Sunday Morning QB- Random Poster Debut Edition

South Alabama 21 Mississippi State 20

Yes, that score is now forever etched into history. There are no do-overs or mulligans. We have to live with it now. It's the wake-up call many of you needed to start comprehending where we have sunk to.

This is what happens when you think you are smarter than everyone else
This is what happens when you continue to employ coaches that are your friends but not good recruiters
This is what happens when you hamper recruiting by continually looking at other jobs in December
This is what happens when your OL is made of guys that are Plan B's or Plan C's
This is what happens when your QB choices are a last second take, a guy that started 1 year of HS, a guy that got kicked off his HS team, and a guy that was only considered to be the 25th best prospect out of his state his Sr year.
This is what happens when you start a role player at Tailback. Holloway is in no way, shape, or form a starting SEC TB. He is good enough to get touches- but if you start him it means you dont have a TB.
This is what happens when you have 2 guys from the DL on your 2 deep suspended- plus a Slot guy suspended as well.

I could go on some more- but it isnt necessary. I've been trying to tell folks we arent very good but nobody wanted to hear it. This isnt me gloating. I didnt drive up there, spend money, and get my face sunburned to enjoy being right. But dont throw the "#agenda" word at me over and over then expect me to not call you out when it had nothing to do with agenda- but was indeed factual information.

Football is about the trenches and QB. I looked at our team and I didnt see a team that was strong in either. Our OL is not talented, and as I said repeatedly- if you cant beat out Damien Williams you arent very good. We played a South Alabama team without 3 DL starters and had trouble. We are sub-par at QB. So you have those 2 things plus:

We lack an SEC TB
We lack WR depth
We lack talent and experience at CB

Thats not a very good football team

I wish I could say things will get better- but I dont see it. This year is going to be ugly and next year wont be any better because the schedule flips. We are desperately recruiting juco OL guys for next year- and I dont see that being a big help. Jackie went through this in the mid-90's after his early run. He was chasing other big jobs constantly-especially Alabama- and didnt land them. He finally decided to accept where he was and put all his energy in getting us to Atlanta. We stopped hearing his name being up for jobs and the late 90's were awesome for us. But Jackie came close to losing his job over it- and it was a different SEC West 20 years ago than it is now. Mullen is unlikely be extended after this season- putting his current contract deal at 2 seasons left come December. A plan is going to have to be put in place at that point heading into 2017.

Tough times ahead Dawgs

That's a lot of blanket statements and not the usual analysis that we are used to.
Did all 5 OL really suck? I
Remember cussing Depser a couple times. Did Rankin play any?
I saw Smokey and Rayford getting burned but did Durr hold down his side?

Rankin did play and not very well

Simply stated, we have no SEC caliber player anywhere on offense outside of Fred Ross.........Or at least none that are seeing the field.

Let's take a moment and think realistically where we are at QB. The most important position on the field. Our QBs even the "one" we all wanted could not dominate our secondary which is dogsh:t. Think about that. All fall camp we couldn't get separation throwing against our cbs, yet a south al QB torched our secondary

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Originally Posted by Random Poster

South Alabama 21 Mississippi State 20

Yes, that score is now forever etched into history. There are no do-overs or mulligans. We have to live with it now. It's the wake-up call many of you needed to start comprehending where we have sunk to.

This is what happens when you think you are smarter than everyone else
This is what happens when you continue to employ coaches that are your friends but not good recruiters
This is what happens when you hamper recruiting by continually looking at other jobs in December
This is what happens when your OL is made of guys that are Plan B's or Plan C's
This is what happens when your QB choices are a last second take, a guy that started 1 year of HS, a guy that got kicked off his HS team, and a guy that was only considered to be the 25th best prospect out of his state his Sr year.
This is what happens when you start a role player at Tailback. Holloway is in no way, shape, or form a starting SEC TB. He is good enough to get touches- but if you start him it means you dont have a TB.
This is what happens when you have 2 guys from the DL on your 2 deep suspended- plus a Slot guy suspended as well.

I could go on some more- but it isnt necessary. I've been trying to tell folks we arent very good but nobody wanted to hear it. This isnt me gloating. I didnt drive up there, spend money, and get my face sunburned to enjoy being right. But dont throw the "#agenda" word at me over and over then expect me to not call you out when it had nothing to do with agenda- but was indeed factual information.

Football is about the trenches and QB. I looked at our team and I didnt see a team that was strong in either. Our OL is not talented, and as I said repeatedly- if you cant beat out Damien Williams you arent very good. We played a South Alabama team without 3 DL starters and had trouble. We are sub-par at QB. So you have those 2 things plus:

We lack an SEC TB
We lack WR depth
We lack talent and experience at CB

Thats not a very good football team

I wish I could say things will get better- but I dont see it. This year is going to be ugly and next year wont be any better because the schedule flips. We are desperately recruiting juco OL guys for next year- and I dont see that being a big help. Jackie went through this in the mid-90's after his early run. He was chasing other big jobs constantly-especially Alabama- and didnt land them. He finally decided to accept where he was and put all his energy in getting us to Atlanta. We stopped hearing his name being up for jobs and the late 90's were awesome for us. But Jackie came close to losing his job over it- and it was a different SEC West 20 years ago than it is now. Mullen is unlikely be extended after this season- putting his current contract deal at 2 seasons left come December. A plan is going to have to be put in place at that point heading into 2017.

Tough times ahead Dawgs

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So basically we're just going to wait until Dan's contract runs out before doing anything? I guess then we can just say time ran out rather than just firing him.

Dumb move on our part if that's the case. We have a coach that doesn't care. I doubt he starts caring anytime soon. If the coach doesn't want to be here why keep him?

Certainly can't argue with anything there.

I thought Mullen had accepted the fact he won't be finding that job ticket out of Starksville till he does more. He found out he's not worth as much as he thought last year on the job market so he cleaned house on the D side after his DC mailed it in to end the season again, and brought in some recruiters to help get him to the promised land in a couple years. I thought he cared about taking all the steps necessary to elevate his worth on the job market, but after yesterday I'm convinced he's decided to ride it out and enjoy his money earned... Laughing after getting his ass kicked again in last years Egg Bowl, grinning ear to ear after Graves missed the winning chip shot and his post game lack of reasoning for ANYTHING that happened yesterday. Hell, he ain't embarrassed, we are! He's enjoying his riches at our expense in more ways than one. He let this happen. He's not gonna change what needs to be changed.

Now for me, it's up to him to prove me wrong, in my mind. Hope he does, but I think we're looking at a real rough few years..

HailState!

After watching umass last night, it's not impossible we go 1-11

I understand we weren't playing a great team, but we threw it 31 times with 1 sack. We ran it 34 times for an avg of 7 yards/carry. We gave up 4 TFL, but 3 were on wr screens (wr blocking, not oline). I think Rb personnel decisions and play selection were much bigger issues than the oline.

Going into usce game, I would go to the 2-back set (shump leading and rotating aeris/Holloway in other spot). I'd limit Holloway touches to 10 (5 running, 5 receiving). Go back to fitz running the ball along with a. Williams, jet sweeps with mixon and dear, mix in slip screens to Fred, and try to hit over the top with gray once the safeties move up. I'd also stop trying to move at a break neck speed. I wanna line up quickly, but not snap quick... Just get up to the line to prevent subs. We have to help our new qb's and defense by slowing things down a bit.

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Originally Posted by JoseBrown

Certainly can't argue with anything there.

I thought Mullen had accepted the fact he won't be finding that job ticket out of Starksville till he does more. He found out he's not worth as much as he thought last year on the job market so he cleaned house on the D side after his DC mailed it in to end the season again, and brought in some recruiters to help get him to the promised land in a couple years. I thought he cared about taking all the steps necessary to elevate his worth on the job market, but after yesterday I'm convinced he's decided to ride it out and enjoy his money earned... Laughing after getting his ass kicked again in last years Egg Bowl, grinning ear to ear after Graves missed the winning chip shot and his post game lack of reasoning for ANYTHING that happened yesterday. Hell, he ain't embarrassed, we are! He's enjoying his riches at our expense in more ways than one. He let this happen. He's not gonna change what needs to be changed.

Now for me, it's up to him to prove me wrong, in my mind. Hope he does, but I think we're looking at a real rough few years..

HailState!

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He thinks he invented football. He has a young family and in 2 years he will have been a head coach for 10 years and leave coaching to be an expert on TV where he can be home more with kids and not recruit. He on tv will always be viewed as the guy that brought Po lil MSU up out of the doldrums and we are left trying to fix the hot mess he leaves behind

On the O-line: Last year I thought Jenkins and Calhoun looked pretty good when they were in there. Rankin was a 4* and #1 Juco O-lineman. I watched his videos and he had good feet back then. Now he can't play?? I know there is more to O-line than good feet, agility, or strength, but the coaches must not teach very well if he isn't ready by now with the intellectual side of O-line.

I guess I wonder if it is the coaching more than the players? To add to that: It takes us much longer to get 4* players ready to play than it seems to take other schools (i.e. Peters, Rankin, etc.)

Not that we're setting the recruiting world on fire by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought the 2015 class was a good haul.

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna rewatch the game. I don't want to. But I have to.

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Originally Posted by RC3

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna rewatch the game. I don't want to. But I have to.

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I thought about doing this too ... but I have too many things I need to get done to waste at least 2 more hours on that game.

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Originally Posted by STATEBALLIN

After watching umass last night, it's not impossible we go 1-11

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I wonder who is the "1"

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Originally Posted by msstate7

I understand we weren't playing a great team, but we threw it 31 times with 1 sack. We ran it 34 times for an avg of 7 yards/carry. We gave up 4 TFL, but 3 were on wr screens (wr blocking, not oline). I think Rb personnel decisions and play selection were much bigger issues than the oline.

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The ypc was inflated due to long runs. Fred Ross 46 yard run is about a 4 yard run vs LSU, Auburn, or Bama.

1st down runs in the 4th quarter before the last 50 second drive:

Damien Williams for 1 yard
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for 2 yards

Always chasing the chains against South Alabama. Thats not a good OL

I think we're staring at some SEC records and not the good ones. Unless something drastically changes, we will give up over 50 points to 4 or 5 teams on our schedule and no telling how many yards.

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Originally Posted by Random Poster

The ypc was inflated due to long runs. Fred Ross 46 yard run is about a 4 yard run vs LSU, Auburn, or Bama.

1st down runs in the 4th quarter before the last 50 second drive:

Damien Williams for 1 yard
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for 2 yards

Always chasing the chains against South Alabama. Thats not a good OL

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On the other side, some of those Williams' runs were probably td's by fitz. Some of those 1 yard Holloway runs were 3-4 by Williams.

We have talent..... Lewis and Durr will be names we hear a lot towards the middle of the season. Lewis is an animal when he's on the field, and Durr has no problem smacking a receiver off the line. But Rayford is soft, Coman is still clueless, Gray and Brown forgot how to play football, and Bryant is confused if he's not playing the center field role. I like McLaurin though..... I think he's slowly becoming an Eric Reid type safety (but stands for the national anthem).

Out offense needs to be flushed. The OL is not good, but they didn't completely suck. Williams is an awful QB. I don't care if he can run or throw a bubble screen. He missed receivers by 10 yards in the wrong direction at times.

We need to play the freshmen at running back. Let Gibson and Murphy have a shot. What can it hurt? We already lost to the worst Sun Belt team.

Give the ball to Mixon more. The guy can catch and he can clearly make things happen. Get him involved.

Give D Thomas shorter routes, and get the ball in his hands. He's an ankle breaker, not a deep field threat.

Let Couch replace Bear. Couch is a tall, physical receiver. We need his presence more. Gray and Miles are not outside threats. They may be fast, but they aren't physical enough to man handle dbs off the line.


If we can find any sort of offense, we'll beat South Carolina. If we put Williams back out there and miss every pass, then you'll hear boos from the peanut gallery.

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Originally Posted by dawgday166

I thought about doing this too ... but I have too many things I need to get done to waste at least 2 more hours on that game.

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I mainly want to see if the offensive line was as bad as I thought they were yesterday.

This season is done.

Hopefully we go a new direction quickly and not wait an additional year.

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Originally Posted by Random Poster

The ypc was inflated due to long runs. Fred Ross 46 yard run is about a 4 yard run vs LSU, Auburn, or Bama.

1st down runs in the 4th quarter before the last 50 second drive:

Damien Williams for 1 yard
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for 2 yards

Always chasing the chains against South Alabama. Thats not a good OL

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This is fact. Those stats are meaningless. We got whipped up front by USA.

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Originally Posted by RC3

I mainly want to see if the offensive line was as bad as I thought they were yesterday.

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That's exactly why I thought about watching it too. But hell, we gonna lose for 1 reason or another most every weekend this year, so it don't really matter much.

Fitz and aeris shoulda ran the relf style offense the whole game and we woulda won.

I've been a major Mullen supporter until the LSU game last year. One thing I haven't seen mentioned, tho I haven't read all these threads, is the fact that Mullen thought we had an extra timeout at the end of the game. He was planning to run another play and then call a third timeout. He had his offense together and asked the ref "we have one timeout left, right?"
When told he didn't he asked someone else and then sent the FG unit out. Not that it means much but it shows how he struggles when it's nut cuttin time. And that hasn't improved one bit since game 1 eight years ago.

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Originally Posted by FISHDAWG

I wonder who is the "1"

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Samford is no longer a gimmie if the team completely tanks. Pretty sad to think this way.

Time for a game plan. If we lose to USCe, fire him Monday. Name Sirmon interim HC, name Baker DC and name Brian Johnson OC.
I hate firing coaches. The realization that if this season plays out like I think it will after we lose the first 2 to cupcakes has swayed me. Surely if we have a S**T season like this one is shaping up as, CDM will not get an extension, and we don't need to be sitting there with a lame duck coach. If we move quick enough we may be able keep the commitments that we have with the existing personnel still in place. If we move quick enough, maybe a fire can be lit under this years team. Maybe we will turn the defense loose to play aggressive defense, instead of bend don't break. Maybe we can start playing the best players instead of the oldest.
Much as I hate it, it's time now before we lose to much recruiting wise. There is the real possibility that we lose K Thompson, because from what he has said sounds like he is sold on CDM's QB development talent. Maybe we can convince him Brian Johnson can do the same thing.

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Originally Posted by Dallas_Dawg

That's a lot of blanket statements and not the usual analysis that we are used to.
Did all 5 OL really suck? I
Remember cussing Depser a couple times. Did Rankin play any?
I saw Smokey and Rayford getting burned but did Durr hold down his side?

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From the stands it looked like Durr played well. He was physical and didn't allow the separation our other corners did. Rayford was terrible and Smokey not much better.

Our safeties were pathetic. As usual, Coman was a step or two late and Bryant was nonexistent. USA found a soft spot in the middle of the field and exposed it over and over with no adjustments in our end.

Defensively the only players that stuck out were Lewis and Jefferson who both came to play. Calvin made some plays too. Conditioning seemed to be an issue because they disappeared down the stretch...granted the offense did leave them on the field too long.

Offensively was all on the coaching staff in my opinion. Like everyone else I just don't understand how you don't give Fitz a chance in the second half. It's like Dam.Williams just closes his eyes and throws the ball on anything 10 yds or further downfield. Receivers were open.

Mixon looked good. Probably should've gotten him the ball more and why didnt we at least try over the top a couple of times to Gray?

The OL opened up some holes up the middle. Holloway just goes down too easy and as usual Shumpert missed them because he's looking at his feet. Aeris found them and got positive yardage on his 2 carries.

I expected to see Fitz and a lot of read option mixed with passes over the middle and hitting a deep ball here and there. On a couple of Dam.Williams carries I believe Fitz would've take it to the house.

Bottom line, we aren't very good but our coaching staff failed us. We can beat USCe and others on our schedule but not with that game plan.

Yep and any mediocre coach should be able to see all these things you pointed out but Dan sits our best rb on the bench the whole game.

Why didn't we recruit a JUCO QB?

For goodness sakes, this coaching staff couldn't see that the other QBs were awful last year?

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Originally Posted by Cowboydawg

From the stands it looked like Durr played well. He was physical and didn't allow the separation our other corners did. Rayford was terrible and Smokey not much better.

Our safeties were pathetic. As usual, Coman was a step or two late and Bryant was nonexistent. USA found a soft spot in the middle of the field and exposed it over and over with no adjustments in our end.

Defensively the only players that stuck out were Lewis and Jefferson who both came to play. Calvin made some plays too. Conditioning seemed to be an issue because they disappeared down the stretch...granted the offense did leave them on the field too long.

Offensively was all on the coaching staff in my opinion. Like everyone else I just don't understand how you don't give Fitz a chance in the second half. It's like Dam.Williams just closes his eyes and throws the ball on anything 10 yds or further downfield. Receivers were open.

Mixon looked good. Probably should've gotten him the ball more and why didnt we at least try over the top a couple of times to Gray?

The OL opened up some holes up the middle. Holloway just goes down too easy and as usual Shumpert missed them because he's looking at his feet. Aeris found them and got positive yardage on his 2 carries.

I expected to see Fitz and a lot of read option mixed with passes over the middle and hitting a deep ball here and there. On a couple of Dam.Williams carries I believe Fitz would've take it to the house.

Bottom line, we aren't very good but our coaching staff failed us. We can beat USCe and others on our schedule but not with that game plan.

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Good points.

Mullen should abandon this offensive game plan and go Relf 2.0.

But he won't do we'll probably win 1 game.

Lets see if Mullen grinds now like he always preachers.

I knew when Fitz threw 4 passes in the first 6 plays against a team missing 3 starters on the DL it might be a tough day

I was shocked we were not seeing the Relf offense.

I guess Mullen figured he could plug anyone into his passing system. Nope.

Dak is even better than we thought he was.

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Originally Posted by cheewgumm

I was shocked we were not seeing the Relf offense.

I guess Mullen figured he could plug anyone into his passing system. Nope.

Dak is even better than we thought he was.

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Mullen was a spread option OC. He coached spread option from 2009-2014. You think he would be happy to go back to what he knows best, but I do think a large problem is that coaches of "big" schools think they can just do whatever against teams like South Alabama.

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Originally Posted by Random Poster

The ypc was inflated due to long runs. Fred Ross 46 yard run is about a 4 yard run vs LSU, Auburn, or Bama.

1st down runs in the 4th quarter before the last 50 second drive:

Damien Williams for 1 yard
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for no gain
Holloway for 2 yards

Always chasing the chains against South Alabama. Thats not a good OL

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Another thing about Holloway getting carries in the 4th... He had taken a bunch of big hits in the game. He isn't the type of Rb that can impose his will in the 4th. Overwork early hurts him going into the 4th. If we use Holloway correctly, he can break off a big run in his 5 carries (5 should be max). Holloway would be maximized running him out there after aeris has pounded the defense some

Hell, even the announcers said at the beginning they looked for more running this year. Now we may not be very good running the ball with our OL, but running the QB can work some. Mix that in more. We got 3 in case one goes down. Not losing much when we do lose one.

Two things piss me off more than others.

1. We were playing against the 2nd and 3rd string defensive line of a sunbelt team and could not do anything with them. We should have been able to run the ball down their throat at will forcing them to put 8-9 in the box which would have allowed our WR's to shred their secondary. Our OL is beyond embarrassing.

2. Regardless of position, when it comes down to game on the line, we are going to choke. Yesterday it was our kicker missing a glorified extra point. In the past it's been things like Shump dropping a two pt conversion, Leon Berry dropping a wide open pass against AU to put us in FG range, not being able to get a first down to run out the clock, piss poor time mgt from the coaches, and on and on and on. We have no mental toughness. When the going gets tough, we drop our pants and defecate all in the bed.

I tried to kid myself that getting James and Simmons back next week will help, but I can't do it. We have no heart and no balls. If it means firing the smirker to fix that then do it today. No excuse for yesterday. None.

It's a different game completely if Fitz doesn't miss the read on the first play of the game (he is still running untouched).

Damien came in and had control over the offense and saw things before they happened on the field. However once sa figured out he can't throw it down the field they loaded the box and said have fun.

Our defense was a shit show. You have them pinned on the 6 inch line and miss a g* tackle on first down that results in a 20+ yard run. And where the hell was Brandon Bryant yesterday.

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Originally Posted by shoeless joe

Fitz and aeris shoulda ran the relf style offense the whole game and we woulda won.

I've been a major Mullen supporter until the LSU game last year. One thing I haven't seen mentioned, tho I haven't read all these threads, is the fact that Mullen thought we had an extra timeout at the end of the game. He was planning to run another play and then call a third timeout. He had his offense together and asked the ref "we have one timeout left, right?"
When told he didn't he asked someone else and then sent the FG unit out. Not that it means much but it shows how he struggles when it's nut cuttin time. And that hasn't improved one bit since game 1 eight years ago.

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I thought that's what happened. He looked lost as a puppy. He stuck his tail twist his knees on South Alabama not Alabama. Let that sink in folks.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Another thing about Holloway getting carries in the 4th... He had taken a bunch of big hits in the game. He isn't the type of Rb that can impose his will in the 4th. Overwork early hurts him going into the 4th. If we use Holloway correctly, he can break off a big run in his 5 carries (5 should be max). Holloway would be maximized running him out there after aeris has pounded the defense some

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Kirby Smart said Chubb is the type of RB that pays off late in the game grinding on the defense. Mullen used Holloway the same way except their is about 80 pounds difference.