Some Quick Thoughts on the Season Now That It Over

[ShotgunDawg]

- Awesome game yesterday that hopefully gave us a glimpse into our future.

- We all knew this was going to be a transition year. It was rough, frustrating, maddening, & even inexplicable at times. However, although we left some wins on the table, by coming out of the season with a likely bowl game, a real, star replacement for Dak, a revamped running game that looks like an MSU running game should, & the quality, young pieces & parts we have scattered all across the field, it kind of feels like we held serve. It certainly wasn't pretty & inexcusable at times, but one could argue that we survived, got out of the season what we needed, & are ready to compete again going into 2017.

- Will Dan fire Peter Sirmon? The better question is: Should Dan fire Peter Sirmon? Because I don't expect & would be really surprised if he actually did fire Peter Sirmon. Everyone has an ego & Dan Mullen's is active. Remember he hired Sirmon & will likely give him the benefit of the doubt this year because firing Sirmon makes Dan look bad. If Dan fires Sirmon we should just all agree that Sirmon must have been egregiously incompetent for Dan to make that move. That being said though, this was the worst MSU defense of my life time. Was it the worst because of poor players? Asking a first year DC to implement a new scheme that the school has never run? or because Sirmon was awful? My guess is that it's a combination of the three, but we are likely going to have to wait till 2017 to figure out the answer to this. One would think going into the 2nd year with some talented young players, it should at least be better. With an average defense, next year's team can be pretty good.

- I also expect Hevesy to stay. The OL played outstanding down the stretch & it showed once again that Hev is pretty coach on the field. However, this doesn't address his recruiting issues. This OL class seems to be his best, so maybe he is improving. He needs to get his ass recruiting immediately.

- Will any coaches get fired or leave? I'm not sure. Dan may leave that up to Sirmon on the defensive side &, other than maybe Sallach & Brad Peterson switching spots, I'm not sure what changes will be made on offense.

- Find a 17ing kicker. It's inexplicable that we have a 12 year old kicking for us while other SEC teams have legitimate athletes. These aren't highly recruited players, so go make the extra effort to find a good one. To me, the caliber of kicker & punter you have is directly equivalent to the effort you put into the recruiting. Good ones are out there with mid-major offers or walk on deals. Go find one. Get off you ass & go find a kicker. It's absolutely absurd what we've been running out there.

- Lastly, this coaching staff has to do a better job in the off season. It's clear that from Jan 2016 - August 2016 this coaching staff sat around with a thumb up their ass. They didn't recruit, plan, or get a better feel for their personnel. Yes yesterday was a great win, but I could've told you in April that Nick Fitzgerald & Aeris Williams were our best options at QB & RB & needed to play. Why did it take so long for Mullen to figure that out? Why was there even a competition between Fitz & Williams? Why wasn't there a greater understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, & identity of the personnel of this team before the season started? All I can say was that this staff completely dropped the ball this past off season, started picking up the pieces of the ball mid-season, & may have squeaked enough into the trash can to get to a bowl. That's inexplicable & I expect better. Even yesterday, with Fitz & Williams running buck wild, there were two possessions in the 2nd quarter where it was the Holloway & Shump show. Why? Why does Dan feel the need to keep SRs involved? Here's a question: If Holloway doesn't get banged up on a kick return yesterday, do we still win like we did? How were we not prepared or ready for Ole Miss to run a fake punt yesterday when they were getting blown off their home field? That could have cost us the game. The lack of awareness this staff shows at times in personnel management & game management is mind boggling.

Again, great win yesterday, but it doesn't completely makeup for a terrible off season of recruiting, planning, & personnel management. Mullen has so much potential to be a great head coach, but he finds a way to screw up the simple things. I like the direction we are headed, but I'm not totally sure I trust the people driving the bus to put forth the off season effort it takes to build an elite team. They've got some pieces returning for next year, but unless a better effort is put forth between Jan & Aug 2017, you can expect another frustrating 2017 season full of inexplicable losses.

All this being said, I support Mullen & believe it's in our best interest for him to be here for a long time. Just wish he'd mature a little as a coach & clean up some of the simple, instinctive things about managing a game & personnel

[Jacksondevildog]

Good points. The personnel issues are what frustrates me the most. Dan created a quarterback controversy going into the season when there was no need. That possibly created a divide in the locker room and you could see that divide early in the season. Once Fitz started making plays and showing toughness, he gained the respect of the players and they played harder for him. That was obvious to see. If we can improve the defense for next year and find a kicker, we could be pretty decent with Fitz and Williams. We MUST sign the Juco WR from Hinds as well. Losing Ross will hurt and we need an impact guy to come in and make plays early.

[thf24]

I think last night and the TAMU game showed that Sirmon's defense can be effective against the kind of modern spread offenses that we'll usually see if our guys play hard and well, but power I teams like Arky might be kryptonite. Not really sure what to think about how it should go forward. Sirmon is going to get better with experience and our players will execute his defense better with more time in it; however, the facts will always remain that it's a very difficult defense to execute at the college level and it requires near-elite recruiting on a consistent basis for its ideal personnel. I really want to like Sirmon for the youth and recruiting he brings to the table, but he's going to run the scheme he wants going forward (as any DC does), and I just can't shake the feeling that we'll always be voluntarily handicapping ourselves to a degree as long as we stick with his defense.

[bluelightstar]

I think last night and the TAMU game showed that Sirmon's defense can be effective against the kind of modern spread offenses that we'll usually see if our guys play hard and well, but power I teams like Arky might be kryptonite. Not really sure what to think about how it should go forward. Sirmon is going to get better with experience and our players will execute his defense better with more time in it; however, the facts will always remain that it's a very difficult defense to execute at the college level and it requires near-elite recruiting on a consistent basis for its ideal personnel. I really want to like Sirmon for the youth and recruiting he brings to the table, but he's going to run the scheme he wants going forward (as any DC does), and I just can't shake the feeling that we'll always be voluntarily handicapping ourselves to a degree as long as we stick with his defense.

I'll be honest -- though we only gave up 20 points, our Defense was just as bad as usual. We gave up over 500 yards for like the 6th or 7th straight game. Our offense has a lot of potential next year, and I would hate to waste it with a bad defense that requires us to go out and score 40 every week.

[MetEdDawg]

I'm not expecting any staff changes except maybe Sallach. Our TEs are woefully the worst unit on the field offensively. We need a change there. Doubt we see any defensive changes. Entire new staff on that side and while they struggled a lot, there were some stretches of competence. We had 5 games where we gave up no points in two straight quarters. USA, SC, LSU, BYU, and OM. That shows we at least can be dominant for stretches.

We need a new strength program. Saw a close up of Rankin and was stunned at how skinny his arms looked. That's rampant throughout our team at multiple positions, most noticeably on defense. If we are gonna run a 3-4 our front 7 better start filling out more or we will get pushed around consistently against above average teams.

Hopefully Mullen is realizing that skimping on a kicker now costs you games when you are in the middle of the pack in a conference. We have to recruit a kicker. It would have saved us a couple games for sure and potentially changed the outlook on a few (still convinced the Auburn game would have looked a lot different with that made FG after the pick). Have to have a legitimate weapon there.

I'm extremely optimistic about next year. OL losses are replaceable. Ross leaving sucks but if we can land Guidry and develop Couch and a few others we will be fine. Fitz and Aeris will be fine. Defensively we should have an opportunity to be good. Simmons, Adams, Thomas, and a few JUCOs, Green, Gray, Leo, Spencer, few others. Cleveland back, Peters, Bryant, McLaurin. Should be a legit defense.

[TrapGame]

If Sirmon can field an average SEC defense next season we'll be pretty decent. I'm hoping we get into a bowl b/c those are practices this defense really needs after a confidence builder like the EB.

[Mjoelner34]

Good post Shotgun. One more thing too. Even though we knew it was going to be a down year, some of us (including me) didn't think our 'down year' was only 5 wins. At least the high point of our season didn't occur with 3:04 left in the 2nd quarter of the first game. Suck it bearsharts!!!!!

[BossDawg]

The season is over? I thought we had a shot at a minor bowl. Many are saying Vegas.

[starkvegasdawg]

The season is over? I thought we had a shot at a minor bowl. Many are saying Vegas.

A shot, but can't get hopes up.

[ShotgunDawg]

Good post Shotgun. One more thing too. Even though we knew it was going to be a down year, some of us (including me) didn't think our 'down year' was only 5 wins. At least the high point of our season didn't occur with 3:04 left in the 2nd quarter of the first game. Suck it bearsharts!!!!!

Agree, but when you consider the missed field goals, this was really a 7 win type team that had some tough luck. Again, if we get to a bow, there really isn't much difference between 5 & 7 wins in the grand scheme of things. 5 may be even better because it will force Mullen to address some deficiencies.

[msstate7]

We've got to get aeris Williams in better shape. He checked himself out way too much. He needs to come into the season next year in tip top shape

[ShotgunDawg]

We've got to get aeris Williams in better shape. He checked himself out way too much. He needs to come into the season next year in tip top shape

I could say that about the entire team. I loved Mullen's quote yesterday about the program getting soft & needing an old school off season. Nice for a coach to recognize that

[Bubb Rubb]

Good points. The personnel issues are what frustrates me the most. Dan created a quarterback controversy going into the season when there was no need. That possibly created a divide in the locker room and you could see that divide early in the season. Once Fitz started making plays and showing toughness, he gained the respect of the players and they played harder for him. That was obvious to see. If we can improve the defense for next year and find a kicker, we could be pretty decent with Fitz and Williams. We MUST sign the Juco WR from Hinds as well. Losing Ross will hurt and we need an impact guy to come in and make plays early.

Dan created the QB controversy because he had to. Fitz wasn't doing what he needed to do off the field and Dan did it to try and light a fire. Everyone knew Fitz would be the guy - but Fitz had to be made to earn it. It hurt us some early in the year, but if the end result is what we're getting now and what we will hopefully see next year if he keeps his head on straight, then it was worth it.

Sometimes coaches have to do unpopular things to motivate his players, and sometimes those things don't make sense to the rest of us.

The Aeris situation is more of a head scratcher to me, but we won't have to worry about that next year, either.

[Sacrifice]

Sirmon has got to go! If we keep him we'll get more of the same next year. We're ranked 110 in total D. Everything on D was bad. Tackling, communication, effort, etc. Unless this guy can recruit like a MFer, he gotta go!

[GTHOM]

Sirmon is not getting fired. Hevesy was in danger but yesterday and the OL playing better probably saved him. As far as personnel issues you are exactly right and Mullen will Mullen. Holloway is not an every down RB. Aeris is. Fitz>>>>>>>>>>>>Damian Williams. Fitz is going to do what he did yesterday to plenty of teams the next 2 years. Defensively we still have a ways to go put another spring will help us. We looked flat out confused at times this year. We need to pick up some key guys in Feb to really cap this thing off

[ShotgunDawg]

Sirmon has got to go! If we keep him we'll get more of the same next year. We're ranked 110 in total D. Everything on D was bad. Tackling, communication, effort, etc. Unless this guy can recruit like a MFer, he gotta go!

Yes, the defense was awful this year. There is no denying that.

For smart people though, it not about recognizing that the defense was bad, it's about being able to answer the "Why?".

That's the problem, we don't really have any clue if Sirmon sucks or if we asked him to do an impossible job. Afterall, we did ask a first year DC, to implement a entirely new defense that our players have never run with an entire defensive staff that he didn't hire & had never met.

If Mullen thinks he has the ingredients to be an elite DC, then he should keep him. As a fan, I simply say that I don't have enough information because I wasn't around the team every day. Yes, it's a results oriented business, but you have to make the decision that is best going forward.

Us hiring a first year DC, with a entirely new staff, to teach a entirely new defense to players they had never met, was a terrible idea, but that's a sunk cost now. It's irrelevant. It's about what's best going forward.

Additionally, I think it's plausible that Mullen doesn't even know yet what he'll do. Might be best to go through bowl prep, see how the players are growing, see how the early enrollees look in practice, & then make a more educated decision following signing day

[GTHOM]

Mullen called defensive plays at times this year. Its not all on Sirmon. Our defense played a lot better yesterday than anyone was hoping for. The talent is there

[Sacrifice]

Yes, the defense was awful this year. There is no denying that.

For smart people though, it not about recognizing that the defense was bad, it's about being able to answer the "Why?".

That's the problem, we don't really have any clue if Sirmon sucks or if we asked him to do an impossible job. Afterall, we did ask a first year DC, to implement a entirely new defense that our players have never run with an entire defensive staff that he didn't hire & had never met.

If Mullen thinks he has the ingredients to be an elite DC, then he should keep him. As a fan, I simply say that I don't have enough information because I wasn't around the team every day. Yes, it's a results oriented business, but you have to make the decision that is best going forward.

Us hiring a first year DC, with a entirely new staff, to teach a entirely new defense to players they had never met, was a terrible idea, but that's a sunk cost now. It's irrelevant. It's about what's best going forward.

Additionally, I think it's plausible that Mullen doesn't even know yet what he'll do. Might best to go through bowl prep, see how the player are growing, see how the early enrollees look in practice, & then make a more educated decision following signing day

I get that we had an entirely new coaching staff on D but we showed NO improvement throughout the year. You would think at some point we would start putting it together. I'm like you, I don't think Mullen will fire him even know he should, he would be admitting a mistake. I'm hoping he just moves on. I've seen no signs he's gonna be a good DC

[starkvegasdawg]

Comes down to this...would you rather have the same DC for two years in a row for the first time since the invention of the wheel, or go bring in a whole new system again? Our defense was putrid this year, but would consistency in scheme improve that or is our DC just incompetent? Would the seniors on that side of the ball leaving improve things? I don't know. I'll support whatever decision Mullen makes. I just hope it's the correct one.

[ShotgunDawg]

Comes down to this...would you rather have the same DC for two years in a row for the first time since the invention of the wheel, or go bring in a whole new system again? Our defense was putrid this year, but would consistency in scheme improve that or is our DC just incompetent? Would the seniors on that side of the ball leaving improve things? I don't know. I'll support whatever decision Mullen makes. I just hope it's the correct one.

Agree.

This may sound strange, but I think the floor of the defense is actually higher next year if you keep the current staff.

With what we have returning on defense, I don't really see a way that this defense isn't at least a little bit or significantly better next year.

[TrapGame]

Agree.

This may sound strange, but I think the floor of the defense is actually higher next year if you keep the current staff.

With what we have returning on defense, I don't really see a way that this defense isn't at least a little bit or significantly better next year.

Good point. Patterson tore up A&M's defense. We kept them scoreless the second half. Another spring/fall camp with Sirmon can only improve this defense.

[Dawgface]

My forecast for the year was 6-6 and we should have had it easily. The offense was better than expected but the D was much worse. FG kicking was god awful to state the obvious. If we can tighten up the D just a little and find a FG kicker we should be back to 7-8 wins.

[yjnkdawg]

Delete

[BrunswickDawg]

Not to get into "what if's", but here is an amazing thing about this season:
With all the issues we had, we were in position to win all but 2 of our games. I can remember many, many State teams that were never in most of their losses. With some consistency and luck, we could have won any of USA, LSU, BYU, UK or Arky. That gives me a lot of hope about making a jump next year with what we have coming back.

And guess what? Once again we were picked dead last and didn't finish there.