Day after thoughts- MTSU edition

[Coach34]

1. We won. And the game wasnt even close really. Against a team we had a little trouble beating last year at home. Sly say if you can't see the improvement- you are blind

2. Congrats to Dixon for becoming the all-time leading rusher. After playing for Crooms 3 years and enduring all the 9 man fronts, he deserves it. You can see the life that playing in this offense has given him. Not to mention the creases in which to hit and get good yardage. Great job.

3. Where was Ducre? No way Stallworth should be getting his carries.

4. Was that a college secondary I spotted out there yesterday? 4 picks??? They have some stiff tests coming up, but they have looked better the last couple of weeks. We may only need one juco CB now.

5. Torbush is hard to figure out. He has come up with some very good plans on defense- and he has laid 2 turds in Auburn and Ga Tech. Interesting to see how we defend the 2nd coming next week and their lack of a great WR- especially with the fact that Mullen knows them inside and out. He should be able to give him some really good insight.

6. Tyson Lee played a really good ballgame. Thats about as good as we can expect. 70% completion percentage- no picks, long run for a TD. I hate some people cant realize we are getting the best QB play we have had since Madkin and Fant. Sure, he has limitations, but damn. After 5 years of being one of the worst offenses in the NCAA's, anybody is lying that says they thought we would be as good as we are this season on offense.

Tyson Lee is not an SEC QB? 6 picks so far in 7 games...other SEC QB's- Cox-Georgia- 9 picks, Crompton- Tenn- 9 picks, Smith- Vandy- 7 picks, Snead-Mississippi- 9 picks, Hartline- Kentucky- 6 picks...and 1 of Tyson's picks were the result of the ball bouncing off our WR's chests, another was basically a hail mary with 10 seconds left against Ga Tech.
Lee is also 5th in completion percentage in the SEC.

He isn't all-SEC, but he is doing an adequate job. Option teams are going to have fumbles and bad pitches, especially in the first year of installing that offense. All part of the growth process.

7. Mullen went conservative with the lead yesterday and ran the clock in the 2nd half. I think that was good strategy yesterday considering who we were playing. Get out of the game as quick as you can and limit injuries.

8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.

9. We are very good at LB right now. Chaney has recovered and White has adjusted to SEC play. Very good group

10. Its a shame Fla and Bammer will play for the BCS championship in Atlanta in early December. Bammer does look to be the better team- right now.

 

[Coach34]

1. We won. And the game wasnt even close really. Against a team we had a little trouble beating last year at home. Sly say if you can't see the improvement- you are blind

2. Congrats to Dixon for becoming the all-time leading rusher. After playing for Crooms 3 years and enduring all the 9 man fronts, he deserves it. You can see the life that playing in this offense has given him. Not to mention the creases in which to hit and get good yardage. Great job.

3. Where was Ducre? No way Stallworth should be getting his carries.

4. Was that a college secondary I spotted out there yesterday? 4 picks??? They have some stiff tests coming up, but they have looked better the last couple of weeks. We may only need one juco CB now.

5. Torbush is hard to figure out. He has come up with some very good plans on defense- and he has laid 2 turds in Auburn and Ga Tech. Interesting to see how we defend the 2nd coming next week and their lack of a great WR- especially with the fact that Mullen knows them inside and out. He should be able to give him some really good insight.

6. Tyson Lee played a really good ballgame. Thats about as good as we can expect. 70% completion percentage- no picks, long run for a TD. I hate some people cant realize we are getting the best QB play we have had since Madkin and Fant. Sure, he has limitations, but damn. After 5 years of being one of the worst offenses in the NCAA's, anybody is lying that says they thought we would be as good as we are this season on offense.

Tyson Lee is not an SEC QB? 6 picks so far in 7 games...other SEC QB's- Cox-Georgia- 9 picks, Crompton- Tenn- 9 picks, Smith- Vandy- 7 picks, Snead-Mississippi- 9 picks, Hartline- Kentucky- 6 picks...and 1 of Tyson's picks were the result of the ball bouncing off our WR's chests, another was basically a hail mary with 10 seconds left against Ga Tech.
Lee is also 5th in completion percentage in the SEC.

He isn't all-SEC, but he is doing an adequate job. Option teams are going to have fumbles and bad pitches, especially in the first year of installing that offense. All part of the growth process.

7. Mullen went conservative with the lead yesterday and ran the clock in the 2nd half. I think that was good strategy yesterday considering who we were playing. Get out of the game as quick as you can and limit injuries.

8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.

9. We are very good at LB right now. Chaney has recovered and White has adjusted to SEC play. Very good group

10. Its a shame Fla and Bammer will play for the BCS championship in Atlanta in early December. Bammer does look to be the better team- right now.

 

[Coach34]

1. We won. And the game wasnt even close really. Against a team we had a little trouble beating last year at home. Sly say if you can't see the improvement- you are blind

2. Congrats to Dixon for becoming the all-time leading rusher. After playing for Crooms 3 years and enduring all the 9 man fronts, he deserves it. You can see the life that playing in this offense has given him. Not to mention the creases in which to hit and get good yardage. Great job.

3. Where was Ducre? No way Stallworth should be getting his carries.

4. Was that a college secondary I spotted out there yesterday? 4 picks??? They have some stiff tests coming up, but they have looked better the last couple of weeks. We may only need one juco CB now.

5. Torbush is hard to figure out. He has come up with some very good plans on defense- and he has laid 2 turds in Auburn and Ga Tech. Interesting to see how we defend the 2nd coming next week and their lack of a great WR- especially with the fact that Mullen knows them inside and out. He should be able to give him some really good insight.

6. Tyson Lee played a really good ballgame. Thats about as good as we can expect. 70% completion percentage- no picks, long run for a TD. I hate some people cant realize we are getting the best QB play we have had since Madkin and Fant. Sure, he has limitations, but damn. After 5 years of being one of the worst offenses in the NCAA's, anybody is lying that says they thought we would be as good as we are this season on offense.

Tyson Lee is not an SEC QB? 6 picks so far in 7 games...other SEC QB's- Cox-Georgia- 9 picks, Crompton- Tenn- 9 picks, Smith- Vandy- 7 picks, Snead-Mississippi- 9 picks, Hartline- Kentucky- 6 picks...and 1 of Tyson's picks were the result of the ball bouncing off our WR's chests, another was basically a hail mary with 10 seconds left against Ga Tech.
Lee is also 5th in completion percentage in the SEC.

He isn't all-SEC, but he is doing an adequate job. Option teams are going to have fumbles and bad pitches, especially in the first year of installing that offense. All part of the growth process.

7. Mullen went conservative with the lead yesterday and ran the clock in the 2nd half. I think that was good strategy yesterday considering who we were playing. Get out of the game as quick as you can and limit injuries.

8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.

9. We are very good at LB right now. Chaney has recovered and White has adjusted to SEC play. Very good group

10. Its a shame Fla and Bammer will play for the BCS championship in Atlanta in early December. Bammer does look to be the better team- right now.

 

[TurfDog82]

8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.

IMO, from Mullen's remarks on TR, it seems that when TR is ready, it is going to be his job and his job only at QB, hence why Mullen says their is not a package in place for him. I also know that Mullen says we are not a red shirt program but why would he in his right mind throw TR in the game at this point in the season with what is left of our schdule?

 

[TR.sixpack]

nm

 

[Rabid]

Choosing Stegall over Russell at this stage in the season does not mean Stegall is the better QB. It only means Stegall is more expendable at this point and Russell is more valuable to our future.

 

[DirtyLopez]

Mullen is getting V8 performance out of an inline 4 with two burnt valves. Crooms really has to be questioning his "offensive expertise" right now seeing what we are doing on offense with what Mullen has been able to cobble together. And it was good to get a W this weekend after the way we have been losing for the last month. If there was ever a time for an emotional and mental letdown, this was it.

 

[weblow]

8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.

IMO, from Mullen's remarks on TR, it seems that when TR is ready, it is going to be his job and his job only at QB, hence why Mullen says their is not a package in place for him. I also know that Mullen says we are not a red shirt program but why would he in his right mind throw TR in the game at this point in the season with what is left of our schdule?

You also have to figure that Mullen does not want to have to completely change the offense for Russell. From everything I have read, Russell is not a running QB. With our offense now it is a ton of option reads. This has to completely change with Russell. I assume Mullen wants the summer, this one or the next, to install an offense that fits Russell, a pocket passer. I know the idea of designing an offense around the players we are going to play is a new idea for us in the Bulldog fanbase but it makes perfect sense.

 

[dawgstudent]

he was ready to do a complete offensive overhaul with Al Borges as OC. Al Borges's expertise = West Coast offense

 

[PBRME]

8. Stegall is the better runner of the 2. You lose your running qb, you replace him with someone that has similar attributes.

 

[newyorkdawg]

One thing I learned in five years with Croom, he will never doubt himself. Remember, a year after the fact he "knew" that we were going to lose to Maine.

Croom thinks our offense would be better this year under him. It is just who he is.

 

[AssEndDawg]

I honestly think the guy is just trying to work with what he has. When you got DBs that can't man cover you have to try to work the zone as best you can. Zone is always going to be a "bend but don't break" type of defense if you are playing against a decent passer. This is not to say he hasn't made some mistakes but I really think those are due to some experimentation to try and figure out what he can do with these young guys. My only real beef with him is that he hasn't adjusted as well as I would expect when things aren't working worth a damn.

 

[Todd4State]

Steagall being ahead of Russell. I think it mainly is because Russell and Lee are very similar, and a two QB system with two guys that have simliar attributes is not going to work. It has been tried and done before and has never worked. The only time a two QB system works is if you have two guys that are different from each other- one more of a passer- ie Lee, Russell, and then other more of a running QB- ie Relf, Steagall.

I do think that Dan is also trying to do everything that he can to RS Russell because he has more upside, and I think Stegall's age also had a role in the decision as well.

 

[Todd4State]

he was ready to do a complete offensive overhaul with Al Borges as OC. Al Borges's expertise = West Coast offense

And that was because he knew he was about to get his *** Byrned.

The bottom line is Croom hired one of his best friends to run the offense, and he was incompetent. There's a reason why you don't do that. If he had hired someone like Borges from the get go, the offense probably would have done better.

It also would have helped if Croom had actually recruited a QB to. That usually helps pretty much any offense. I'm glad that we're set at LS though. (Sarcasm)

 

[VinceVega70]

by Croom, LT, and many was that it should take years to "rebuild". And doing poorly the first few years was to be overlooked and rationalized away. This took away any sense of urgency Croom may have had. So he played a poor offensive system for years, refused to tailor it to the talent at hand, and he got outrecruited as well. Mullen and Byrne understand how it works. Mullen coaches like he can't stand losing and there's no excuse for it. Much energy. Much urgency. And we look better than we've looked in 10 years. Including the miracle Liberty Bowl season, IMO.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Sure he has sucked balls ever since he got his first HC job, but maybe he has just needed a good coach to light a fire under his *** to get him back to running a decent defense. Then again, he could be canned at the end of this year.

 

[bankerbullie]

I made comment during game yesterday(when I thawed up enough to talk), that you can count on one hand the times Tyson's throws were off target this entire year..even with Wayne(whom I admire greatly), there were a lot of throwing it in the ground or sailing 5 feet over...Tyson is our best option right now, is a very classy, intelligent person, and I am glad we have him during the transition....fans, just wait..this is going to be exciting in a year or so....

 

[Todd4State]

honestly, if I was a coach and the AD told me I had seven years to rebuild, I would have looked at him funny and said, "Well, I'm going to try to win now". Knowing LT, I would have probably gotten the same resonse as Stansbury has gotten.

In college football, a rebuilding job should really take no more than two years. And for the record, I consider us to be rebuilding right now, and this is how it should be done. We have a few holes, sure, but we also have made marked improvements and we're competitive at worst in every game that we have played so far. Even in our worst loss by margin- Auburn- we still had a lead at one time in the game and we didn't exactly embarass ourselves.

 

[VinceVega70]

from the first day the coach is hired, the preparations for winning should begin. This includes rigorous off-season training. AD should have come in at 235 or less every year Croom was coach. Didn't happen. The offensive line this year has kept weight down in off-season and they are playing much better than under Croom. Same players. Different fitness level. That's a coach's responsibility. Mullen started laying the foundation for success from day one with this change in philosophy. And the best transition we saw this year was going from a restrictive offensive system that stiffled the talent at hand to an offensive system which uses the talent and puts them in situations to move the ball.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

have a hard time because of the lack of consistent QB play. I will admit that stopping Ingram is a daunting task, but it is a possibility. Even with Ingram going crazy last night, if SC gets any sort of QB play they could have won that game.

I have no idea what is wrong with Florida except that they miss Percy more than they though they would. They should be killing everyone they play but even their defense looks suspect at times.

 

[whatever.sixpack]

1. We won. And the game wasnt even close really. Against a team we had a little trouble beating last year at home. Sly say if you can't see the improvement- you are blind

2. Congrats to Dixon for becoming the all-time leading rusher. After playing for Crooms 3 years and enduring all the 9 man fronts, he deserves it. You can see the life that playing in this offense has given him. Not to mention the creases in which to hit and get good yardage. Great job.

3. Where was Ducre? No way Stallworth should be getting his carries.

4. Was that a college secondary I spotted out there yesterday? 4 picks??? They have some stiff tests coming up, but they have looked better the last couple of weeks. We may only need one juco CB now.

5. Torbush is hard to figure out. He has come up with some very good plans on defense- and he has laid 2 turds in Auburn and Ga Tech. Interesting to see how we defend the 2nd coming next week and their lack of a great WR- especially with the fact that Mullen knows them inside and out. He should be able to give him some really good insight.

6. Tyson Lee played a really good ballgame. Thats about as good as we can expect. 70% completion percentage- no picks, long run for a TD. I hate some people cant realize we are getting the best QB play we have had since Madkin and Fant. Sure, he has limitations, but damn. After 5 years of being one of the worst offenses in the NCAA's, anybody is lying that says they thought we would be as good as we are this season on offense.

Tyson Lee is not an SEC QB? 6 picks so far in 7 games...other SEC QB's- Cox-Georgia- 9 picks, Crompton- Tenn- 9 picks, Smith- Vandy- 7 picks, Snead-Mississippi- 9 picks, Hartline- Kentucky- 6 picks...and 1 of Tyson's picks were the result of the ball bouncing off our WR's chests, another was basically a hail mary with 10 seconds left against Ga Tech.
Lee is also 5th in completion percentage in the SEC.

He isn't all-SEC, but he is doing an adequate job. Option teams are going to have fumbles and bad pitches, especially in the first year of installing that offense. All part of the growth process.

7. Mullen went conservative with the lead yesterday and ran the clock in the 2nd half. I think that was good strategy yesterday considering who we were playing. Get out of the game as quick as you can and limit injuries.

8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.

9. We are very good at LB right now. Chaney has recovered and White has adjusted to SEC play. Very good group

10. Its a shame Fla and Bammer will play for the BCS championship in Atlanta in early December. Bammer does look to be the better team- right now.

Wow, it's amazing how much more I like you as a poster and how much sense you make when you're not talking about basketball.

Totally agree w/ you on Tyson Lee, and I think we're still in the minority. Put 4-5 inches on Lee and a tad more experience, and maybe make him a little more wise about ball security, getting rid of the ball on time, and some other experience issues, and he's the best QB we've had. He's already running the best offense we've had since 2000, and when he has a lane of vision to throw, he's pretty darn good throwing the ball.
Secondary did look better, I thought Broomfield should've been playing more after the speed I saw him display in that JSU game (on the blocked XP return).
Torbush is hard for me to figure too. I'll give him a pass since we were Malzahn's SEC "guinea pig" and no one else had seen his whole package yet, but it's also hard to figure Auburn out. GTech makes everyone look ridiculous, you can't judge a defense based on how they perform vs GT

 

[SLUdog]

wins games. However, we should have put the game away with more points in the 3rd quarter. We just weren't conservative in the 2nd half...we just didn't play well on O. And not being able to get 4 and inches again is bad. We seem to lack the ability to score a lot of points on bad defenses and it cost us the Houston game.

 

[markymark.sixpack]

nice way to disguise yet another post about your man crush on the midget and your hatred of our future QB. Although when he's starting next year and setting freshman records, i'm sure you'll be the first on his bandwagon and you'll conveniently forget all of your ignorant posts.

Lee has been more servicable than originally thought, but let's not go crazy. He lost the LSU game and the Houston game almost single handedly. If we had a better QB, we would be 5-2 at worst.

If he's so great then why is he:
Not in the top 10 in SEC pass efficiency
Not in the top 10 in SEC pass ypg
not able to throw it further than 40 yards on a crow hop?

And why do we call 2 runs for every pass? His int. per pass attempt ratio sucks (yeah, you conveniently forgot that most of those other guys have thrown way more passes than he has, and nobody has accused the SEC of having good QBs this year anyway). </p>

Look, I don't want to rip on the dude b/c he plays really hard and he's giving everything he's got. But I'm not going to say he's a good QB. Our offense is working in spite of him, not b/c of him. Dixon is the work horse. And talking about Dixon, that tells everyone what they need to know about you. You build up one of the worst QBs I can remember, and talk bad about our all time leading rusher (and our most successful basketball coach in program history). Anyone that is that stupid and backwards can't be taken seriously. </p>

Everyone on this board said Russell should be redshirted BECAUSE he was so good, BECAUSE he was the future. Now that Mullen seems to agree with that philosophy, you crap on Russell. WTF dude? You watched him at a practice and decided he sucked? WTF? He is our first threat to send a QB to the NFL in 30 years. He will play next year, and he will win games. Mullen will let him try to WIN games, instead of asking him to try not to LOSE games. Lee is a game manager with a rag arm and bad decision making skills (see final offensive play of LSU game). Get over your crush. Beat off to his picture and be done with it already.</p>

</p>

</p>

 

[basedog]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.
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I think the reason for Stegall being the backup is his ability to run which is our strong suite.

 

[thunderclap]

forget about Lee's spectrum of dumbass plays the first six weeks because he played good against MTSU, go ahead. Everything else I agree with, particularly 7 and 9. Chris White is whacking people.

 

[Coach34]

"His int. per pass attempt ratio sucks (yeah, you conveniently forgot that most of those other guys have thrown way more passes than he has, and nobody has accused the SEC of having good QBs this year anyway)."

Lee- 1 INT per 25 passes (how does that suck?)
Cox- 1 INT per 23 passes
Snead- 1 INT per 17 passes
Crompton- 1 INT per 20 passes

The comment by you and others is that he is not an SEC QB...alot of the stats show that he is..our performance on offense shows that he is...nobody has said he was great, not one person. But he is doing a pretty good job.

"Everyone on this board said Russell should be redshirted BECAUSE he was so good"

75% of the board was talking about what game he was going start- not RS before this season started. The intelligent people knew it would be smarter to RS him.

I do hope you are right about him being good. I hope he breaks tons of freshman records. But I also know there is a reason we are recruiting Cam Newton extremely hard- and he has all but been told he was the QB.
If Mullen was so sure that Russell is the future, we wouldnt bring in a juco- we would keep Relf and Stegall as back-ups and sign a HS QB. You bring in a juco to start because what you have currently isnt good enough. Remember that

</p>

</p>

 

[was21]

Crooms was simply a fat *** lazy coarch and any coarch who coarched under him who was worth a damn made as fast an exit as he could...and they did. The good ones recognized his lack of any plan early on, and simply hung on until they could get the hell out.

 

[Todd4State]

Russell is, we would be extremely foolish to not want/recruit/take Cam Newton. The dude is a freak of an athlete, and if he comes, he would be the best athlete on our team. Which is not a slight to anyone on our team, because I do think we have some good players, but I think Newton could be a special player.

Newton would be better for Russell to, because as I have said, we could let Russell be the back up for two years, and get some SEC experience instead of trying to throw him out there as a Fr. and asking him to perform right away. I think Russell could be ready to start by next season, after a year of RS, getting stronger, and then going through the spring, but at the same time, there is no guarantee.

The SEC is tough for a QB.

 

[Coach34]

A guy that got kicked out of another University for stealing rather than just recruit another HS QB to back up Russell. That tells me we aren't real sure we are confident in him being our QB of the future

 

[dawgstudent]

I think the recruitment of Newton in no way reflects on Russell. Newton is just a great QB prospect. Why should we not recruit him regardless of who we have at QB especially with Mullen's relationship? Russell will be a RS freshman next year. It's rare that you can be successful as a redshirt freshman QB in the SEC.

And I bet we would still sign Brunetti.

 

[patdog]

Todd's right. No matter how good Mullen thinks Russell can be, he'd be a fool not to recruit Newton. Newton was supposed to be Florida's starter next year.

 

[MSUCostanza]

You're better than that.

 

[Rabid]

The gig is up, Coach.

lol

 

[ckDOG]

That tells me we aren't real sure we are confident in him being our QB of the future

I think there is some truth to that statement - but, not for the same reasons. I'm not prepared to say that Russell isn't as good as advertised (there is nothing to base that on - practices are closed and players haven't commented on it), but I don't think he fits in with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">SHORT TERM</span> success of our football program<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span></span></span> Mullen and Byrne are no fools. They know our fanbase is starved for wins and short term success is vital to generating interest in the program ($$$$$). We were told to wait for 5 years under the previous regime. Waiting time is over - we want wins now.
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">
</span></span></span>If you have a guy like TR, it's pretty well documented his strengths are with his arm. I think he could end up being as adequate as Tyson is down the road with his legs, but the guy's meal ticket is his arm - let's not fool ourselves. We'd have to tailor the offense to fit more of his style (less run option, more pass)- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WHICH IS FINE</span> - but, next year will be year 2 of coaching staff - changing gears that soon will cause more harm than good if there are other options. It could prove to be most effective in the long run, but like I said, we need some short term returns to make this work and if there are other options available which allow us to continue to build on the success we've seen with the current system, those are going to trump the option requiring big system changes.

All that being said, now enters a freak of nature athlete QB, who was a top 5 HS recruit and heir-apparent to Tim Tebow that suddenly becomes a viable possibility of stepping onto campus next January. On top of that, he's a guy that will fit seamlessly into the system we are implementing right now. No changes have to be made other than the name on the back of #16's jersey. Newton steps in and we stay the course. Newton running the offense we have now will be many times more effective than a tweaked offense run by an unproven redshirt freshmen QB at helm - despite the upside he may have.

Newton simply means more wins in Seasons 2 and 3 than which would be allowed by TR. TR can get valuable experience over those years without being asked to carry the load - barring injury. Season 4 will be his year. We would have 2 full seasons to continue implementing Mullen's philosophy and should give ample time to put in packages designed for a QB on the pro-style side of the spectrum of QBs. Everybody wins.

At this point, it's laughable to say TR isn't going to cut it. You just can't back it up. But, at the same time, it's also laughable that MSU has so many fans that are so damn scared that the fan-proclaimed savior of football may not be starting by his redshirt freshman year. Cry me a 17-ing river. There is nothing wrong with QB talent having to wait their turn and gaining experience before having to be relied on. Little Tyler is going to be fine sitting on the bench if somebody comes along that's better for the program over the next 2 years. We don't owe him anything if he can't prove that he's the guy for the job. If it ever came down to his ego not being able to handle it, 17 him, he can transfer to a school where he doesn't have to push himself as hard.

 

[patdog]

At this point, it's laughable to say TR isn't going to cut it. You just can't back it up. But, at the same time, it's also laughable that MSU has so many fans that are so damn scared that the fan-proclaimed savior of football may not be starting by his redshirt freshman year. Cry me a 17-ing river. There is nothing wrong with QB talent having to wait their turn and gaining experience before having to be relied on. Little Tyler is going to be fine sitting on the bench if somebody comes along that's better for the program over the next 2 years. We don't owe him anything if he can't prove that he's the guy for the job. If it ever came down to his ego not being able to handle it, 17 him, he can transfer to a school where he doesn't have to push himself as hard.

I'm looking forward to seeing Tyler Russell be our QB about as much as anybody and I think he'll go down as one of the best QBs we've had, but if we can sign Newton he needs to play in a reserve role for 2 years. And if he has a problem with that, he needs to transfer.

 

[fieldman]

If Mullen was so sure that Russell is the future, we wouldnt bring in a juco- we would keep Relf and Stegall as back-ups and sign a HS QB. You bring in a juco to start because what you have currently isnt good enough. Remember that

</p>

You realize that we don't only need 1 good QB on our roster? There is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing in a good JUCO qb just to create competition at the QB spot in practice, something that has not happened in who knows how long.

In all honesty, even if we get Newton, I think Russell has the upper hand going into spring practice. But if we get Newton, there will be a great competition to follow. So I guess in response to your silly assertion, Mullen probably realizes that Russell IS our QB of the future, he is just smart enough to know that bringing in another QB to create competition will just make Russell better when he does begin to play, not because Russell is terrible like you seem to think.

 

[Todd4State]

a HS QB in addition to Newton. I think Mullen has said that he wanted to sign two QB's in this class. One being a HS QB. Steagall may have changed that, I don't know.

I think what will end up happening is we will either get Brunetti, or we will just make Witt Haggard walk-on. I think we will likely just end up with Haggard, who I think will be a decent back-up QB.

 

[Dawg in a pile]

1. We won. And the game wasnt even close really. Against a team we had a little trouble beating last year at home. Sly say if you can't see the improvement- you are blind

2. Congrats to Dixon for becoming the all-time leading rusher. After playing for Crooms 3 years and enduring all the 9 man fronts, he deserves it. You can see the life that playing in this offense has given him. Not to mention the creases in which to hit and get good yardage. Great job.

3. Where was Ducre? No way Stallworth should be getting his carries.

4. Was that a college secondary I spotted out there yesterday? 4 picks??? They have some stiff tests coming up, but they have looked better the last couple of weeks. We may only need one juco CB now.

5. Torbush is hard to figure out. He has come up with some very good plans on defense- and he has laid 2 turds in Auburn and Ga Tech. Interesting to see how we defend the 2nd coming next week and their lack of a great WR- especially with the fact that Mullen knows them inside and out. He should be able to give him some really good insight.

6. Tyson Lee played a really good ballgame. Thats about as good as we can expect. 70% completion percentage- no picks, long run for a TD. I hate some people cant realize we are getting the best QB play we have had since Madkin and Fant. Sure, he has limitations, but damn. After 5 years of being one of the worst offenses in the NCAA's, anybody is lying that says they thought we would be as good as we are this season on offense.

Tyson Lee is not an SEC QB? 6 picks so far in 7 games...other SEC QB's- Cox-Georgia- 9 picks, Crompton- Tenn- 9 picks, Smith- Vandy- 7 picks, Snead-Mississippi- 9 picks, Hartline- Kentucky- 6 picks...and 1 of Tyson's picks were the result of the ball bouncing off our WR's chests, another was basically a hail mary with 10 seconds left against Ga Tech.
Lee is also 5th in completion percentage in the SEC.

He isn't all-SEC, but he is doing an adequate job. Option teams are going to have fumbles and bad pitches, especially in the first year of installing that offense. All part of the growth process.

7. Mullen went conservative with the lead yesterday and ran the clock in the 2nd half. I think that was good strategy yesterday considering who we were playing. Get out of the game as quick as you can and limit injuries.

8. In all of the Tyler Russell debates, why has nobody questioned that fact that when Mullen is given the choice of backing up Lee with 2 guys he is wanting to RS, he chooses Stegall over Russell? One side of the coin says that you burn Stegall's first because he is older and more mature. Another side of the coin makes you wonder why he chooses someone that has played baseball the last 4 years, not football, arrived in camp very late, having no extra time to throw to the WR's like Russell did this summer, and shouldnt have as good of a grasp on the offense. I find that interesting as they head into Spring practice, Cam Newton or not.

9. We are very good at LB right now. Chaney has recovered and White has adjusted to SEC play. Very good group

10. Its a shame Fla and Bammer will play for the BCS championship in Atlanta in early December. Bammer does look to be the better team- right now.

Wow, it's amazing how much more I like you as a poster and how much sense you make when you're not talking about basketball.

Totally agree w/ you on Tyson Lee, and I think we're still in the minority. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Put 4-5 inches on Lee and a tad more experience, and maybe make him a little more wise about ball security, getting rid of the ball on time, and some other experience issues, and he's the best QB we've had.</span> He's already running the best offense we've had since 2000, and when he has a lane of vision to throw, he's pretty darn good throwing the ball. Secondary did look better, I thought Broomfield should've been playing more after the speed I saw him display in that JSU game (on the blocked XP return). Torbush is hard for me to figure too. I'll give him a pass since we were Malzahn's SEC "guinea pig" and no one else had seen his whole package yet, but it's also hard to figure Auburn out. GTech makes everyone look ridiculous, you can't judge a defense based on how they perform vs GT

That made me laugh.

 

[Frances Drebin]

...we need to calm down on the "secondary is improving" comments. We played MTSU, and their QB play was terrible. We are still way too soft in our zone and everyone else on our schedule will eat us alive if they choose to. The talent level is a part of it, but Torbush's defensive schemes are terrible. If we're going to play soft zone like we are, we need to be sending more pressure than we do. Every time we line up in a three man front and drop eight in coverage, Torbush should be fired. You can't do that against SEC quarterbacks, whether it's Tim Tebow or Mike Hartline. They will make you pay.

 

[hsdawg]

Ive seen good football prograhms and we juts dont have won. Anthony Dickson is probably the only good thimg about our teem.