Buy / Sell: This team has substantially improved since Week 1 against USM

[HSVDawg]

I'll hang up and listen.

[Todd4State]

Buy. The defense is MUCH better if they play like they did today. We're seeing Dear involved more and hopefully Gray involved more. And Lee performed well again- I HOPE it is a matter of time before he gets a chance to play more- as in next week.

[ShotgunDawg]

BUY

Our defense as a whole is much better

Ross is better of punt returns

We didn't know we had a FG kicker in the USM game but do now

Offense has possibly regressed because now teams know we don't have a running game & defend us accordingly.

Overall, we've improved but mostly just on defense & special teams.

[Liverpooldawg]

Buy. It's still very much a work in progress but they have got better in most if not all areas. Bear in mind that the room for improvement in many areas was immense.

[CadaverDawg]

Sell.

"Team" isn't just defense. I think our defense has gotten a little better each week. Our offense hasn't improved at all..and may be regressing. Mainly due to 3 things...

1) Poor OL play
2) Poor personnel decisions at RB
3) Poor play calling

It's disappointing that in Dak's final season this is the offense we've got. That being said, I'm just hoping for the best from now on this season, and hoping for a decent bowl game. We could hope for more if Mullen was willing to put our best players on the field and be as creative offensively as he can be....but he won't. So I'll enjoy the wins and expect the losses, while watching Shump in quicksand and Dak doing his best Tyler Russell impersonation. Maybe we can ruin someone's season like Bama or OM.

Hard Sell.

But good win today. We better bring it next week vs La Tech...they aren't bad.

[ShotgunDawg]

Good thoughts Cadaver.

This team & the coaching staff this year just have me stumped. I can't figure who this team is, what the coaching staff is thinking, & why we do what we do. Yet, some how, we aren't that bad

It's so frustrating that it seems like every year MSU must have a fatal flaw. In the late 90s, our offense sucked & our defense was awesome, last year our offense was awesome & our secondary sucked, & now we are figuring things our on defense, but can't run the ball anymore.

At MSU we are hell bent on being 75% of championship caliber team, but can never seem to put all the pieces together in the same year. It's damn frustrating.

[CadaverDawg]

Good thoughts Cadaver.

This team & the coaching staff this year just have me stumped. I can't figure who this team is, what the coaching staff is thinking, & why we do what we do. Yet, some how, we aren't that bad

It's so frustrating that it seems like every year MSU must have a fatal flaw. In the late 90s, our offense sucked & our defense was awesome, last year our offense was awesome & our secondary sucked, & now we are figuring things our on defense, but can't run the ball anymore.

At MSU we are hell bent on being 75% of championship caliber team, but can never seem to put all the pieces together in the same year. It's damn frustrating.

Yep. And it's eerily similar to MSU baseball where the Coach is making frustrating decisions and personnel choices that you feel like is holding us back. I love Cohen and Mullen, but like many good coaches, they stop themselves from being good more than their opponents do at times. Mullen needs to simplify his thought process and just put his best 11 up against his opponents best...and call every game like its the only game of the year. Quit holding back and let her rip. We're in a "slump" offensively, and it's frustrating as shit. Our OL is going to force Dan to get creative, Bc we can't win with last year's formula with this OL. We can still win though...just gotta get creative and design plays for playmaker's, and quit wasting limited offensive possessions on touches for guys like Shump and Holloway. Maximize every possession like we won't get the ball back again.

Just my opinion.

[Todd4State]

Yep. And it's eerily similar to MSU baseball where the Coach is making frustrating decisions and personnel choices that you feel like is holding us back. I love Cohen and Mullen, but like many good coaches, they stop themselves from being good more than their opponents do at times. Mullen needs to simplify his thought process and just put his best 11 up against his opponents best...and call every game like its the only game of the year. Quit holding back and let her rip. We're in a "slump" offensively, and it's frustrating as shit. Our OL is going to force Dan to get creative, Bc we can't win with last year's formula with this OL. We can still win though...just gotta get creative and design plays for playmaker's, and quit wasting limited offensive possessions on touches for guys like Shump and Holloway. Maximize every possession like we won't get the ball back again.

Just my opinion.

As I say every week- our solution to the running game is Dontavian Lee. It's just up to Dan to decide to compromise his ideals for the better for all of us.

[Liverpooldawg]

Sell.

"Team" isn't just defense. I think our defense has gotten a little better each week. Our offense hasn't improved at all..and may be regressing. Mainly due to 3 things...

1) Poor OL play
2) Poor personnel decisions at RB
3) Poor play calling

It's disappointing that in Dak's final season this is the offense we've got. That being said, I'm just hoping for the best from now on this season, and hoping for a decent bowl game. We could hope for more if Mullen was willing to put our best players on the field and be as creative offensively as he can be....but he won't. So I'll enjoy the wins and expect the losses, while watching Shump in quicksand and Dak doing his best Tyler Russell impersonation. Maybe we can ruin someone's season like Bama or OM.

Hard Sell.

But good win today. We better bring it next week vs La Tech...they aren't bad.

LOL, interesting. Is your glass ever even half full?

[Liverpooldawg]

Good thoughts Cadaver.

This team & the coaching staff this year just have me stumped. I can't figure who this team is, what the coaching staff is thinking, & why we do what we do. Yet, some how, we aren't that bad

It's so frustrating that it seems like every year MSU must have a fatal flaw. In the late 90s, our offense sucked & our defense was awesome, last year our offense was awesome & our secondary sucked, & now we are figuring things our on defense, but can't run the ball anymore.

At MSU we are hell bent on being 75% of championship caliber team, but can never seem to put all the pieces together in the same year. It's damn frustrating.

What this team is on offense is a team with decent to great skill players working behind, I hate to say it, a bad offensive line. The line is improving but they have a very long way to go. On defense it's what was an average unit that lost a lot of guys that is in the process of changing its approach to things. It's not as bad as most of us think but it's also not as good as we all hoped it would be.

[Quaoarsking]

Louisiana Tech needed a last second field goal to beat 1-5 UTSA today. I think we'll be fine.

[HSVDawg]

As I say every week- our solution to the running game is Dontavian Lee. It's just up to Dan to decide to compromise his ideals for the better for all of us.

I like Lee as well and think he is probably our best option at RB. However, he looks good out there because he always falls forward and is the best of our current group at getting yards after contact. Most of his "good runs" today seemed like the hole closed up around him and he was still able to carry guys a few yards afterwards. It's not like our OL is creating gaping holes and Lee is the only one who can see them. For those reasons I think the OL is still the biggest problem.

[Leroy Jenkins]

Louisiana Tech needed a last second field goal to beat 1-5 UTSA today. I think we'll be fine.

The fightin' Jeff Driskels' dont worry me much.

As I say every week- our solution to the running game is Dontavian Lee. It's just up to Dan to decide to compromise his ideals for the better for all of us.

I would like to see more of Lee earlier in the game vs a fresh defense who still has fight.

[BulldogBear]

Louisiana Tech needed a last second field goal to beat 1-5 UTSA today. I think we'll be fine.

They were looking ahead to us****

Not sure the **** are needed though. Yesterday's effort by our team will lead to a single digit win next week. We play like poo and we will lose. We'll get Tech's A game, super bowl, etc.

I do not think the latter will happen of course, but the single digit thing might. Hopefully we show up and the scire looks similar to this week.

[starkvegasdawg]

As I say every week- our solution to the running game is Dontavian Lee. It's just up to Dan to decide to compromise his ideals for the better for all of us.

Yesterday I saw Lee refusing to go down and pushing the pile. I saw Shumpert getting tripped up on blades of grass. No way he can have carpet in his house. I think our RB rotation should be Lee, Dear, and Holloway.
Put Shumpert and Willuams in if anybody gets hurt or a game is out of hand.

[CadaverDawg]

Yesterday I saw Lee refusing to go down and pushing the pile. I saw Shumpert getting tripped up on blades of grass. No way he can have carpet in his house. I think our RB rotation should be Lee, Dear, and Holloway.
Put Shumpert and Willuams in if anybody gets hurt or a game is out of hand.

I think Williams is much better than you do apparently. I think Lee should start with Williams spelling him. Dear is not going to play RB, and Holloway is back to his 2014 form after a good flukey start. Shumpert should be moved to FB, and I think we should install an under center package with Shump at FB and Lee at TB for goal line, short yardage, and to grind clock. But I know that's a pipe dream....if Dak is working on snaps under center like he claims, why not take advantage since we have a FB already and our run game could use a tweak

[BiloxiBully]

Buy but only on defense. They have improved substantially Diaz is started to leave his mark and we are tackling much better. Offense is such a disappointment after last season. Hopefully Lee starts getting the bulk of the carries. O-line has regressed heavily since last season just need better run blocking.

[defiantdog]

I'll hang up and listen.

Buy.....

1. Defense is playing as a team (I think B. Brown attempts to play every snap)
2. Offense understands the playbook now (Remember, we had a freshmen QB in the game; we ran 4 different running backs; and we had a first time starter at LT yesterday)
3. Our receivers understand their routes now and get better separation
4. Bear is proving that our offense can stretch the field
5. At one point, we had 7 freshmen on the field at one time yesterday and played fairly solid (true and red shirts)

Yes, we kind of buried our heads in the second half yesterday; but the players also seemed kind of bored for some reason. That's coaching. The team has progressed well. I'm not sure about coaching. I still don't know why we only run the same 5 plays.

[chef dixon]

I think Williams is much better than you do apparently. I think Lee should start with Williams spelling him. Dear is not going to play RB, and Holloway is back to his 2014 form after a good flukey start. Shumpert should be moved to FB, and I think we should install an under center package with Shump at FB and Lee at TB for goal line, short yardage, and to grind clock. But I know that's a pipe dream....if Dak is working on snaps under center like he claims, why not take advantage since we have a FB already and our run game could use a tweak

I'm sort of in the camp as well that Williams has shown absolutely nothing that says he can be any better than Shumpert to this point, maybe he needs more chances but I don't see it yet. Lee is far and away the best looking runner of what we have available, as he was in the spring game.

[CadaverDawg]

I'm sort of in the camp as well that Williams has shown absolutely nothing that says he can be any better than Shumpert to this point, maybe he needs more chances but I don't see it yet. Lee is far and away the best looking runner of what we have available, as he was in the spring game.

I think Williams is being hurt more by the O-Line than Lee, Bc he's not as big as Lee. Williams is a good back, with good speed and vision...but he isn't as much of a bruiser as Lee, so Lee looks better running behind our shitty OL so far with his ability to push a pile. I really think people will like Williams a Lot if he ever gets significant snaps and a decent OL to run behind.

But you're right, with our current OL, Lee is the obvious choice IMO.