Ok. So I get our stadium wasnt rocking and the game was a dud.

[gravedigger]

And I know the objection to this is that we won and we should just move on as wins are what ultimately count. Check

I'm still concerned that something about Mullen has fundamentally changed since 2010. I cannot put my finger on it, but his base philosophy of stretch the field WIDE to take advantage of mismatches has somehow been.......compromised...is the only word I can use.

Yes there are some facts that mitigate this.

1. We have yet to have a qb under Mullen that can really read a defense and audible well enough to take advantage of mismatches.
2. We have yet to have an OL, save for 2010, that can protect a qb adequately while the qb checks down past 2 seconds.
3. We have not had a solid durable rb since 2011 that can withstand the punishment of 30 carries a game.
4. We have not had a receiving corps that get separation to the point that defenses back off blitzing our qb.

SO, why does our play-calling seem to rely on these attributes that we have never had or haven't had for 2 seasons?

I'm not worried about defense. It has had ups and downs, but is talented and with a little more depth and some recovery from injuries, will be fine for our conference.

Our OL is a couple of injuries, literally, from us being a 3-9 team. That is not hyperbole. We don't have decent backups. Joe Morrow still starts over Wilson. We don't get the ball into a tight ends hands NEARLY enough to make it a threat in a game. Fans, from the stands, can see when a running play is coming. Is it any wonder that an opposing coach can detect this? Our field goal kicking is bad and not getting better. We run 'trick' plays with the forethought of a 4 year old and the reasoning is that we planned this trick play for 3 days which somehow makes a bad decision inevitable.

I don't get it. Our coach has somehow, at some point, changed his approach to the way he strategizes during games. But the excuse, the forever redundant excuse is that our team cannot 'finish'.

Bullshit. just bullshit. There are mistakes like the ones I mentioned from the first minute of the game to the last. Not being able to 'finish' is another way of saying we couldn't overcome the mass amount of mistakes in the last 10 minutes of a game to cover up for the first 50 minutes.

Sorry. Rant over.

[HoopsDawg]

Mullen needs to focus on what we do have. We do have a legit dual threat QB and a stable of quality RB's. Rotating QB's has never worked for so many reasons since the advent of the forward pass. I'm sorry Tyler, but it's time to scrap that plan.

Give the keys to Dak on this bye week and announce him as your guy. Commit to an offense with Dak and only Dak as our QB. Scrap the plays he can't run and add plays that he can run. Bring more diversity to our run game than QB lead. Get back to the true run first spread that Mullen ran his first 2 years at MSU. More 2 back sets utilizing the strengths of Perkins, Jrob, Shumpert, Milton and Griffin. Pick up the tempo to above a snail's pace level and run some no-huddle.

Get the ball to Jameon in open space, not in the backfield, and let him do his thing. Take advantage of 8 men in the box and take some shots downfield. Ever hear of a back-shoulder throw? Run rep after rep in practice of a fade route to Wilson to give us a redzone finisher. Same for Malcolm Johnson. Forget FG's, go for TD's. Mullen's mentor kicked about 3 FG's all year in route to a national title at UF. I could go on, but that will do for now.

[Coach34]

Yes there are some facts that mitigate this.

1. We have yet to have a qb under Mullen that can really read a defense and audible well enough to take advantage of mismatches.
2. We have yet to have an OL, save for 2010, that can protect a qb adequately while the qb checks down past 2 seconds.
3. We have not had a solid durable rb since 2011 that can withstand the punishment of 30 carries a game.
4. We have not had a receiving corps that get separation to the point that defenses back off blitzing our qb.
.

1. We dont turn the ball over much-so we obviously dont do that bad of a job at reading defenses. Also, we dont have many checks built into the offense- so our QB's arent given the leeway to check very much. This is kind of overblown also- because alot of checks made by teams are done from the sidelines mostly- A&M and OM both do their checks from the sidelines almost every time. Alot of times in college football when QBs walk up to the line- they arent changing the play- but the blocking.

2. Our pass protection has been very good. Hell, Dak has only been sacked twice in 116 pass attempts.

3. We dont want a RB to carry the ball 30 times. We have too much depth.

4. This is correct- we dont have top tier talent at WR. And why I think it's stupid for us to want to throw the ball 30 times.

[EnterpriseDawg]

Why are some still down on Morrow? I thought he did well Saturday and made some tough catches. I get the love for Wilson, because of his upside, but why can't we line both on opposite sides of the field. Watching some games yesterday made me realize that we fail to use them adaquently.

[HoopsDawg]

Why are some still down on Morrow? I thought he did well Saturday and made some tough catches. I get the love for Wilson, because of his upside, but why can't we line both on opposite sides of the field. Watching some games yesterday made me realize that we fail to use them adaquently.

Because neither he nor Rojo can get separation. Both are probably 4.7 forty guys and just as important they lack quickness. Jameon is probably a 4.55 guy, but he is extremely quick and shifty.

[gravedigger]

1. Our qb's don't get rid of the ball quickly enough. I think this is a function of them not reading, presnap, where the weakness in the coverage is. THis 'holding the ball too long' by both Tyler and Dak to me is symptomatic of trying to find an open receiver post snap instead of deciding what the defense is giving you presnap.

2. I think our pass protection has been good for what it's been asked to do, but it still isn't talented enough for a qb to take the time ours do to make a decision in the pocket.

3. We may not need a rb that can carry 30 times, but we need to utilize a rb that is durable enough to do so. This carousel of rb's is not good for our own continuity.

4. We agree. But the length of time it takes for our routes to develop is also a culprit. We just don't run plays that 'suck the defense in' like we used to. Think about the screens to Perkins in the Egg bowl and the Gator bowl. We caught teams blitzing and made them pay. Today, we just don't seem to be able to predict this.

I believe the Tyler R. experiment ended because he couldn't read a defense and make a decision quickly enough. Not because he wasn't talented. Not because our receivers couldn't get open, but because he couldn't commit to a play. He was running the position like kids run it in the back yard. Somehow, our offense seems still stuck in that

I really need to believe our team will be prepared to play differently next year. If the offense still looks like this next fall, whether we are winning or losing, I'm going to be greatly concerned whether Mullen has mailed it in.

[maroonmania]

Mullen needs to focus on what we do have. We do have a legit dual threat QB and a stable of quality RB's. Rotating QB's has never worked for so many reasons since the advent of the forward pass. I'm sorry Tyler, but it's time to scrap that plan.

Give the keys to Dak on this bye week and announce him as your guy. Commit to an offense with Dak and only Dak as our QB. Scrap the plays he can't run and add plays that he can run. Bring more diversity to our run game than QB lead. Get back to the true run first spread that Mullen ran his first 2 years at MSU. More 2 back sets utilizing the strengths of Perkins, Jrob, Shumpert, Milton and Griffin. Pick up the tempo to above a snail's pace level and run some no-huddle.

Get the ball to Jameon in open space, not in the backfield, and let him do his thing. Take advantage of 8 men in the box and take some shots downfield. Ever hear of a back-shoulder throw? Run rep after rep in practice of a fade route to Wilson to give us a redzone finisher. Same for Malcolm Johnson. Forget FG's, go for TD's. Mullen's mentor kicked about 3 FG's all year in route to a national title at UF. I could go on, but that will do for now.

I agree on Jameon getting the ball in open space. THAT is where he is dangerous with his juking and change of direction. Ditch giving Jameon the ball on the end around so much because that play requires pure speed and Jameon is not really a pure speed guy. That should have been obvious when an LSU LBer ran him down in the open field with an angle last week on the KO return. Not saying he should never run it but not 4 or 5 times a game. Seems like Holloway is about the only pure speed guy that might actually have a chance to make the corner on that kind of play.