fuel on the fire: quote from Mullens regarding the timeouts

[22yardpunt]

from Murray's article:

NO HURRY OR WORRY: Mississippi State did not use any of its second-half timeouts. Not even on the final possession, which began at 2:48 and saw Tyler Russell take the team from the MSU 26 to LSU’s 15 with a first down and just a few ticks left.
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Players and fans naturally wanted to get the ball in the end zone at least once. The coach wasn’t worried about meaningless points though.
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“We were down, 13? I thought the game was in-hand at that point and we had a bunch of young guys out there trying to do some stuff. I figured the game was in-hand at that point.”
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a little disappointing andperplexing, for certain .. ol' Dan's ego and frustration got the best of him last night. However I won't let him off easy; he was the one the puffed up this season the be "possibly the most important in State's history" and (paraphrasing) "the Auburn and LSU games are the most important games and determine the season's success.. " and "we have to improve from last year" etc etc etc. And, well, he is living rather comfortably.

We wouldn't be "schocked" if you hadn't built up our expectations to all-time highs. Success in this league will happen no way other than incrementally progressive. Ever read the final chapter in "From Good to Great"?

Good recruiting cures all. Injuries happen. We'll still go to a bowl this year. We need linebackers.
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[tbaydog]

Yes, we all drank way to much of Dan's Maroon Koolaide.I keep forgetting we are MSU.

 

[OMlawdog]

I don't see why you try and score and use the timeouts once you got past midfield.

If you score a TD with only 25 seconds left, you still at least have a shot at an onside? From there you have a chance at a Hail Mary. None of those things seem crazy. It was bizaree to say the least.

I just don't see why when only down two scores and you have the ball with less than two minutes left and are having some success moving the ball, that you close the game with threetimeouts in your pocket. If Russell and co. had scored as time expired, and you lose by 6 with all three timeouts in your pocket, that would be just ridiculous. Its just good to see that maybe Nutt's complete inability to manage the clock is somehow spreading to Mullen, because last night's last two minutes looked all too familiar to me.

 

[lawdawg02]

“We were down, 13? I thought the game was in-hand at that point and we had a bunch of young guys out there trying to do some stuff. I figured the game was in-hand at that point.”

First, it was a two possession game, and we had the ball with time on the clock and all three timeouts. Sure, we had negative yards thus far in the second half. But like someone else said, YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. Stranger things have happened than us scoring twice in that amount of time. As OMlawdog said, Auburn did that EXACT THING two weeks ago to beat Utah State.

Mullen is literally saying that he gave up. If this was even a three possession game, then I could see that. BUT IT WAS A TWO POSSESSION GAME. The fact that we hadn't sniffed the end zone all night is of no matter.

 

[Dawgzilla]

Yeah, I know this LSU defense is way batter than Auburn's was in 1999, and I guess Tyler Russell is no Matt Wyatt, but, dammit, just try. If you throw three incompletions, then LSU will take a knee and the game is over anyway.

 

[DAWG61]

to try and score on offense he could of atleast used the timeouts for our defense. Don't expect LSU money if you're going to tell us we arn't good enough to win so we arn't gonna risk trying. That sounds like a coach that should either be fired or get paid Southeast Louisiana money to me not $2.5 million a year.