Finebaum just said on College Game Day..

[MetEdDawg]

Has Mullen done great compared to the other coaches and teams in the league that we aim to be like and beat? No not really. Hasn't won a big game, hasn't beaten anybody worth mentioning that would elevate us to the top half of the conference.

But the issue here isn't how has he done compared to them, it's how has he done compared to what is possible of being achieved at MSU and what has been achieved at MSU in the past. You can't just say "Oh you have 5 years to be a top contender or you were a bust" at a school like MSU that has no track record of long term success in the SEC. There are some in our fan base that have an out of whack perspective on this issue and so do guys like Finebaum.

If we go to a bowl game this year it would be the first time in our ENTIRE HISTORY we would have gone to 4 in a row. Will we be pissed that we might be 7-6 to do it? Yeah maybe. But you can't tell me that isn't doing a good job if we obtain a level of success that has never been achieved by anyone at MSU before. For us to become a powerhouse, we have to rid ourselves of our own tradition and create a new one. Consistent bowl games do that and I think that scares people like Finebaum because we aren't pushovers anymore. We are in for the long term growth people. 10 years or more total with this plan to get to the top part of the SEC from where we were. But if we go to a bowl game every year, continue to put guys in the NFL, and get some big time wins (like maybe one today), we start to take that move.

As Dr. Wax would say, it's all about perspective.