Some Thoughts

[ShotgunDawg]

- We are going to find out what type of coach we have next week. Everyone gets punched in the mouth at some point & Moorhead got punched in the mouth last night & then hid in a corner. We?ll find out next week if we hired the right guy. You can have all the slogans, Xs & Os knowledge, fancy plays, dunk celebrations, etc as you want but the SEC isn?t about that. It?s about finding a way to punch others in the mouth & Joe better figure that out fast or he?ll just be a Big10, Big 12, or PAC 12 coach for the rest of his career. This isn?t a rebuild. This is a team that needs a General, not a buddy.

- We are currently 117th out out 130 teams in penalties. We average 79 penalty yards per game. That is poor coaching & discipline 100%. There is no way around it. This coach came in & tried to be a buddy with the players, & they?ve taken advantage of him. It?s a sign of terrible leadership & immaturity. I?m sure they?ll fight you on twitter more than they?ll fight the other team in a game.

- Did Mullen?s insistence on running 60% of the time make our OL look better than it was? I just can?t believe that a team that has been one of the best running teams in college football over the past 2 years, is now trying to throw every down. That?s absolute insanity. I totally get recruiting to become a better passing team, but you?ve got to play to your team?s strengths.

- Moorhead a great dude & an extremely smart football coach, but I?m not sure if he?s cut out for this league. I questioned his killer instinct when we hired him because most good SEC football coaches are dickheads, but he isn?t. There are other good football coaches outside the SEC that aren?t dickheads, but no in it. Moorhead is extremely likable, but we aren?t getting it done on the recruiting trail & he hides in a corner when the going gets tough. Where is the killer instinct?

- This is why you pay the hell out of good football coaches. They are simply few & far between & not easily replaced. Let this be a lesson to NEVER again let a guy walk out the door over a couple million dollars. It’s pure arrogance to think they can easily be replaced & losing loses a much much more money

He?s got me for one more week. If he hides in a corner next week & see another undisciplined team that is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, I?m out. This team is way too talented to see it go the way of a rebuild. We all remember the Croom era & I refuse to not recognize it early this time.

[MarketingBully]

These are the same issues that cropped up against K-State. The big difference? In the K-State game, we ran the football and established the running game. This game? We didn’t do shit to establish a semblance of a running game. Kentucky used scheme to trick our RPO offense into passing it way too much. Fitz actually ran with conviction and ran through tackles against K-State. Last night? Our guys went down at first contact even when they beat their guy. Fitz played like shit yesterday and made poor reads. This team will only go as far as Fitz takes us and he sure as shit isn’t a passing QB.

[maroonmania]

- We are going to find out what type of coach we have next week. Everyone gets punched in the mouth at some point & Moorhead got punched in the mouth last night & then hid in a corner. We?ll find out next week if we hired the right guy. You can have all the slogans, Xs & Os knowledge, fancy plays, dunk celebrations, etc as you want but the SEC isn?t about that. It?s about finding a way to punch others in the mouth & Joe better figure that out fast or he?ll just be a Big10, Big 12, or PAC 12 coach for the rest of his career. This isn?t a rebuild. This is a team that needs a General, not a buddy.

- We are currently 117th out out 130 teams in penalties. We average 79 penalty yards per game. That is poor coaching & discipline 100%. There is no way around it. This coach came in & tried to be a buddy with the players, & they?ve taken advantage of him. It?s a sign of terrible leadership & immaturity. I?m sure they?ll fight you on twitter more than they?ll fight the other team in a game.

- Did Mullen?s insistence on running 60% of the time make our OL look better than it was? I just can?t believe that a team that has been one of the best running teams in college football over the past 2 years, is now trying to throw every down. That?s absolute insanity. I totally get recruiting to become a better passing team, but you?ve got to play to your team?s strengths.

- Moorhead a great dude & an extremely smart football coach, but I?m not sure if he?s cut out for this league. I questioned his killer instinct when we hired him because most good SEC football coaches are dickheads, but he isn?t. There are other good football coaches outside the SEC that aren?t dickheads, but no in it. Moorhead is extremely likable, but we aren?t getting it done on the recruiting trail & he hides in a corner when the going gets tough. Where is the killer instinct?

- This is why you pay the hell out of good football coaches. They are simply few & far between & not easily replaced. Let this be a lesson to NEVER again let a guy walk out the door over a couple million dollars. It’s pure arrogance to think they can easily be replaced & losing loses a much much more money

He?s got me for one more week. If he hides in a corner next week & see another undisciplined team that is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, I?m out. This team is way too talented to see it go the way of a rebuild. We all remember the Croom era & I refuse to not recognize it early this time.

Agree with a lot of what you said but Mullen didn't leave over money. He got his undies in a wad after the 2015 season and was leaving regardless, it was just a matter of where. He absolutely thought he was too big for our program anyway and would have left after 2016 but nobody wants a 5-7 coach. He never really intended to stay in Starkville long term anyway and then with the Keenum fallout he was getting the heck out of Dodge. The job shopping wasn't going to stop in any form or fashion with him until he got his job.

[ShotgunDawg]

Agree with a lot of what you said but Mullen didn't leave over money. He got his undies in a wad after the 2015 season and was leaving regardless, it was just a matter of where. He absolutely thought he was too big for our program anyway and would have left after 2016 but nobody wants a 5-7 coach. He never really intended to stay in Starkville long term anyway and then with the Keenum fallout he was getting the heck out of Dodge. The job shopping wasn't going to stop in any form or fashion with him until he got his job.

Even if we would’ve paid him 7 mil a year?

Just saying, good football coaches are hard to replace. It’s why Tennessee, LSU, Texas, etc can’t get it right.

If someone thought MSU had God’s gift to hiring coaches, they were sorely mistaken.

[1bigdawg]

Agree with Mania. $7 million would have just gotten someone else to pay Mullen more. He believed he was too good/big for MSU.

We will learn a lot more next week, one way or the other.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Even if we would’ve paid him 7 mil a year?

Just saying, good football coaches are hard to replace. It’s why Tennessee, LSU, Texas, etc can’t get it right.

If someone thought MSU had God’s gift to hiring coaches, they were sorely mistaken.

We could've offered Mullen 10 mil. He had already decided he was leaving after the Bama game. Agree with the OP though. The stupid penalties are a direct result of the coaching. I believe theres a few dogs on this staff who can wake the players up such as Hud, Jones, Huff, and Baker. Unfortunately they take their direction from a head coach who shows no emotion. On Saturday i really hope we see 2016 vs South Carolina Mullen levels of intensity from Moorhead on Saturday night. If it's the same ho hum don't look like I give a crap look, then we may need to start deciding on the future of our head coach. This isn't a league where you get time to work out the kinks.

[maroonmania]

Even if we would’ve paid him 7 mil a year?

Just saying, good football coaches are hard to replace. It’s why Tennessee, LSU, Texas, etc can’t get it right.

If someone thought MSU had God’s gift to hiring coaches, they were sorely mistaken.

I'm not sure he would have stayed for any amount if he could get the FL job. Our program just wasn't big enough for Dan's ego anymore. And 7 mil is a heck of a lot to pay for Gator Bowls. Whether Dan had stayed or not we are likely going to take a step back next year. People act like if Dan had stayed then a 10-2 record was almost guaranteed this year. I don't think there was anything that sure about that. I will say though that only against OM have I seen our team lose their cool under Mullen. Certainly not against the likes of KY. Just don't understand how we let an opponent like that get in our heads and riled up where we couldn't even play the game properly.

[Liverpooldawg]

These are the same issues that cropped up against K-State. The big difference? In the K-State game, we ran the football and established the running game. This game? We didn’t do shit to establish a semblance of a running game. Kentucky used scheme to trick our RPO offense into passing it way too much. Fitz actually ran with conviction and ran through tackles against K-State. Last night? Our guys went down at first contact even when they beat their guy. Fitz played like shit yesterday and made poor reads. This team will only go as far as Fitz takes us and he sure as shit isn’t a passing QB.

The big difference is Kentucky is a much better team than KSU. I'm not saying Kentucky is a great team, just that they are better than KSU. What I saw last night from us was the exact same thing I saw against SFA and KSU.

[MarketingBully]

I'm not sure he would have stayed for any amount if he could get the FL job. Our program just wasn't big enough for Dan's ego anymore. And 7 mil is a heck of a lot to pay for Gator Bowls. Whether Dan had stayed or not we are likely going to take a step back next year. People act like if Dan had stayed then a 10-2 record was almost guaranteed this year. I don't think there was anything that sure about that. I will say though that only against OM have I seen our team lose their cool under Mullen. Certainly not against the likes of KY. Just don't understand how we let an opponent like that get in our heads and riled up where we couldn't even play the game properly.

Agreed. Why did we give that big a shit about Kentucky? We let them get in our head in all phases of the game and our player leadership didn’t surface one iota. Was a very disappointing effort in all phases by everyone to tell the honest truth.

[MarketingBully]

The big difference is Kentucky is a much better team than KSU. I'm not saying Kentucky is a great team, just that they are better than KSU. What I saw last night from us was the exact same thing I saw against SFA and KSU.

We still would have beaten Kentucky had we just gone with a heavy run attack. Kentucky’s defense is not elite and we let them punk us. That’s a team we should have beaten by two scores.

[NCDawg]

We still would have beaten Kentucky had we just gone with a heavy run attack. Kentucky’s defense is not elite and we let them punk us. That’s a team we should have beaten by two scores.

I disagree. Kentucky's defensive front dominated our OL most of the game.

[Dawg2003]

Agreed. Why did we give that big a shit about Kentucky? We let them get in our head in all phases of the game and our player leadership didn’t surface one iota. Was a very disappointing effort in all phases by everyone to tell the honest truth.

I can understand getting one unsportsmanlike call in the Egg Bowl, but I'll never understand getting 4, against KY. That's just emotionally immature and out of control. What are we gonna do when we have to go play in Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa? I hate to even think about it.

[Sacrifice]

I still can't get over the fact that we didn't give our tackles any help last night. That's inexcusable!
You could tell after the 1st quarter they were having problems blocking the ends and it only got worse as the game went along.

[LC Dawg]

Emotions will automatically be high this Saturday because Mullen is coming back. Our coaching staff is going to have to focus on keeping our guys in check.
Florida's coaching staff knows every player on our team. They know which ones can easily be gotten to and they know things that can be said and done to certain players to get in their heads and get them to react. Don't think that staff won't get dirty especially after seeing how our guys reacted last night.

[Jack Lambert]

JWS had some bad road trips. I remember going to OK State and State just looked like they did last night.

[Liverpooldawg]

We still would have beaten Kentucky had we just gone with a heavy run attack. Kentucky’s defense is not elite and we let them punk us. That’s a team we should have beaten by two scores.

We couldn't block them, period.