4 quarters and you could make an argument we outplayed them in quarters 2-4.

[Bothrops]

I watched it again the other night. Their D-line played one of their best games, but our OL looked plain pitiful trying to slow them down. Senior got absolutely pulverized in the first half..on every ****ing play! Our guards looked like girls trying to pull hair, with their paws clinched on DT's jerseys. I mean they were trying to anchor their weight to slow them up, or make them trip over their bodies. That's how bad we were getting raped on every play.

Our D-line was handled pretty much all night. Their Db's covered our receivers pretty well, our db's were out of position. Calhoun's instincts made him some plays.

It was the most dominant performance I've seen this season in the first half. Embarrassing.

[Todd4State]

I watched it again the other night. Their D-line played one of their best games, but our OL looked plain pitiful trying to slow them down. Senior got absolutely pulverized in the first half..on every ****ing play! Our guards looked like girls trying to pull hair, with their paws clinched on DT's jerseys. I mean they were trying to anchor their weight to slow them up, or make them trip over their bodies. That's how bad we were getting raped on every play.

Our D-line was handled pretty much all night. Their Db's covered our receivers pretty well, our db's were out of position. Calhoun's instincts made him some plays.

It was the most dominant performance I've seen this season in the first half. Embarrassing.

Games are definitely won and lost in the trenches. There is no question about that.

[HancockCountyDog]

I disagree with that. If that was the case, why did they only win by 11 and essentially only score 31 on offense which is 9 points less than their average on the season? Especially with a coach like Freeze who is known to run up the score. Not to mention the fact we outscored them for the 2-4 quarters and you could make an argument we outplayed them in quarters 2-4.

If you don't think they got conservative both offensively and defensively after being up 28-3 at the half, I'm not sure what to tell you.

They missed field goals, and didn't try and push the ball down the field, they also played deep safeties the entire second half, giving is everything underneath.

It was 38-13 in the 4th quarter, after they had missed two FGs. It was a damn blowout.

[Bothrops]

I have no words to describe how bad the OL and defense were, overall. I'm not sure Kelly missed a single pass until late in the 2nd quarter.

[Maroonthirteen]

1. Turnovers
2. They are more talented. Especially their DL vs our OL.
3. Yeah, we could have schemed a win with the talent gap. But we didn't. The turnovers compounded 1. And 2.

[Jack Lambert]

We couldn't catch up because we couldn't slow them down at all. They could have named the score.

Take back the pick six they coundn't slow us down and if Dak doesn't fumble and we go in to score the game is totally different.

[msstate7]

Take back the pick six they coundn't slow us down and if Dak doesn't fumble and we go in to score the game is totally different.

Dak's fumble was probably the biggest play of the game. We were moving. If we go up 7-0, dws would have registered on the Richter scale. Instead dak tries to truck a defender instead of just just protecting the ball and keeping the chains moving. That fumble let the air out of the stadium...

[Liverpooldawg]

Dak's fumble was probably the biggest play of the game. We were moving. If we go up 7-0, dws would have registered on the Richter scale. Instead dak tries to truck a defender instead of just just protecting the ball and keeping the chains moving. That fumble let the air out of the stadium...

That play set the tone of the game for sure.

[Leroy Jenkins]

Dan said postgame that we outscored them after we spotted them those first few TDs. So technically we won the 2nd half. HAHAHAHAHAHA. j/s.

[Todd4State]

If you don't think they got conservative both offensively and defensively after being up 28-3 at the half, I'm not sure what to tell you.

They missed field goals, and didn't try and push the ball down the field, they also played deep safeties the entire second half, giving is everything underneath.

It was 38-13 in the 4th quarter, after they had missed two FGs. It was a damn blowout.


It was a blowout mainly because of turnovers. And if you don't think Freeze would have taken an opportunity to blow us out if he could, I don't know what to tell you either.

So, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

[Todd4State]

Dak's fumble was probably the biggest play of the game. We were moving. If we go up 7-0, dws would have registered on the Richter scale. Instead dak tries to truck a defender instead of just just protecting the ball and keeping the chains moving. That fumble let the air out of the stadium...

You are correct. Dak also tried to do too much on his interception that got returned for a TD as well.

[Goldendawg]

I'm still disgusted. Saying we won the 2nd half doesn't hold up to me. That's like Alabama only beat us 5(?) last year when we score a touchdown with less that a minute or two left. Our highly thought of DT had one assisted tackle for the whole game. The 1st quarter did kill us, but when a team gets up that much that fast, you can't say they don't play differently the rest of the game, especially when we were outplayed in every facet of the game. It was so bad in our seats that my Bulldog sister and I had a verbal altercation over the situation and she went to the car in the 1st quarter. You can tell they think we cannot handle them the past two years. You can almost feel that attitude coming from their players. We have not been prepared or up for this game in two years. JMHO. P.S. Don't get me started about MSU fans that brought a whole family of obnoxious adult UNM fans in front of us in Section 4. I thought the dancing Reb girls and some MSU women were going to fight at the end of the game. Give your Bulldog tickets to Bulldogs.

[HancockCountyDog]

It was a blowout mainly because of turnovers. And if you don't think Freeze would have taken an opportunity to blow us out if he could, I don't know what to tell you either.

So, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

We only turned it over twice. Dak's fumble was at their 30-35 yard line. It's not like we fumbled at our 20 yard line like when Bama gift wrapped them points. They still had to drive the length of the field, which they did with ease.

Freezus had time consuming drives that resulted in missed field goals. We scored 13 points when the game actually mattered, they scored 38 and ate our OL for lunch. I'm not sure why you are trying to convince yourself that the two turnovers were the difference in the game, they moved the ball at will and pressured Dak all night. They were clearly the better team that night.

This entire thread reminds me of Bear fans trying to explain away the ass kicking we gave them in 2010 in bearville. I was at that game, and it was never close. This game was never close. I don't see the benefit in trying to rationalize away a clear defeat, but I'll let y'all have at it, and exit the thread.

[Goldendawg]

Your post in right on. We were beat in every facet of this game and it was terrible to watch it unfold. It wouldn't have mattered if we had played all night.

[Todd4State]

We only turned it over twice. Dak's fumble was at their 30-35 yard line. It's not like we fumbled at our 20 yard line like when Bama gift wrapped them points. They still had to drive the length of the field, which they did with ease.

Freezus had time consuming drives that resulted in missed field goals. We scored 13 points when the game actually mattered, they scored 38 and ate our OL for lunch. I'm not sure why you are trying to convince yourself that the two turnovers were the difference in the game, they moved the ball at will and pressured Dak all night. They were clearly the better team that night.

This entire thread reminds me of Bear fans trying to explain away the ass kicking we gave them in 2010 in bearville. I was at that game, and it was never close. This game was never close. I don't see the benefit in trying to rationalize away a clear defeat, but I'll let y'all have at it, and exit the thread.

Turnovers hurt you in two ways- they allow the opponent an opportunity to score AND they cost you an opportunity to score. Typically a turnover = at least a seven point swing. How far the opponent has to go to score doesn't matter that much because at the very least they STOPPED you and basically created a wasted possession. A turnover is basically a lost possession and gives the other team an extra possession and the only way to overcome it is to create a turnover yourself.

No one is trying to "rationalize" anything. We're just discussing why we lost and possibly ways to correct it going further. The fact that we turned the ball over twice and it got us in a hole is not up for debate- and it totally changed the game from the start and play calling on both sides from the start.

But for you to sit there and say "they could have named the score" when they didn't doesn't make any sense whatsoever. If you could really name the score, why would you let your opponent on their home field even get that close in the first place? I don't recall Ole Miss putting all of their back ups in at any point in the game. In fact, the fact that Ole Miss went conservative tells me that they didn't feel like the could name the score in the first place so they went conservative to run the clock out and go home with a win.

You're telling us that Freeze is OK running up the score on New Mexico State at home, but when given the opportunity in Starkville of all places according to you to name the score, he decides to play nice all of a sudden? Freeze is a guy that ran it up on Memphis when he was at Arkansas State because they picked another coach over him. I'm sure he has some grudges against MSU.

[bulldawg28]

It was a blowout mainly because of turnovers. And if you don't think Freeze would have taken an opportunity to blow us out if he could, I don't know what to tell you either.

So, we'll just have to agree to disagree.



Freeze took a knee at the goaline and spared more embarrassing moments. They would have scored again.

[Homedawg]

1. Turnovers
2. They are more talented. Especially their DL vs our OL.
3. Yeah, we could have schemed a win with the talent gap. But we didn't. The turnovers compounded 1. And 2.

2. True. What puzzles me is how that horseshit ol if their's whipped our dl all night.

[Mutt the Hoople]

Dan mullen didn't give a shit. I bet he spent all day Thanksgiving speaking with his agent, trying to line up the best possible job. He doesn't realize that nobody's gonna give him a raise when you shit the bed against your biggest rival...and we weren't even comptitive.

[Bully13]

we've got a coach looking for other offers not giving a shit coupled with bracky and they've got the network. somethings are going to HAVE to change.

[maroonmania]

Dan mullen didn't give a shit. I bet he spent all day Thanksgiving speaking with his agent, trying to line up the best possible job. He doesn't realize that nobody's gonna give him a raise when you shit the bed against your biggest rival...and we weren't even comptitive.

I'll agree that during and right after the Egg Bowl Mullen's reactions can really only be explained by the fact that he was mentally checked out and thinking he was moving on. The ass whipping didn't even seem to phase him at the time.

[Todd4State]

Dan mullen didn't give a shit. I bet he spent all day Thanksgiving speaking with his agent, trying to line up the best possible job. He doesn't realize that nobody's gonna give him a raise when you shit the bed against your biggest rival...and we weren't even comptitive.

I agree with you 100%. And I think it's something to watch in the bowl game and also going forward. I've found that usually when someone wants to move on or doesn't want to be at a job, they usually don't do their job very well.

[Jack Lambert]

We only turned it over twice. Dak's fumble was at their 30-35 yard line. It's not like we fumbled at our 20 yard line like when Bama gift wrapped them points. They still had to drive the length of the field, which they did with ease.

Freezus had time consuming drives that resulted in missed field goals. We scored 13 points when the game actually mattered, they scored 38 and ate our OL for lunch. I'm not sure why you are trying to convince yourself that the two turnovers were the difference in the game, they moved the ball at will and pressured Dak all night. They were clearly the better team that night.

This entire thread reminds me of Bear fans trying to explain away the ass kicking we gave them in 2010 in bearville. I was at that game, and it was never close. This game was never close. I don't see the benefit in trying to rationalize away a clear defeat, but I'll let y'all have at it, and exit the thread.

If he doesn't fumble then thats points for us and one less opertunity on offense for them. If we score a TD and one less opertunity for them thats a 14 point swing.

[I seen it dawg]

****ing why

[NCDawg]

I'll agree that during and right after the Egg Bowl Mullen's reactions can really only be explained by the fact that he was mentally checked out and thinking he was moving on. The ass whipping didn't even seem to phase him at the time.

Laughing when we didn't recover the onsides kick tells you a lot.

[Taog Redloh]

1 - Dak made some mistakes early, got in a hole
2 - Kelly played a great game, respect to him
3 - They were more motivated than us, which is surprising
4 - They have more overall talent than us, but not THAT much - we could have won without #1 and #3

We might have also blown our wad at Arkansas too. Almost seemed like we came in motivated to play Arkansas instead of Alabama/Ole Miss, which is opposite of how it usually is. Not sure about that though, because we blew our chances early vs. Alabama too. Bottom line, you can't blow those early chances vs. good teams. Have to put it in the end zone vs. Bama, and Dak has to hold onto the football vs. Ole Miss. We were driving right through them on that drive where he fumbled. Not only do you not get points, but those are momentum killers.

[Sacrifice]

The last 2 EBs our D has had no answer for Freezes offense, nothing. Last year was bad, this year was worst. And our OL sucked this year. If Rankin comes out and looks like a super star next year, I'm gonna be pissed we didn't play him.

[HancockCountyDog]

****ing why

thank you, said it way better than i could.