Friday morning QB

[Coach34]

1. Yes, it is painfully obvious we are not going to use Ralph like Mullen used Tebow. I'm very disappointed to see that because I think it would make our offense better. Ralph may not get to 15 TD's rushing and passing this year, much less 27-30

2. Tyler Russell, as I have said numerous times, is not ready for bigtime SEC football yet. He will be eventually, but right now is not the time to waste possessions in big games with him at QB. Ralph gets a 1st down, we are moving the ball- the quarter ends and we bring in Russell? Whyyyyyy? Ralph leads us to a TD to start the 2nd half, and then we bring in Russell? Whyyyyyyyy? Russell is also one-dimensional. It's obvious he is not going to run the ball and it limits what we can do on offense. We are strictly a passing team with him in the game. Thats not our identity.

3. We had 33 rushes last night and 35 passes- thats not who we are and its not how we are going to win football games. We have got to run the damn football- that is our identity. take off 5 of those rushes because they were sacks (Ralph had -24 yards on those), we actually ran the ball 28 times- of those 28, we had 13 carries of 5 or more yards...7 of the 28 we +8 or more yards on the ground. Ralph without the sacks was 9/50 yards. Thats a good stat line but he needs to be in the 13-14 carry area for us to win. Basically half of our rushing plays got 5 yards or more- we need to run the damn football.

4. Where is the zone read? Some of you miss Dixon, **** I miss the zone read. We aren't we running it. Why? The staple play of 2009 is not even a part of our offense in 2010 to this point. I'm not understanding that.

5. Triple option- I told you guys we had a new wrinkle coming in the option game. I loved the double wing set and running the Triple out of it. Why did we stop? So what we fumbled a damn snap? Practice on the sidelines while we are on defense. Getting away from that was a killer. Auburn was struggling with it and never stopped the Triple. We just dont have to run it out of that set either, we ran it out of the gun too and just stopped. I dont understand that. The playcalling after the onside kick was awful and in my mind, cost us the game.

6. WR's- they are all young except for Leon- this is not the group to depend on for your offense to be successful. We are better throwing the football, but with the errant passes and the drops, we are still better off jamming it down peoples throats.

7. Cam Newton showed why we wanted him so bad. He was the difference in the game. He was punishing our defense on some of those runs. Holy **** Auburn is going to be tough with him. I hope he decides he is NFL-ready after this season.

8. Manny made the neccessary adjustments at halftime. We are so much better on defense and so much better coached. And with only 4 Sr's starting, we are going to be good on defense for awhile. McPhee may end up being a 1st round pick though. He is working his way up draft boards every week. He is a man, and he isnt even 40.

9. Brace yourself- that was only game 1. We are about to have 2 more games just like the one last night with LSU and Georgia. We have got to find a way to get the job done. LSU secondary is better than Auburn's, and throwing it 35 times will get us beat. We have got to get back to our identity.

10. Pass protection shows our lack of talent on the OL. You can run block different way to mask your lack of talent with angle blocks and running the option, but when you pass block you have to man up with those guys on the DL and face them. Auburn showed us they had more talent there than we did.


C'mon Dan, get a better plan and let's steal one next week. Go Dawgs

 

[Coach34]

1. Yes, it is painfully obvious we are not going to use Ralph like Mullen used Tebow. I'm very disappointed to see that because I think it would make our offense better. Ralph may not get to 15 TD's rushing and passing this year, much less 27-30

2. Tyler Russell, as I have said numerous times, is not ready for bigtime SEC football yet. He will be eventually, but right now is not the time to waste possessions in big games with him at QB. Ralph gets a 1st down, we are moving the ball- the quarter ends and we bring in Russell? Whyyyyyy? Ralph leads us to a TD to start the 2nd half, and then we bring in Russell? Whyyyyyyyy? Russell is also one-dimensional. It's obvious he is not going to run the ball and it limits what we can do on offense. We are strictly a passing team with him in the game. Thats not our identity.

3. We had 33 rushes last night and 35 passes- thats not who we are and its not how we are going to win football games. We have got to run the damn football- that is our identity. take off 5 of those rushes because they were sacks (Ralph had -24 yards on those), we actually ran the ball 28 times- of those 28, we had 13 carries of 5 or more yards...7 of the 28 we +8 or more yards on the ground. Ralph without the sacks was 9/50 yards. Thats a good stat line but he needs to be in the 13-14 carry area for us to win. Basically half of our rushing plays got 5 yards or more- we need to run the damn football.

4. Where is the zone read? Some of you miss Dixon, **** I miss the zone read. We aren't we running it. Why? The staple play of 2009 is not even a part of our offense in 2010 to this point. I'm not understanding that.

5. Triple option- I told you guys we had a new wrinkle coming in the option game. I loved the double wing set and running the Triple out of it. Why did we stop? So what we fumbled a damn snap? Practice on the sidelines while we are on defense. Getting away from that was a killer. Auburn was struggling with it and never stopped the Triple. We just dont have to run it out of that set either, we ran it out of the gun too and just stopped. I dont understand that. The playcalling after the onside kick was awful and in my mind, cost us the game.

6. WR's- they are all young except for Leon- this is not the group to depend on for your offense to be successful. We are better throwing the football, but with the errant passes and the drops, we are still better off jamming it down peoples throats.

7. Cam Newton showed why we wanted him so bad. He was the difference in the game. He was punishing our defense on some of those runs. Holy **** Auburn is going to be tough with him. I hope he decides he is NFL-ready after this season.

8. Manny made the neccessary adjustments at halftime. We are so much better on defense and so much better coached. And with only 4 Sr's starting, we are going to be good on defense for awhile. McPhee may end up being a 1st round pick though. He is working his way up draft boards every week. He is a man, and he isnt even 40.

9. Brace yourself- that was only game 1. We are about to have 2 more games just like the one last night with LSU and Georgia. We have got to find a way to get the job done. LSU secondary is better than Auburn's, and throwing it 35 times will get us beat. We have got to get back to our identity.

10. Pass protection shows our lack of talent on the OL. You can run block different way to mask your lack of talent with angle blocks and running the option, but when you pass block you have to man up with those guys on the DL and face them. Auburn showed us they had more talent there than we did.


C'mon Dan, get a better plan and let's steal one next week. Go Dawgs

 

[AlCoDog]

Thanks Herm.

Good post 34. You are spot on.

 

[BriantheDawg]

4. Where is the zone read? Some of you miss Dixon, **** I miss the zone
read. We aren't we running it. Why? The staple play of 2009 is not even a
part of our offense in 2010 to this point. I'm not understanding that.

is we fumbled the ball too often on that play and Mullen is trying to cut down on the turnovers. It worked very well against OM, but it was also a drive killer many many times as well. That's about all I got.

 

[Nez]

Have to agree with your assessment..especially when it comes to abandoning the run after the onside kick. I really could not believe the downfield passing attempts. The real quick passes to the receivers was working all night, but downfield was not.

When we went away from the option...it went south quickly.

 

[stateskills]

I agree with pretty much all of that, except #2.

Russell dealt with a bad gameplan last night and was still dropped passes away from moving the chains. He can't control that. He made one freshmen mistake on the pick - not recognizing the DE dropping in coverage.

Relf is as one dimensional as Russell. He gives us nothing in the passing game.

I agree we should have pounded on Auburn more with the triple option and zone read. If we're going to try to chuck it all over the field then Russell needs to get 80 percent of the snaps.

 

[tenureplan]

1. I don't think Ralph is the hard nosed runner Tebow was. Ralph is like a fast TE where Tebow is a FB.

2. We do become one dimensional with him in there. If our backs are not good enough to make plays without the QB run threat, you are right, he doesn't need to play.

4. We ran it twice, it was stopped both times...once because the back was on Ralph's right and the snap was to his left ankle.

5. They stopped it 3 consecutive times in the 2nd half. They turned Ralph inside for a 2 yard gain, stopped Hanaran for no gain, and stopped #85 for no gain on the shovel.

Everything else is spot on...

 

[futaba.79]

why aren't we a running team anymore?

I wonder if it's our lack of quality RBs.When your 3 RBscarry 12 times for 35 yds and your leading rusher is a WR, you have to think that's part of it.

 

[Coach34]

Ralph led us down the field when we needed it at the end, and if Leon makes the catch like he is supposed to- we at least tie.

And it's not all on Russell- I've said a million times we don't have the WR's yet to support Russell in an all-out passing Spread offense. And they showed us last night that we dont. We have 1 SR WR, and the rest are Soph's or Freshmens. Thats a very young group.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

lose him, and there be no option running game, certainly not with Russell.

Elliott ain't the guy, he knocks himself down, stumbles, or whatever.

I'm disappointed, but that's football.

</p>

 

[Coach34]

Bumphis was getting 10+ yards a carry as a slot-back in the option game. That could have easily been Perkins doing it, but we wanted to run that set and group of plays without subbing. Put Ballard and Elliot at the wing backs and lets run that **** down the field.

 

[fieldman]

5. Triple option- I told you guys we had a new wrinkle coming in the option game. I loved the double wing set and running the Triple out of it. Why did we stop? So what we fumbled a damn snap? Practice on the sidelines while we are on defense. Getting away from that was a killer. Auburn was struggling with it and never stopped the Triple. We just dont have to run it out of that set either, we ran it out of the gun too and just stopped. I dont understand that. The playcalling after the onside kick was awful and in my mind, cost us the game.

The only thing I can think of for this is that Mullen felt is was a one drive kind of wrinkle and that they would have been able to stop it in subsequent drives. I don't think that would have been the case, but it's the only reason I can think of why we would get away from it.

 

[tenureplan]

I have a feeling that Ballard and Perkins wouldn't run out of bounds before contact and short of the first down either.

 

[Dawgzilla]

Ralph led us down the field when we needed it at the end, <span style="font-weight: bold;">and if Leon makes the catch like he is supposed to- we at least tie.</span>

In order to tie, one of the kickers would need to hit a 32 yard, pressure FG. For MSU, that's a 50/50 proposition at best.

And just for the record, I really missed Dixon last night.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">
</span></span>

 

[stateskills]

Relf got lucky on that last drive to move the ball at all. He just lobbed it up down the field 5 or 6 times in a row, got a nice pass interference call, took a terrible sack and threw a ball to no mans land on the last play. Russell would have been much more effective on that drive.

As for our young WRs. They better grow up fast or we're staring another 5 win season straight in the face.

 

[futaba.79]

to try Elliot as pitch man. One thing for sure, the dudedoesn't have the vision and instincts for an inside runner.

You talked all summer about AD not getting hituntil he was 5 yds downfield.That's because he could see the hole. Robert runs up inthere and hopesfor the best. Ballard has showna little bit more on the inside, but not much.

 

[Hidog78]

I'll agree that some of c34 points are right but :
1 - Coaches made wrong choices
2 - Ralph's passing is not any better(one hopping,behind rec., out of reach, and NO WHERE IN THE AREA.
3 - Receivers not makingcatches 4 - We know both QBs are good in their area but Russell has not been called on to run the option.(He can run better on grass than mud)
5 - Russell three series in the game and nine passes
6 - All special teams play was 17up!!!!!

 

[Coach34]

at running inside. We just aren't running the zone read like we did last year. Tenure said he saw it twice, I'm going to go back and break down the offense later today when I get some time. I missed it last night if we did run it. But I was also with a group of people drinking and running my mouth too, so I could have missed it.

We looked like LSU to me last night- no offensive identity- just an offense running groups of plays hoping to make something happen. There was nothing fluid about the playcalling. No rhythm to it at all

 

[patdog]

I agree that if Berry had caught the pass (and he should have caught it), we'd have been in position to tie the game if the Vegetable could have made a chip shot FG. But if we'd had a better passing QB in the game, one drop might not have cost us the tie or possible win. Mullen should have had Relf in the game for the 2 possessions at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th, but he should have had Russell in for the last possession.

 

[Agentdog]

Relf got lucky on that last drive to move the ball at all. He just lobbed it up

The throw on 4 and 4 was perfect. Call it lucky. But it was a great throw between two defenders and to the receiver running full speed.

 

[basedog]

Good observation. I think we need to look at Ballard and Perkins more. Elliot doesn't have that explosive move and just runs into the pile.
We don't have that break away play maker, maybe Carr will have his redshirt pulled and play Saturday.
We've got pretty much nothing from our Rb's.

 

[Ol Blue.sixpack]

but he should have had Russell in for the last possession.

Bingo, especially since Mullens has apparently decided that State's a pocket passing team in the two-minute offense.

 

[VirgilCain]

our playmakers in positions to make big plays...... but they all just collectlvely 17ed it up. Bumphis played awful. Not only did he drop passes, he did a terrible job as a return man. I think he may be reading too much **** about himself being Mullen's new Percy Harvin. Leon Berry... GAH...obviously didn't make the play of the game.
(and the ball was literally in his hands). Also, several D-lineman got free for potentially gigantic sacks but they just weren't good enough to make a play on Newton (although im not sure if any D-lineman has much of a chance at tracking down Newton one-on-one). What about that potential pick-6 from <insert name="name" of="of" db="db" whose="whose" escapes="escapes" me="me">. Who else was there?

****, if any one of those guys doesn't 17-up (while leaving the rest of the 17-ups) we probably would have won the game. I actually felt very confident at the end of the first half because I thought we had played like **** and were still very much in the game. And then in the second half, we continued to play like ****.... AND ALMOST WON THE GAME.... (not yelling, just going for emphasis.)

Thoughts?</insert>

 

[Frances Drebin]

So what we fumbled a damn snap?

It wasn't just that. Your boy was having trouble with the snap all night. Even out of the shotgun he bobbled several. I think something may be wrong with him. Maybe his hand really is hurt or something.

 

[alabamadog]

not that I disagree with anything in your post, but we probably won't beat anybody thats good when we pass more than we run. As everyone has mentioned, we had way too many dropped balls andbad passes to pass more than run.

 

[Agentdog]

Thoughts?

I agree. We screwed up so much....penalties, fumbled snaps, drops....hell, I thought Crxxm was back for a while. We shot ourselves in the foot time and time again in that game. Hell, not only did we drop a beautifully called jump pass, we almost deflected it for an INT. DAMN! The players last night were just to keyed up and not relaxed enough. I thought Mullen and company did a great job considering all the mistakes and playing a more talented team.

Everyone wants to point to the play calling (getting away from the run). There seems to be this myth that we ran the ball down their throats for the 2nd TD. However, the play by play recap says otherwise.

Mississippi State at 15:00 AUB MSST
1st and 10 at MSST 37 Chris Relf rush for 1 yard to the MisSt 38. 17 7
2nd and 9 at MSST 38 Chris Relf pass complete to Vick Ballard for 22 yards to the Aub 40 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at AUB 40 Chris Relf pass complete to Chad Bumphis for 8 yards to the Aub 32.
2nd and 2 at AUB 32 Chris Relf pass complete to Chris Smith for 4 yards to the Aub 28 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at AUB 28 Chris Relf rush for a loss of 2 yards to the Aub 30.
2nd and 12 at AUB 30 Chris Relf rush for 10 yards to the Aub 20.
3rd and 2 at AUB 20 Chris Relf pass complete to Patrick Hanrahan for 4 yards to the Aub 16 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at AUB 16 Chad Bumphis rush for 5 yards to the Aub 11.
2nd and 5 at AUB 11 Chris Relf pass complete to Chad Bumphis for 9 yards to the Aub 2 for a 1ST down.
1st and Goal at AUB 2 Timeout MISSISSIPPI ST, clock 9:42.
1st and Goal at AUB 2 Chris Relf pass incomplete.
2nd and Goal at AUB 2 Vick Ballard rush for 1 yard to the Aub 1.
3rd and Goal at AUB 1 Vick Ballard rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN. 17 13

 

[AshleySchaffer]

Im expecting a report as in depth as this one is tomorrow about Dak Prescott. I hear the team he is playing, Minden also has a good QB.

 

[SyonaraStanz]

*

 

[aTotal360]

I agree with pretty much all of that, except #2.

Relf is as one dimensional as Russell. He gives us nothing in the passing game.

Wrong. If Berry would have made that catch at the end of the game, no one would be questioning Ralph's ability to pass the ball. God knows, there'd prolly be heisman signs made. Our recievers killed us, not our QBs. Granted Ralph isn't Randall Cunningham, but he is a passable dual-threat QB.

 

[Irondawg]

I can't remember if it was first or second down but we had a WR ( I think Bumphis) running wide open across the middle for about a 20 yard gain and the pass was just horrible.

And on the drive to start the half that pass that Ballard caught should have been an easy TD but was a horrible pass and we were lucky he was able to make the grab.

The WR's dropped some balls but the QB's struggled with accuracy big-time as well

 

[goldeneye]

I agree with most of your post but I also laugh that you are in denial about missing Dixon. Its OBVIOUSto any person that we would be better with him but your pride wont let you admit you were wrong about something. You remind me on yancy. Yancy, to me, is one of the best at guessing where a recruit will end up and most respect him for that but so many people hate him because when he's wrong, he wont admit it but instead make up some BS to try and twist it. You are the same way. Its okay to be wrong at times. And when you said we wouldnt miss Dixon, you were wrong.

 

[Foronce]

with #2... I think the formations they put Russell in was a recipe for a disaster and by him not committing but only one turnover on an unbelievable play by 9-0, proves he has big play potential...

Russell has got to get in I formation and running back sets, putting him in 5 wide or flex in shotgun on the 10 is not what we need to be doing to our RS fr qb.

yes relf needs to get the majority of snaps, but letting the defense blitz your empty backfield rs fr qb was not smart.

 

[markymark.sixpack]

we could've easily been shut out as well. Ralph's fumble across the goal line was idiotic and we were very fortunate that Gabe was hustling. His jump pass was even worse, and it was almost picked off. Both QB's were ineffective and we are one dimension with either one in the game. Auburn stacked the box and made Relf beat them through the air. He couldn't. Yes, we had some bad drops, but we also had some wide open WRs underthrown and overthrown (by both QBs).

Relf is exactly what I expected. Still not very accurate, not very careful with the ball, and he looked wide-eyed and scared with the game on the line.

I do agree that we should run it more, and i was also screaming WTF on two of the series Russell played (wondering why he was in the game).

 

[markymark.sixpack]

should've used more motion, slot, and WR runs to get to the outside. Needed to make them respect our ability to get to the corner to open the inside game up for Ballard and Elliot.

 

[Todd4State]

I do think that we need to go back to the zone read option a LOT more, but as far as the passing game, I'd like to see us try some crossing routes that are very short high percentage type throws.

I think doing that would help both of our QB's and WR's get some confidence.

 

[clydefrazier]

2. Tyler Russell, as I have said numerous times, is not ready for bigtime SEC football yet. He will be eventually, but right now is not the time to waste possessions in big games with him at QB. Ralph gets a 1st down, we are moving the ball- the quarter ends and we bring in Russell? Whyyyyyy? Ralph leads us to a TD to start the 2nd half, and then we bring in Russell? Whyyyyyyyy? Russell is also one-dimensional. It's obvious he is not going to run the ball and it limits what we can do on offense. We are strictly a passing team with him in the game. Thats not our identity.

Your incorrect for starters,we did not put Russell in the game after the 3rd qtr Touchdown, Relf went back in and hrew three incompletions, two of which were wide open. Relf dropped three shotgun snaps and fumbled twice, one they recovered and converted to points and one in the endzone. YOu cant give away downs like that. Relf played about two games more than Tyler last year, he had a good running game against UM and that is about it. He is not a pocket passer. He lobs the ball most of the time. When he tries to step in to a throw, they normally go high. Both had some drops last night but Relf also kept hitting the wr's in the feet making it impossible to get any YAC. Russell seem to hit them in stride. Relf either needs to be running the option or rolling out. Tyler is by far a much better passer with two games under his belt.

 

[Jackdragbean]

Those are my exact thoughts. Couldn't have said it better. Bumphis needs to stop listening to ESPN and actually play the game. He looked terrible.

 

[Duckmandawg]

And on the drive to start the half that pass that Ballard caught should have been an easy TD but was a horrible pass and we were lucky he was able to make the grab.

Thank you for brining this up. That was an easy TD, there was no safety help on the play and Vick was 4 yards behind the defense. a good throw and it's a TD plain and simple. Instead Ralph makes a poor throw behind him and he makes an acrobatic catch falling down and we fumble that series and no points.

 

[tenureplan]

.

 

[Coach34]

try again