I love Jackie Wayne, but he didn't have any where near the row to hoe that Mullen did.
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I feel like this is just something people say because they still aren't over Dan leaving/how he left. Jackie had nowhere near the level of consistency that Dan had. Plus I don't know how you have the Jackie Sherrill discussion and just omit 2001-2003. The same over-dependence on JUCO kids that was a huge part of our success in the late 90's helped kill the program in the early 2000's.
As others have said, the strength of the league is the main difference between the two eras. Jackie won the West with a team that finished 8-5 overall, and the '99 team that went 10-2 did so with only one win against a team that finished over .500.
I was never the biggest Leach fan before he got here, but I still hope he can get us back on track.. its hard to compare him to Mullen though, whether you like him or not Mullen brought our program to unseen national relevance, the entire country new about Mississippi State football
1. CWS Champions
2. Final 4 in hoops
3. 5 weeks at # 1 in football (flip 2 & 3?)
4. JWS / ATL
Easy OLJ, CML has to prove it here, now in SEC. Moorhead was a successful coach elsewhere too.
I think he can but just because you were successful in another era, doesn't mean it translates to now. Not sure Bear Bryant wouldn't be dominant today either. Those that adapt win long term. Even Saban adapted, if not Saban would be less a couple NC right now.
Can CML adjust is the question. He has 20 years of saying he won't or can't. This is what I want to see this year. Adjust and you win. Are we lucky, guess we will see.
We'll know if he's good for us after this season.
This is a LOS league. As everyone witnessed last year, one dimension in this league leads to ass whippings. The defensive talent here is better than anything Leach has ever faced. Ever.
Without keeping someone off balance, you?re begging to get the shit kicked out of you. And a stubborn belief ?in the system? without a willingness to change slightly or adapt will assure failure.
Y'all can't blame Leach for Costello throwing into triple coverage and having the field vision of a three day drunk. There were plenty of times Costello should have handed the ball off. Even Leach said so in some of his weekly pressers. Will started getting the hang of the offense just as the season was winding down. He knew when he should be handing the ball off and passing it. Leach isn't against running the ball. He's not like Croom who crawled up Wes Carrol's ass for pulling the ball and throwing a touchdown. It was supposed to be a run play. Don't change the play.
Well we should see significant improvement. Leach offense doesn't have to be at it's peak this year. What it does need to be is able to move the ball up & down the field pretty easily against OM, Arky, KY, Vandy, & NC St. It needs to be solid & not shut down against A&M, LSU, & Auburn. If the offense does that pretty much everyone will be satisfied with Year 2. Then the expectations really rise Year 3 for a potent offense at all times.
We were a really young team on offense last year (especially after Kylin and KJ had their unravelings), and for whatever reason that lack of experience doesn't get talked about much when discussing some of our struggles.
Leading passer - true freshman
Leading rusher - true freshman
Leading receiver (catches) - true freshman
Leading receiver (yards) - true freshman
Three first year starters on the OL, all of which were freshmen or sophomores
That's not even mentioning it being Year 1 of a big philosophical shift from what our program had been doing for years, and doing all of that with no spring practice and very limited depth.
I personally believe it will be difficult for us to NOT be better this year. We are far better equipped for this season than we were a year ago, at least offensively. There was a time last season about mid-year when Kylin was gone, KJ was a bust, and Walley had not found his groove yet, and things were looking very bleak. It was pretty evident from the Georgia game on that we had some pieces to work with for the future, even in some games we ended up losing.