Most telling stat from last night.

[MetEdDawg]

Mullen said post game that only 16 guys on our travel roster last night were on the travel roster two years ago when we won in Baton Rouge.

Young team folks. We lost a lot of productivity, leadership, and experience from last year. I mean let that sink in. Only 25% of our roster had ever even traveled to Baton Rouge as a player. We can all day Mullen should do better and the loss to USA was unacceptable. Now while I agree, let's be realistic. This team was never going to be world beaters and those of us thinking this would be a well oiled machine just because it's year 8 from a total rebuild are crazy.

Let's temper expectations and understand this is still a program trying to rebuild and retool. While Mullen's actions are partially to blame, deep down we had to know there would still be struggles. We took a team full of limited playing experience and took a team projected by some to win the West down to the wire on their turf.

Like I said, Mullen had his blame. But this team was due for a let down because we are still rebuilding. The hope is after this year a rebuild would not look like this. But I said 10 years for complete rebuild under Mullen when he was hired and looking at the roster and how things line up, I think that's accurate and reasonable.

[GTHOM]

I just want to see the same Dan from week to week and we're not seeing that. First week he didnt care, next week he was intense Dan that everybody loved, last night he wasnt doing any of that (they didnt show it on TV anyway) and he was calling plays like he still had Dak at QB. I think Mullen relaxed a lot while he had Dak. He knew he could throw it more, he knew Dak would lead the team. Dak is gone, you've got to help your QB out. Fitz is as talented as they come but he cant do it running an air raid Mullen offense. Put the bigger backs in the game, lets run the ball and see what happens. Do what you've always done not what you did when you had an NFL starting QB on the roster

[youraveragesavage]

Agreed. As long as this team improves throughout the season, I'll be happy. Only real complaint with Mullen right now is his relationship with hevesy and not having the most physically talented players on the team ready to play.

[DownwardDawg]

I just want to see the same Dan from week to week and we're not seeing that. First week he didnt care, next week he was intense Dan that everybody loved, last night he wasnt doing any of that (they didnt show it on TV anyway) and he was calling plays like he still had Dak at QB. I think Mullen relaxed a lot while he had Dak. He knew he could throw it more, he knew Dak would lead the team. Dak is gone, you've got to help your QB out. Fitz is as talented as they come but he cant do it running an air raid Mullen offense. Put the bigger backs in the game, lets run the ball and see what happens. Do what you've always done not what you did when you had an NFL starting QB on the roster

It's as simple as this. Put the bigger, backs in and run the ball. Spread option with a run first emphasis with Fitz and company.

[msstate7]

No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.

[DownwardDawg]

No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.

Some of us are still on the fence. Trying not to fall off. I just don't see Mullen coaching the way he used to coach.

[GTHOM]

No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.

I dont like him very much and said we had a hell of a chance to beat LSU all during the week. Im not questioning the effort from the players, Im questioning the stupid same mistakes in personnel decisions and playcalling in big games over and over and over again

[Dawgface]

No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.

Very true. One resides on this board. Mullen irritates me too at times, but if the team can mature and improve as the season wears on....I can live with it.

[msstate7]

I dont like him very much and said we had a hell of a chance to beat LSU all during the week. Im not questioning the effort from the players, Im questioning the stupid same mistakes in personnel decisions and playcalling in big games over and over and over again

Some of the calls were bad, but here's 5 great calls that weren't executed by players...

1. On the 1 yard line, we ran play action and threw deep to gray. Gray had his man beat and fitz just barely overthrew him.

2. Ross' throwback attempt to fitz... Fitz was wide open and would've at worst been 1st and goal had Ross got the ball off.

3. The pump fake, throw back slip screen to Ross. The play was setup beautifully and would've most likely scored a td. Ross just dropped it.

4. Fitz's pass to Ross in endzone that Ross got 2 hands on and just couldn't hold on.

5. Fitz overthrow of gray that was a walkin td

[DownwardDawg]

Some of the calls were bad, but here's 5 great calls that weren't executed by players...

1. On the 1 yard line, we ran play action and threw deep to gray. Gray had his man beat and fitz just barely overthrew him.

2. Ross' throwback attempt to fitz... Fitz was wide open and would've at worst been 1st and goal had Ross got the ball off.

3. The pump fake, throw back slip screen to Ross. The play was setup beautifully and would've most likely scored a td. Ross just dropped it.

4. Fitz's pass to Ross in endzone that Ross got 2 hands on and just couldn't hold on.

5. Fitz overthrow of gray that was a walkin td

All excellent points, and reasons why I posted to coach's thread last night that it was a horribly executed game. Our players did not play well at all.

[Tbonewannabe]

Some of the calls were bad, but here's 5 great calls that weren't executed by players...

1. On the 1 yard line, we ran play action and threw deep to gray. Gray had his man beat and fitz just barely overthrew him.

2. Ross' throwback attempt to fitz... Fitz was wide open and would've at worst been 1st and goal had Ross got the ball off.

3. The pump fake, throw back slip screen to Ross. The play was setup beautifully and would've most likely scored a td. Ross just dropped it.

4. Fitz's pass to Ross in endzone that Ross got 2 hands on and just couldn't hold on.

5. Fitz overthrow of gray that was a walkin td

It does seem the game was too big for Fitz. Damian came in and just ran the offense.

[msbulldog]

It does seem the game was too big for Fitz. Damian came in and just ran the offense.

Makes you wonder what would have happened if Williams had come in a little earlier.

[DawgInMemphis]

It does seem the game was too big for Fitz. Damian came in and just ran the offense.

Because he's being asked to throw too much. Run the Relf offense with Fitz and our power backs.

I'm sure there are reasons that's not happening, but from the outside looking in it seems crystal clear.

[GTHOM]

All the talk of what Damian would have done can be ended. Fitz is the QB. Rosey said Mullen already said this after the game. We know what Damian Williams is. Fitz has more talent and its his job. Did he play great? No he missed some passes but he also had some some drops. It would help him tremendously if his head coach helped him with his playcalls and personnel decisions. Thats just my two cents. RTGDF

[msstate7]

All the talk of what Damian would have done can be ended. Fitz is the QB. Rosey said Mullen already said this after the game. We know what Damian Williams is. Fitz has more talent and its his job. Did he play great? No he missed some passes but he also had some some drops. It would help him tremendously if his head coach helped him with his playcalls and personnel decisions. Thats just my two cents. RTGDF

Wanna see a first half next week of fitz and shump running power at Umass.

[Liverpooldawg]

Mullen said post game that only 16 guys on our travel roster last night were on the travel roster two years ago when we won in Baton Rouge.

Young team folks. We lost a lot of productivity, leadership, and experience from last year. I mean let that sink in. Only 25% of our roster had ever even traveled to Baton Rouge as a player. We can all day Mullen should do better and the loss to USA was unacceptable. Now while I agree, let's be realistic. This team was never going to be world beaters and those of us thinking this would be a well oiled machine just because it's year 8 from a total rebuild are crazy.

Let's temper expectations and understand this is still a program trying to rebuild and retool. While Mullen's actions are partially to blame, deep down we had to know there would still be struggles. We took a team full of limited playing experience and took a team projected by some to win the West down to the wire on their turf.

Like I said, Mullen had his blame. But this team was due for a let down because we are still rebuilding. The hope is after this year a rebuild would not look like this. But I said 10 years for complete rebuild under Mullen when he was hired and looking at the roster and how things line up, I think that's accurate and reasonable.

This is how I have looked at it all along. We are trying to build a program from the ground up. Great strides have been made, if you think they haven't you need to look at where the total program was 10 years ago vs now. The unpleasant fact remains that we had such a long, long way to go when this started. We are almost like a miner that had been trapped underground for decades who finally escaped from the mine. He dug himself out of the hole, now he has to build his life back.

[Liverpooldawg]

No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.

Yep, it lives.

[MarketingBully]

Run ****ing power with Fitz and the big backs. What I hate is we didn't even do that. We didn't give Fitz a chance to be successful. We just had him throwing it all over the field which is not his strength. A well executed spread option running attack to setup downfield passes would have been successful verses LSU. LSU's DL and Linebackers are not good however their secondary is loaded. Why we challenged the best part of their defense is quite stupid. Like I stated in the thread and numerous times. If we had used a similar gameplan this week like we did in the first half last week, we would have scored more then 20+ points.

[MarketingBully]

Wanna see a first half next week of fitz and shump running power at Umass.

Should have seen it this past week.

[msbulldog]

Yep, it lives.

Hell, Liverpool I like your spunk and sometimes I agree, but damn you are stubborn, I think you live on the edge of getting banned most of the time. Keep it up my Dawg Brother.

[GTHOM]

Run ****ing power with Fitz and the big backs. What I hate is we didn't even do that. We didn't give Fitz a chance to be successful. We just had him throwing it all over the field which is not his strength. A well executed spread option running attack to setup downfield passes would have been successful verses LSU. LSU's DL and Linebackers are not good however their secondary is loaded. Why we challenged the best part of their defense is quite stupid. Like I stated in the thread and numerous times. If we had used a similar gameplan this week like we did in the first half last week, we would have scored more then 20+ points.

Their DL and LBs were really good actually, and we had some success running the ball. Especially in the 3rd quarter. Its my honest opinion that Dan believes his offense here during his early years is beneath him now. He feels as if he doesnt need to go back to it. Arrogance is a fatal flaw

[MetEdDawg]

This is how I have looked at it all along. We are trying to build a program from the ground up. Great strides have been made, if you think they haven't you need to look at where the total program was 10 years ago vs now. The unpleasant fact remains that we had such a long, long way to go when this started. We are almost like a miner that had been trapped underground for decades who finally escaped from the mine. He dug himself out of the hole, now he has to build his life back.

This is the unfortunate part a lot of our fans don't acknowledge. Most programs like ours don't ever get out of the cellar. Teams that rebuild usually already have the foundation in place. We didn't. We had to build the foundation and that's a hell of a lot messier and takes a lot longer.

[MarketingBully]

Their DL and LBs were really good actually, and we had some success running the ball. Especially in the 3rd quarter. Its my honest opinion that Dan believes his offense here during his early years is beneath him now. He feels as if he doesnt need to go back to it. Arrogance is a fatal flaw

They have one good LB who they are lucky came back for his senior year (really don't know why he did). Their DL however is not good. They have Key but that is it. Our DL and LB are much better then LSU's.

[dawgday166]

Mullen said post game that only 16 guys on our travel roster last night were on the travel roster two years ago when we won in Baton Rouge.

Young team folks. We lost a lot of productivity, leadership, and experience from last year. I mean let that sink in. Only 25% of our roster had ever even traveled to Baton Rouge as a player. We can all day Mullen should do better and the loss to USA was unacceptable. Now while I agree, let's be realistic. This team was never going to be world beaters and those of us thinking this would be a well oiled machine just because it's year 8 from a total rebuild are crazy.

Let's temper expectations and understand this is still a program trying to rebuild and retool. While Mullen's actions are partially to blame, deep down we had to know there would still be struggles. We took a team full of limited playing experience and took a team projected by some to win the West down to the wire on their turf.

Like I said, Mullen had his blame. But this team was due for a let down because we are still rebuilding. The hope is after this year a rebuild would not look like this. But I said 10 years for complete rebuild under Mullen when he was hired and looking at the roster and how things line up, I think that's accurate and reasonable.

Most telling stat .. 3 - 20.

[DudyDawg]

Fred ross is playing his way out of the nfl

[msbulldog]

Fred ross is playing his way out of the nfl

Dak's passes were a lot easier to catch last year, actually D. Williams passes looked a lot easier to catch last night.

[DudyDawg]

Dak's passes were a lot easier to catch last year, actually D. Williams passes looked a lot easier to catch last night.

Doesn't matter if it's thrown by a GA if it hits you in the hands

[HSVDawg]

Because he's being asked to throw too much. Run the Relf offense with Fitz and our power backs.

I'm sure there are reasons that's not happening, but from the outside looking in it seems crystal clear.

He was being asked to throw because LSU took away the run. They had the box crowded all night. We couldn't consistently complete enough passes to open up the running game, and Lord knows our OL wasn't gonna blow them off the ball with 7+ staying out of coverage.

[msbulldog]

Doesn't matter if it's thrown by a GA if it hits you in the hands

There is a thing called touch on passes.

[Pinto]

Mullen said post game that only 16 guys on our travel roster last night were on the travel roster two years ago when we won in Baton Rouge.

Young team folks. We lost a lot of productivity, leadership, and experience from last year. I mean let that sink in. Only 25% of our roster had ever even traveled to Baton Rouge as a player. We can all day Mullen should do better and the loss to USA was unacceptable. Now while I agree, let's be realistic. This team was never going to be world beaters and those of us thinking this would be a well oiled machine just because it's year 8 from a total rebuild are crazy.

Let's temper expectations and understand this is still a program trying to rebuild and retool. While Mullen's actions are partially to blame, deep down we had to know there would still be struggles. We took a team full of limited playing experience and took a team projected by some to win the West down to the wire on their turf.

Like I said, Mullen had his blame. But this team was due for a let down because we are still rebuilding. The hope is after this year a rebuild would not look like this. But I said 10 years for complete rebuild under Mullen when he was hired and looking at the roster and how things line up, I think that's accurate and reasonable.

Why does Mullen get this pass/excuse but other teams play and win with true freshman all the time. Mullen is good at player development and would be great in the NFL where he has time, but this is college ball. You have 3 years to get a kid at the top level. He either has to shorten the process or go to the NFL where he has the time. Bottom line - In year 8 you shouldn't have to still make excuses for your head coach.

[MetEdDawg]

Why does Mullen get this pass/excuse but other teams play and win with true freshman all the time. Mullen is good at player development and would be great in the NFL where he has time, but this is college ball. You have 3 years to get a kid at the top level. He either has to shorten the process or go to the NFL where he has the time. Bottom line - In year 8 you shouldn't have to still make excuses for your head coach.

You find me another situation like ours. I would love to see the university comparables that our fans think we should be like. A school like ours doesn't keep a coach like Mullen for 8 years. We were a total rebuild. Coach either leaves on their own o gets fired by this point. This road has been traveled by very few teams. It still amazes me what our fans think we should be after 8 years considering how far behind we were when he got here and how far behind we still actually are.

A lot of fans don't want to admit it but we are still way behind in funding. And if you think that doesn't mean anything you're crazy. This road we are on isn't supposed to be the wonderful, easy track to glory like it had been for Bama. This road is hard. We were literally one of the worst programs historically in SEC all time. But our fans think 8 years was enough to rewrite the 100 years prior. Extremely shortsighted. When the SEC exploded, we didn't. We've gotten to the level everyone else was at 5-10 years ago in regards to funding. This is a long process but fans didn't want it to be.

[msbulldog]

You find me another situation like ours. I would love to see the university comparables that our fans think we should be like. A school like ours doesn't keep a coach like Mullen for 8 years. We were a total rebuild. Coach either leaves on their own o gets fired by this point. This road has been traveled by very few teams. It still amazes me what our fans think we should be after 8 years considering how far behind we were when he got here and how far behind we still actually are.

A lot of fans don't want to admit it but we are still way behind in funding. And if you think that doesn't mean anything you're crazy. This road we are on isn't supposed to be the wonderful, easy track to glory like it had been for Bama. This road is hard. We were literally one of the worst programs historically in SEC all time. But our fans think 8 years was enough to rewrite the 100 years prior. Extremely shortsighted. When the SEC exploded, we didn't. We've gotten to the level everyone else was at 5-10 years ago in regards to funding. This is a long process but fans didn't want it to be.

A lot of fans don't want to admit it but we are still way behind in funding. And if you think that doesn't mean anything you're crazy. This road we are on isn't supposed to be the wonderful, easy track to glory like it had been for Bama. This road is hard. We were literally one of the worst programs historically in SEC all time. But our fans think 8 years was enough to rewrite the 100 years prior. Extremely shortsighted. When the SEC exploded, we didn't. We've gotten to the level everyone else was at 5-10 years ago in regards to funding. This is a long process but fans didn't want it to be.[/QUOTE]

Good insight, but I think most of our fans and I believe we should have progressed exponentially after 2014. Granted we blew the chance at the end. The only logical explanations would be that the cheating by Mississippi or the lack of intensified recruiting effort to take advantage of the success we had just had.

[Commercecomet24]

Some of the calls were bad, but here's 5 great calls that weren't executed by players...

1. On the 1 yard line, we ran play action and threw deep to gray. Gray had his man beat and fitz just barely overthrew him.

2. Ross' throwback attempt to fitz... Fitz was wide open and would've at worst been 1st and goal had Ross got the ball off.

3. The pump fake, throw back slip screen to Ross. The play was setup beautifully and would've most likely scored a td. Ross just dropped it.

4. Fitz's pass to Ross in endzone that Ross got 2 hands on and just couldn't hold on.

5. Fitz overthrow of gray that was a walkin td

You are correct, sir! Every one of those were great play calls and all those would've been big plays, but we only focus on what's wrong not what's right!

[Commercecomet24]

This is how I have looked at it all along. We are trying to build a program from the ground up. Great strides have been made, if you think they haven't you need to look at where the total program was 10 years ago vs now. The unpleasant fact remains that we had such a long, long way to go when this started. We are almost like a miner that had been trapped underground for decades who finally escaped from the mine. He dug himself out of the hole, now he has to build his life back.

We live in an instant gratification society. It's unfortunate because it takes time to build something from the ground up.

[Commercecomet24]

You find me another situation like ours. I would love to see the university comparables that our fans think we should be like. A school like ours doesn't keep a coach like Mullen for 8 years. We were a total rebuild. Coach either leaves on their own o gets fired by this point. This road has been traveled by very few teams. It still amazes me what our fans think we should be after 8 years considering how far behind we were when he got here and how far behind we still actually are.

A lot of fans don't want to admit it but we are still way behind in funding. And if you think that doesn't mean anything you're crazy. This road we are on isn't supposed to be the wonderful, easy track to glory like it had been for Bama. This road is hard. We were literally one of the worst programs historically in SEC all time. But our fans think 8 years was enough to rewrite the 100 years prior. Extremely shortsighted. When the SEC exploded, we didn't. We've gotten to the level everyone else was at 5-10 years ago in regards to funding. This is a long process but fans didn't want it to be.

Stop you're making to much sense.

[Thick]

No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.

Normally I would agree with you, but not this time. We should have won the game, but he wasted an entire half screwing around with "the little fella" in the backfield game plan. Then we get the ball back for the game winning drive he immediately gives him the ball....not in open space. One question, why did we not attack the middle of their secondary?

[Pinto]

You're right let me know where to send my $20 so they can all get trophies and how I can help them find jobs where they don't have to produce in year one (other than MSU coaching).

Losers make excuses, winners find ways to get the job done. You can change an organization in 7 years but here we are with the same excuses. You either want, expect, make change/improvement or you are complacent and hope change just happens.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about firing Mullen but he cannot be allowed to be complacent, not having us competing, and having to have fans make excuses for us in year 8.

[blacklistedbully]

No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.

STOP...JUST STOP IT!!!

We are not pissed because "we didn't win". We're pissed because Mullen has refused to make adjustments...refused to address his glaring weaknesses...refused to show us he is ever going to do anything to improve in those areas that we believe have greatly contributed to the mess we are in, and have kept us from going even farther when we have been at our best.

Yes, he has done wonders here in taking us from the pits to better-than-SEC-average at times, but his shortcomings have limited us time-and-again, keeping us from going any higher. If we saw him trying to do something about it...we wouldn't be so pissed.

It is the very fact that he not only refuses to make changes to those bad elements, but seems to cling to them, determined to show us all he's gonna do it his way...period that makes us mad as hell and fed up.

When he came out looking fired up for SCar, and announced he was going with Fitz no-matter-what for the entire game...we started getting behind him again, thinking maybe he was willing to make the necessary changes.

Then this week comes, we see little of the previous week's fire and we get, "Holloway-up-the-middle" again. And even when he FINALLY, begrudgingly realizes he'd better stop the Holloway-up-the-middle BS, and goes with bigger backs for a while...as soon as we are actually in a position to possibly win, what do we get on the final drive??? Holloway-up-the-middle!!!!!

When I saw that, I thought my head was going to explode. How f'ing stupid does a man have to be to do that?

[Political Hack]

He had already counted the number of guys that made the trip from 2 years before? He had a caged excuse ready to go for a loss? Not sure how I feel about that.

The team played pretty well though. We're getting better. I was concerned it was going to be ugly. They got down and fought back. As long as they keep fighting for CDM we're ok. When that stops, that's when you've got big time problems.

[Commercecomet24]

He had already counted the number of guys that made the trip from 2 years before? He had a caged excuse ready to go for a loss? Not sure how I feel about that.

The team played pretty well though. We're getting better. I was concerned it was going to be ugly. They got down and fought back. As long as they keep fighting for CDM we're ok. When that stops, that's when you've got big time problems.

I always like hearing your evaluations cause you're always the most level headed.

[Todd4State]

There are always controllable and uncontrollable factors with EVERY program in the NCAA.

You can?t control the uncontrollable factors- such as your history or how much funding you have. But just because there are things that you can?t control that doesn?t mean that you should use it as an excuse for not having success. You have to look for ways around that and simply view them as obstacles or hurdles that need to be crossed.

Now, the controllable factors are things that we CAN do something about because they are under our control. For us some of those things are personnel management, staff management, focus on recruiting, how we schedule, and getting the team to play with emotion.

Despite our uncontrollable factors I have issues with how we manage our controllable factors for the most part. THAT is my problem with Dan because most of the controllable ones are in his control.

The personnel management and staff management have been beaten to death and I?m not going to do that here. But I think in a close game that we lose those things rear their ugly head the most. No telling how many upsets we should have right now but do not because of those two factors alone. And yes, our history does tell us that it is possible for us to pull upsets over the big boys from time to time.

I do not know that if we have ever had a coach that has truly given the focus on recruiting that we truly need to even see what our ceiling is. (Maybe Felker?) And yes, I do think we can recruit at a high level without cheating excessively. If you follow our recruiting closely enough you see an underlying theme more often than not when we do not land a player- and it is that we simply did not try as hard as our competitor or we completely missed out on an underlying factor such as where a girlfriend was going to school. I do not expect to land EVERY recruit- but I do think it?s reasonable for us to recruit better. And again, I think it rears its ugly head in a close loss like last night. Maybe a guy like an AJ Brown could have been the difference for us last night.

As far as the emotion part that is on the staff and I?m not really sure what the disconnect there is. This team does seem to lack leadership on the field and I think that is something that has to be developed by the coaches over time and in the offseason. I think that may be part of it. We have shown emotion and energy at times as well- but certainly not enough to match our opponents.

That?s my two cents. I think we could and should be doing better. I would really like to see what we could do with our current situation being what it is but with a coach that plays the best players and is an outstanding recruiter that can get the team fired up every game. I don?t think that we would win a NC with that, but I do think that we would be doing better than what we are now. I would be fine with Dan if he changed and did those things. I think the first half of South Carolina validates a lot of my thoughts on this matter, and I?m still confused as to why we went away from some of those things.

[dawgday166]

There are always controllable and uncontrollable factors with EVERY program in the NCAA.

You can?t control the uncontrollable factors- such as your history or how much funding you have. But just because there are things that you can?t control that doesn?t mean that you should use it as an excuse for not having success. You have to look for ways around that and simply view them as obstacles or hurdles that need to be crossed.

Now, the controllable factors are things that we CAN do something about because they are under our control. For us some of those things are personnel management, staff management, focus on recruiting, how we schedule, and getting the team to play with emotion.

Despite our uncontrollable factors I have issues with how we manage our controllable factors for the most part. THAT is my problem with Dan because most of the controllable ones are in his control.

The personnel management and staff management have been beaten to death and I?m not going to do that here. But I think in a close game that we lose those things rear their ugly head the most. No telling how many upsets we should have right now but do not because of those two factors alone. And yes, our history does tell us that it is possible for us to pull upsets over the big boys from time to time.

I do not know that if we have ever had a coach that has truly given the focus on recruiting that we truly need to even see what our ceiling is. (Maybe Felker?) And yes, I do think we can recruit at a high level without cheating excessively. If you follow our recruiting closely enough you see an underlying theme more often than not when we do not land a player- and it is that we simply did not try as hard as our competitor or we completely missed out on an underlying factor such as where a girlfriend was going to school. I do not expect to land EVERY recruit- but I do think it?s reasonable for us to recruit better. And again, I think it rears its ugly head in a close loss like last night. Maybe a guy like an AJ Brown could have been the difference for us last night.

As far as the emotion part that is on the staff and I?m not really sure what the disconnect there is. This team does seem to lack leadership on the field and I think that is something that has to be developed by the coaches over time and in the offseason. I think that may be part of it. We have shown emotion and energy at times as well- but certainly not enough to match our opponents.

That?s my two cents. I think we could and should be doing better. I would really like to see what we could do with our current situation being what it is but with a coach that plays the best players and is an outstanding recruiter that can get the team fired up every game. I don?t think that we would win a NC with that, but I do think that we would be doing better than what we are now. I would be fine with Dan if he changed and did those things. I think the first half of South Carolina validates a lot of my thoughts on this matter, and I?m still confused as to why we went away from some of those things.

Our recruiting philosophy seems to be: You come to our camps, show out in our camps, and if you do those things you must REALLY want to be here at MSU. Then we'll recruit you and you can help us recruit others. Otherwise - If you don't do those things, then you must NOT REALLY want to be here so good luck wherever else you go. We ONLY want guys at MSU who REALLY want to be here.

[MetEdDawg]

There are always controllable and uncontrollable factors with EVERY program in the NCAA.

You can?t control the uncontrollable factors- such as your history or how much funding you have. But just because there are things that you can?t control that doesn?t mean that you should use it as an excuse for not having success. You have to look for ways around that and simply view them as obstacles or hurdles that need to be crossed.

Now, the controllable factors are things that we CAN do something about because they are under our control. For us some of those things are personnel management, staff management, focus on recruiting, how we schedule, and getting the team to play with emotion.

Despite our uncontrollable factors I have issues with how we manage our controllable factors for the most part. THAT is my problem with Dan because most of the controllable ones are in his control.

The personnel management and staff management have been beaten to death and I?m not going to do that here. But I think in a close game that we lose those things rear their ugly head the most. No telling how many upsets we should have right now but do not because of those two factors alone. And yes, our history does tell us that it is possible for us to pull upsets over the big boys from time to time.

I do not know that if we have ever had a coach that has truly given the focus on recruiting that we truly need to even see what our ceiling is. (Maybe Felker?) And yes, I do think we can recruit at a high level without cheating excessively. If you follow our recruiting closely enough you see an underlying theme more often than not when we do not land a player- and it is that we simply did not try as hard as our competitor or we completely missed out on an underlying factor such as where a girlfriend was going to school. I do not expect to land EVERY recruit- but I do think it?s reasonable for us to recruit better. And again, I think it rears its ugly head in a close loss like last night. Maybe a guy like an AJ Brown could have been the difference for us last night.

As far as the emotion part that is on the staff and I?m not really sure what the disconnect there is. This team does seem to lack leadership on the field and I think that is something that has to be developed by the coaches over time and in the offseason. I think that may be part of it. We have shown emotion and energy at times as well- but certainly not enough to match our opponents.

That?s my two cents. I think we could and should be doing better. I would really like to see what we could do with our current situation being what it is but with a coach that plays the best players and is an outstanding recruiter that can get the team fired up every game. I don?t think that we would win a NC with that, but I do think that we would be doing better than what we are now. I would be fine with Dan if he changed and did those things. I think the first half of South Carolina validates a lot of my thoughts on this matter, and I?m still confused as to why we went away from some of those things.

I don't disagree with a lot of this. I think it's arguable that we could have done better over this period of time. To be honest I think we've overachieved compared to where the numbers say we should be. But here are the points I will make:

1) Recruiting is something we all agree on. Mullen's philosophy the first 6 years was fine by me. We needed buy in and needed guys that wanted to be here. But now that this thing has been going for 8 years, it's time to change that philosophy. You've got to go get the best guys you can period end of story. This to me is really the only area I truly hammer Dan on. We should be doing better and while I think to some degree we've done it (Can't argue with Simmons, Leo Lewis, Adams, Aeris, Ross, Richie, Peters, and some others that we've gotten over the past 3-4 years.) But that has to happen more consistently and Dan has to change, especially in regards to the OL. Every team that whips us beats us up front. Until that changes we can't get better.

2) The personnel stuff I don't hammer Dan on. Some of you on here are nuts thinking Mullen is in charge of personnel every single play. That's not even physically possible. You think in 20 total seconds that in a 4 wide 1 RB set he's calling out the 4 WRs that need to be on the field to Gonzales and the 1 RB that needs to be on the field to Knox, getting a play called in, and getting it snapped? That's ridiculous. We need some thinkers on here. Yes he could say bench Holloway, but his ass doesn't have time to check personnel on every play. At the end on that last drive he probably could. But the rest of the game? Come on people. That's dumb to think Mullen controls that on every play. I still say Knox is not the best we can do at his coaching position and that we need someone new there.

3) As far as overall recruiting goes, I think our ceiling is lower than most think. We simply don't have the money to compete consistently right now. It takes money to recruit. A LOT of money. And unless something has changed, we are dead last in funding. Could we do better? No question and that's going to require a mentality change by Mullen. But some of us on here think we should be bringing in perennial Top 20 recruiting classes. That's nuts. By the time you get past Bama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, FSU, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Ohio State, Clemson, and Notre Dame, you are at best 12th. Then you fight with a bunch of other programs just like us, except they have more money and better tradition, for the last 9 spots. So unless we want to cheat our asses off, perennial Top 20 isn't something that will happen. But outside the Top 30 is inexcusable. So that has to change. In 3 years, if Mullen changes his mentality, I think we can be a perennial Top 20 team.

To sum it all up, I'm happy with what Mullen has done thus far. But I think he and our entire program need a mentality change. We are in year 8 and while I think we've done well to this point, most others think we've underachieved. That's crazy talk. We've missed opportunities that a program like ours usually misses, but we've capitalized on a few too. But we have to go from a redshirt, developmental program, to a best player plays no matter what, top 25-30 type recruiting type program right now. Mullen has to change that and I think this year we are going to see the change as the season progresses. In the past our seniors and juniors for the most part have been the better players. That's not the case any more and hasn't been really for the last 2-3 years. We are bringing in talent that can play now. Mullen has to take the jump to saying hey there are going to be some current juniors and seniors that get screwed but so be it this program has to change moving forward. It can't be a philosophy of long term development any more. It has to be a case by case basis at every position every single day regardless of class or time in the program.

Mullen is at a crossroads. His commitment to this program has come under scrutiny and his philosophy for our program right now isn't working for where we are at. He's got to determine if he's going to jump ship or if he's going to try and turn this into something better long term. Can he recruit better? Can he get rid of seniority favoritism and give the nod to younger guys that are better? This season will hash that out. We've already seen the commitment to Fitz. That's a change for Mullen as a lot thought Williams would be the guy long term this year. Simmons is playing a lot. Mixon is playing some. Aeris got more carries over the past 6 quarters. Lot of questions to be answered by Mullen over the next 9 weeks on how he wants this program to evolve post Dak and post foundation laying. If he can change and make a solid commitment to this university, I think in 3 years we could be a perennial Top 20 program all around because we have a lot of young pieces and a change to make some noise the next two seasons to propel us forward.

[Todd4State]

My issues with personnel management aren’t really from play to play as much as it is the sum of the whole. For example, I think we can all agree that Brandon Holloway running up the middle in general is not a good decision. But that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t necessarily play or even start. It’s just means that we shouldn’t run him up the middle. What we COULD do when he is in the game- and I do believe that from play to play Dan does know who is in the game because he is not only the head coach he is also the offensive coordinator- is have him run outside zone, throw to him on a wheel route, throw a screen pass to him out of the backfield or throw a swing pass to him. Personnel USE falls under personnel management just as much as who is actually in the game at any point in time.

I do blame Dan for who plays the most simply because no matter whether he is the one deciding who plays or if it is solely the position coach, the buck stops with him on that because he is the head coach. Much like if I do not perform at work my manager will get some of the blame despite the fact that they are not directly responsible. If Knox is the one that is deciding to keep putting Holloway out there, then Dan needs to put his foot down in pre-game meetings or in between series and say “we’re going with Shumpert because he is averaging 5.0 YPC and Holloway is getting 2.0 between the tackles.” Now I will make mention that Holloway was used less against LSU and I recognize that and was merely using him as an example from previous games and not the LSU game. The whole Knox makes the decision theory seems to be deflection possibly because some people will buy that and blame Knox and others will feel like me and blame Dan.

And it goes even beyond that. Why do we rarely use two back formations? Why do we rarely use two TE formations? Especially since the TE’s could help our offensive line with blocking. I know Dear is in the doghouse, but is whatever he is doing off the field worth compromising the team? (Maybe?)

As far as recruiting goes, I think it’s realistic for us to be a top 15-20 team in recruiting every year. I believe that would still put is in the middle/bottom of the SEC. We’re going to have to take chances on guys like the McKinney’s of the world and that will drop our rating. As fans, all we can do is look at video and if possible watch the recruit play in person to form a potentially more accurate view of the player. But here’s why I feel that way. These rankings are from 24/7 sports.

2013: 25
2014: 35
2015: 18
2016: 27
2017: 20 at the time of this post.

As you can see, we’re kind of all over the place the last five years. But we finished 18th two years ago and we are currently 20th. So, that tells me that top 20 is doable. We just have to be consistently there. Two of the others are 25 and 27 and my guess is a couple of more four stars might have pushed those classes up into the top 20. And the top 20 classes might have gotten pushed into the top 15 with another four star or two, although I will not complain about that. I may be way off on that since I don’t use their calculator a whole lot and there are some variables there. 35th may be an outlier, but more than likely we just didn’t do a good job there.

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

Our recruiting philosophy seems to be: You come to our camps, show out in our camps, and if you do those things you must REALLY want to be here at MSU. Then we'll recruit you and you can help us recruit others. Otherwise - If you don't do those things, then you must NOT REALLY want to be here so good luck wherever else you go. We ONLY want guys at MSU who REALLY want to be here.


Seems I remember this sort of being Polk's recruiting philosophy.

[bayoubengal014]

I mean there is always baseball season.

[Todd4State]

Seems I remember this sort of being Polk's recruiting philosophy.

Well, camps are a part of college football recruiting. Everyone has their version of the Big Dawg Camp and Big Dawg Camp is invitation only. We have to pare it down at some point, and I don’t think it’s anything like Ron Polk. We have junior days and we offer guys before their senior year all the time- unlike Polk. And then we have other public camps that players can go to and possibly earn an invitation to Big Dawg Camp from that.

With the way college football recruiting is, there aren’t very many guys that slip under the radar anymore. I can’t think of many guys that we should have invited to Big Dawg Camp over the years or missed in that regard. So, I can’t really bust our coaches over how they handle Big Dawg Camp.

[DogsofAnarchy]

BS!! What it amounts to is the final drive last night. 1st and 10....Holloway up the damn middle again. That's what it amounts to. We didn't play LSU tough. They dominated that game and their dumb ass coach who will be fired before the season ends, let us back into it. 2 damn drives against a prevent defense don't mean shit. Played them tough, what a horse shit load of crap.


QUOTE=msstate7;614664]No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.[/QUOTE]

[msstate7]

BS!! What it amounts to is the final drive last night. 1st and 10....Holloway up the damn middle again. That's what it amounts to. We didn't play LSU tough. They dominated that game and their dumb ass coach who will be fired before the season ends, let us back into it. 2 damn drives against a prevent defense don't mean shit. Played them tough, what a horse shit load of crap.


QUOTE=msstate7;614664]No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.[/QUOTE]

On those 2 td drives, that was man-to-man coverage on every one of those passes. Go back and watch instead of just spewing BS

[Todd4State]

BS!! What it amounts to is the final drive last night. 1st and 10....Holloway up the damn middle again. That's what it amounts to. We didn't play LSU tough. They dominated that game and their dumb ass coach who will be fired before the season ends, let us back into it. 2 damn drives against a prevent defense don't mean shit. Played them tough, what a horse shit load of crap.


QUOTE=msstate7;614664]No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.[/QUOTE]

I don't care for Mullen, but even I would criticize Scott and the cigar boys pretty harshly if they fire Dan before the season ends. A lot of it is I can't stomach the thought of Hevesy as our head coach. I guess we could talk Felker into coming back for a little while since he is still on staff and technically more qualified than any of our assistants to be a head coach IMO and that's not saying much. Plus, if we fire Dan, we're also firing our OC. I have no idea who would call plays- I guess Hevesy, Gonzalez, or maybe Knox.

[bayoubengal014]

BS!! What it amounts to is the final drive last night. 1st and 10....Holloway up the damn middle again. That's what it amounts to. We didn't play LSU tough. They dominated that game and their dumb ass coach who will be fired before the season ends, let us back into it. 2 damn drives against a prevent defense don't mean shit. Played them tough, what a horse shit load of crap.


QUOTE=msstate7;614664]No one will be patient... the vocal fire Mullen posters predicted we'd get killed last night. Once we played lsu tough, now they're pissed we didn't win and it's all mullen's fault. Mullen has lost a small, but very vocal portion of our fanbase and there's no getting them back.[/QUOTE]
Dan Mullen still better than Jackie Sherrill!!!!!

[Cooterpoot]

Mullen said post game that only 16 guys on our travel roster last night were on the travel roster two years ago when we won in Baton Rouge.

Young team folks. We lost a lot of productivity, leadership, and experience from last year. I mean let that sink in. Only 25% of our roster had ever even traveled to Baton Rouge as a player. We can all day Mullen should do better and the loss to USA was unacceptable. Now while I agree, let's be realistic. This team was never going to be world beaters and those of us thinking this would be a well oiled machine just because it's year 8 from a total rebuild are crazy.

Let's temper expectations and understand this is still a program trying to rebuild and retool. While Mullen's actions are partially to blame, deep down we had to know there would still be struggles. We took a team full of limited playing experience and took a team projected by some to win the West down to the wire on their turf.

Like I said, Mullen had his blame. But this team was due for a let down because we are still rebuilding. The hope is after this year a rebuild would not look like this. But I said 10 years for complete rebuild under Mullen when he was hired and looking at the roster and how things line up, I think that's accurate and reasonable.

The problem I've got with this thinking is many of our recruits from the past classes aren't even on our roster. Our recruiting has been a failure, so I'm not cutting Dan any slack because so many kids didn't pan out and we're "young" because of it.

[Tbonewannabe]

Wanna see a first half next week of fitz and shump running power at Umass.

This would have won the first game if all we did was run every time against South Alabama.

[Tbonewannabe]

There is a thing called touch on passes.

Damian did seem to have better touch on passes but a NFL level receiver should catch anything that gets near him.