WMD's Armchair QB: Growing Up Edition

[War Machine Dawg]

Gents, WMD's Armchair QB is up for review at FWTCT (http://www.forwhomthecowbelltolls.com/2013/11/17/5115160/wmd-armchair-qb-growing-up-edition-msu-bulldawgs-alabama-crimson-tide-dan-mullen). You know the drill. Fire in the hole!

[The Croom Diaries]

Good read as always. I agree that State played very well, but Bama also played uncharacteristically bad. We got 4 turnovers, and a couple of them were flat out forced by our defense, but there was a couple more like turtle and Love who could've had picks as well. Bama also had several more penalties than we did. The game they played evened the playing field for us to get an upset, but we didn't execute yet again....and our personnel decisions were piss poor yet again. So I think it's a little of both - we played great (on defense) and Bama was not exactly themselves. We did not face the machine last night...we faced a supremely talented team who made mistakes.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I definitely agree with this:

9. WMD needs to get this off his chest: It seems the narrative now is that State didn't play that well, Bama played that poorly. I've seen it in the media and amongst our own alleged fans. Ridiculous. We played our tails off and displayed serious guts and heart. We forced Bama into their mistakes. Have some pride and confidence and give us credit instead of trying to find a way to discredit how well we played. You want respect? Stop accepting the premise that we couldn't have played that well, it HAD to be the other team sucking. Respect how we played and demand that others acknowledge we played well. Because we did.

Don't fall for the BS "Bama played like shit and that's the only reason State was in the game" line. Bama didn't play as well as they usually do, but we had a really good defensive showing. I hate moral victories (and last night was not one), but there are things we did well against Bama that gave them trouble.

[War Machine Dawg]

Good read as always. I agree that State played very well, but Bama also played uncharacteristically bad. We got 4 turnovers, and a couple of them were flat out forced by our defense, but there was a couple more like turtle and Love who could've had picks as well. Bama also had several more penalties than we did. The game they played evened the playing field for us to get an upset, but we didn't execute yet again....and our personnel decisions were piss poor yet again. So I think it's a little of both - we played great (on defense) and Bama was not exactly themselves. We did not face the machine last night...we faced a supremely talented team who made mistakes.

Bama may not have been "The Machine," but they're still Bama. And frankly, they have to make a couple mistakes for almost anyone but the most elite teams to beat them. Fact is, at least defensively, we played as well you could have possibly hoped against them. The downside is that without Dak, we struggle to move the ball consistently, much less score enough times to win. Especially with the disaster that is our "Special" Teams right now. Bottom line, we're getting better. And that's what young, talented, well coached teams do over the course of the season.

What really kills me is we had one Top 5 team beaten - Auburn - and had Bama and aTm on the ropes. We just have to learn how to finish. But that's all part of the learning curve.

[War Machine Dawg]

I definitely agree with this:

9. WMD needs to get this off his chest: It seems the narrative now is that State didn't play that well, Bama played that poorly. I've seen it in the media and amongst our own alleged fans. Ridiculous. We played our tails off and displayed serious guts and heart. We forced Bama into their mistakes. Have some pride and confidence and give us credit instead of trying to find a way to discredit how well we played. You want respect? Stop accepting the premise that we couldn't have played that well, it HAD to be the other team sucking. Respect how we played and demand that others acknowledge we played well. Because we did.

Don't fall for the BS "Bama played like shit and that's the only reason State was in the game" line. Bama didn't play as well as they usually do, but we had a really good defensive showing. I hate moral victories (and last night was not one), but there are things we did well against Bama that gave them trouble.

Our fans need to be insecure and downplay any success we may have pisses me off to no end. And it's even worse, because some of the asshat "fans" saying it are doing so as part of the agenda to undermine Mullen instead of seeing the improvement we've made in the last 3 weeks. I'm really ready for Arkansas. A win is going to do wonders for our fan base.

[Madkinmecrazy]

I definitely agree with this:

Have some pride and confidence and give us credit instead of trying to find a way to discredit how well we played.....

I hate moral victories (and last night was not one), but there are things we did well against Bama that gave them trouble.

Sounds like you are claiming a moral victory, against your wishes.

[Barking 13]

Ditto to all... I was proud of the way our dawgs played. And it actually seemed that they (especially the defense) were prepared for the game. Tyler was even impressive, for a while. The way I see it, we hit the FG, stop the obligatory 30 seconds before half TD, Tubby catch those drops (and punt, BTW, I think he might have been hurt), and bear catches his, and the score flip flops...

Like Mullen keeps saying, clean up some little mistakes and we've got something...

[messageboardsuperhero]

Sounds like you are claiming a moral victory, against your wishes.

There's a difference between being excited about a loss and recognizing that we did a few things well.

I'm not happy with the loss by any stretch of the imagination- that being said, there are things that we can hopefully build upon for the future.

[cheewgumm]

I got confused wondering if this was about Russell or Mullen:

4. Last night was a microcosm of TR's career: He played solid, but wasn't good enough to win. He made a few big time NFL throws, but when it mattered, he threw an absolutely awful interception into triple coverage. Then he took an awful sack in the 5-wide package because he held the ball too long.....resulting in ANOTHER injury. And he still runs like a wounded giraffe. The fumble into the endzone that Siddoway recovered was just plain bad as well. It sounds mean, and it kinda is, but frankly TR is soft. I'll always be grateful to him for choosing to play here instead of Bama or SCar, because he clearly bleeds maroon. But we'll be a better offense without him.

[War Machine Dawg]

I got confused wondering if this was about Russell or Mullen:

4. Last night was a microcosm of TR's career: He played solid, but wasn't good enough to win. He made a few big time NFL throws, but when it mattered, he threw an absolutely awful interception into triple coverage. Then he took an awful sack in the 5-wide package because he held the ball too long.....resulting in ANOTHER injury. And he still runs like a wounded giraffe. The fumble into the endzone that Siddoway recovered was just plain bad as well. It sounds mean, and it kinda is, but frankly TR is soft. I'll always be grateful to him for choosing to play here instead of Bama or SCar, because he clearly bleeds maroon. But we'll be a better offense without him.

Way to be a gigantic douchenozzle trying to derail this thread. But being a douchenozzle is what you're best at

[HunterDawg]

I got confused wondering if this was about Russell or Mullen:

4. Last night was a microcosm of TR's career: He played solid, but wasn't good enough to win. He made a few big time NFL throws, but when it mattered, he threw an absolutely awful interception into triple coverage. Then he took an awful sack in the 5-wide package because he held the ball too long.....resulting in ANOTHER injury. And he still runs like a wounded giraffe. The fumble into the endzone that Siddoway recovered was just plain bad as well. It sounds mean, and it kinda is, but frankly TR is soft. I'll always be grateful to him for choosing to play here instead of Bama or SCar, because he clearly bleeds maroon. But we'll be a better offense without him.

We weren't going to beat Bama on the ground. We averaged less than 2 yards a carry. Russell was our best hope of winning. I know it will get me blasted but at some point someone has to mention that Dak has a passing efficiency rating of 121.7 which is like 12th in the SEC. If we were going to have to throw to beat them, TR was the best choice. Damien did not look like a passing machine, either. And, TR kept us in it for a long time, even without a running game.

[cheewgumm]

I really don't understand why you're mad. Did I say something about you? A lot if you have a proem with people complaining about the coach but you feel free to trash one of the players who makes nothing .

Next time you post it and tell everyone to go read I'll just slip it. Damn.

[The Croom Diaries]

Bama may not have been "The Machine," but they're still Bama. And frankly, they have to make a couple mistakes for almost anyone but the most elite teams to beat them. Fact is, at least defensively, we played as well you could have possibly hoped against them. The downside is that without Dak, we struggle to move the ball consistently, much less score enough times to win. Especially with the disaster that is our "Special" Teams right now. Bottom line, we're getting better. And that's what young, talented, well coached teams do over the course of the season.

What really kills me is we had one Top 5 team beaten - Auburn - and had Bama and aTm on the ropes. We just have to learn how to finish. But that's all part of the learning curve.

Yeah, we're getting better....slowly but surely. It still doesn't excuse the fact that we let another one slip away. We could play this Bama team 10 times and they may give us a golden opportunity like that once. Those are the games you have to actually score the upset. We are not in rebuilding mode anymore. That's the issue with Mullen - it's not that he isn't a good coach because he is, it's just highly questionable as to whether he is good enough to coach in the SEC or not. We should not be improving at a snail's pace...and there should not be gaping holes in our team like the special teams at this point. There are many great things about our team, but we are in the SEC so having great athletes comes with the territory. How those athletes are coached is what determines our success and failure. We missed an opportunity, plain and simple.

[DanDority]

We just have to learn how to finish. But that's all part of the learning curve.

When should we expect this to happen?

[TheRef]

When should we expect this to happen?

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/jennifer-dunno.gif

[War Machine Dawg]

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