I am back in Mullen's camp after looking at next year's schedule.

[Hanmudog]

We get A&M in Starkville hopefully without JFF. We get Auburn and Arkansas in Starkville. Bama will have lost a lot of their stars. We get UK and Vandy.

If the stars align just right and Dak stays healthy then we have a shot at 10-2 which is a pretty wooly view of things but maybe now is not the best time for a change. Not to mention risking transfers by some of our up and coming talent that might not be happy with a coaching change.

 

[ronpolk]

This has been my line of thinking all along. I get the frustration with Mullen from play calling to no upset wins. However, next year sets up really well.

 

[121Josey]

Is this seriously the first time you've looked at next year's schedule?

When I looked at this year's schedule, I said OSU, AU, LSU, A&M, and possibly USCe were all winnable. Sadly the offensive genius and special teams coach cost us those games. Next year will be better because we scheduled the mustard buzzards and the commywhores?

Which players will transfer if State changes coaches? All those 3-star diamonds players will go where?

 

[MrKotter]

So what happens when the schedule isn't set up for 6+ wins? I don't understand why some justify a coaches worth by looking at a schedule.

 

[Kim Jong Um]

Only at Mississippi State does fans hope for four cream puff games and Kentucky for the coach to look good. If we keep lowering our expectations, we never lose.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

You had some lofty expectations. Only winnable game I saw at the beginning was Auburn.

 

[seb304]

+1

 

[maroonmania]

So what happens when the schedule isn't set up for 6+ wins? I don't understand why some justify a coaches worth by looking at a schedule.

Exactly, I'm not going to judge my coach's performance by looking at a future schedule. Right now we don't look like a very well coached football team. One week (at SC) we have a bushel of turnovers to go along with terrible clock management and the next week (A&M) we have one special teams breakdown after another while also mindboggling playcalling of asking our statuesque QB to make critical runs on 3rd down and a 2 point conversion. And on top of that we have to have stops on the last drive to survive BG and KY at home. To me those are more important criteria on the performance of our coaching staff than next year's schedule.

 

[Palos verdes]

I have excepted the fact that Dan will be our coach next year and I will

support him and try to forget about going 5-7 this year. However, next year's schedule ain't looking too promising until we can find some pass defense and find a way to score a lot more points in a game. But how much easier is next year's schedule, really? Yes, we should win our first three but could easily lose the following three. We play in Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge and everyone else win be improved, save for a Johnnyless A&M, if that's the case. I also think Auburn could win the West next year, so I don't see us getting that one unless our defense is going to be a show stopper..or a HUGE improvement from this year. We get Vandy late but as we've seen here lately they are plenty capable of beating us, especially if our spirits are down. The eggbowl is in Oxford and they will be trying to make it three in a row, so they can brag and revel in Dan's big campaign flop. Next year the ceiling may be 8, but getting to 6 will take us deep into the season and the pressure is on Dan to get it done. Everyone is talking about our easier season next year, but with the way our coaches have performed with our inability to win big games, I need more coaxing. Any takers?

 

[Sutterkane]

Lowering? **** 5 years ago we'd have loved to beat all of our creampuffs and Kentucky.

 

[DerHntr]

How many of the games will we be picked to win by vegas? That's your record unfortunately.

 

[J-Dawg]

So what happens when the schedule isn't set up for 6+ wins? I don't understand why some justify a coaches worth by looking at a schedule.

This.


If it sets up for 9 or 10 wins for Mullen it'd do the same for a different coach. Scheduling isn't going to change.

 

[ronpolk]

This.


If it sets up for 9 or 10 wins for Mullen it'd do the same for a different coach. Scheduling isn't going to change.

No the schedule won't change but the offense will. Also, likely most of the coaching staff and the training staff. I feel pretty good about 8-10 wins next year under Mullen. Maybe we get that under another coach too. I just don't see the point in changing directions when you know things are set up for a good run next season.

 

[Hanmudog]

My point is that next year we play a normal (not easy) schedule that is more representative of what most of the country plays.

We will have played 7 top 25 teams by the end of this season. SEVEN. That is suicide and the best just about any team not named Alabama can hope for with that type of schedule is 7-5 and a Music City Bowl at best.

I agree that Dan has coached like **** this year but ultimately every coach is judged on wins and losses. Sherrill won a **** ton of ugly games against bad teams that left me cussing him as I walked out of Davis Wade too.

The floor for Mullen should be at least 8 wins next year or he can hit the road but at least he will be playing a workable schedule instead of being judged on losing road games against top 15 teams.

 

[Dawg1976]

7-5 next year which guarantees his stay through 2015 with no upset wins. Lot's to look forward to.

 

[Hanmudog]

Only at Mississippi State does fans hope for four cream puff games and Kentucky for the coach to look good. If we keep lowering our expectations, we never lose.

Seasons like this where we play 7 top 25 teams are never going to meet our expectations either.

Look at the top 25. Do you think Northern Illinois could play our schedule and be ranked? Fresno State? Arizona State? Texas? Miami? Michigan State?

 

[Dawgdom]

So what happens when the schedule isn't set up for 6+ wins? I don't understand why some justify a coaches worth by looking at a schedule.

Because I have lived through enough years of seeing that schedule and praying that we win 4 games...

 

[57stratdawg]

I adamantly stand opposed to the idea that a team's schedule should factor into judging Mullen's performance. This is such a slippery slope. I'm telling you guys, you have to look deeper than W/L to judge a coach/team. If you don't, you end up being one of those guys that got on here last December and typed "We're better than OM because 8 is more than 6!!" despite them having kicked the crap out of us in the game.

If Mullen wins 8 games next year, but continues to mismanage the clock/timeouts, doesn't have us play compete for 60 minutes, and our play is littered with mental errors - it will not be an 'all is okay' year for me.

 

[Philly Dawg]

I'm adamantly opposed to the idea that the amount of oxygen present in air should factor into whether it will support human life.

How a football team performs cannot be separated from the schedule played. Winning or losing to JSU is different from winning or losing to LSU. I'm shocked that anyone would suggest otherwise.

 

[dannyripms]

Dan Mullen needs to go..... He's not a good coach. We are wasting time with him and wasting our chances of building a program. I hate the idea of waiting 3-4 more years of this crap till people finally figure it out and fire him when we should of done it way earlier. Just a Larry t thing to do imo

 

[thatsbaseball]

I had to read his post twice to see if I read it right. An upcoming easy schedule is a strange reason to give a positive evaluation of a coach that you have stated "coached like **** this year". Kinda hard to follow the rationale on this one.

 

[Strike.sixpack]

I agree with that. As it stands we have the 13th most difficult schedule so far this season and still have Bama to play. Second hardest since he has been here by more than double to his next most difficult.

 

[57stratdawg]

In no way did I give a positive evaluation.

 

[thatsbaseball]

I was talking about the dude you were replying to

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

FIRE DANSBURY!!!!!!

 

[57stratdawg]

How a football team performs cannot be separated from the schedule played. Winning or losing to JSU is different from winning or losing to LSU. I'm shocked that anyone would suggest otherwise.

That's what I'm saying - you've got to look beyond the schedule (and quantity of wins) to judge our teams and Mullen.

I said before the year started that this was unquestionably the best depth and, maybe, talent that Mullen has had at MSU, but the team would struggle to win 7 games. Compare that to the 2012, and potentially 2014, teams that won 6 games just for walking off the bus.

You need to look into how Mullen manages a game. How prepared we are to play. How motivated we are to play. How many mental errors do we make throughout a game. That's where you can start to judge a coach. Mullen could be subpar at almost all of those, and we'd win 6 games next year. Which is what I originally said:

Don't let next year's soft schedule be an asset for Mullen.

 

[DerHntr]

And I don't disagree. I am just hoping that Vegas picks us for 8 wins. Dan doesn't seem to be able to very often beat a team that Vegas thinks we should lose to. If they pick us for seven, then you may have to get out the pitch forks.

 

[Hanmudog]

I had to read his post twice to see if I read it right. An upcoming easy schedule is a strange reason to give a positive evaluation of a coach that you have stated "coached like **** this year". Kinda hard to follow the rationale on this one.

You missed my point. It is not an easy schedule by a long shot but it is a normal schedule compared to the ridiculous one we have this year. A more fair judge of whether to fire or keep Mullen should at least come in a season where the deck is not so heavily stacked against us.

Right now every mistake we make is so magnified because against the teams we are playing there is zero margin for error. Guys like Saban and Spurrier could do dumb **** every game and still end up winning so nobody cares.

 

[zup-dawg]

Amazing

This board is always a good place to get a laugh, but here lately I'm seriously starting to wonder if some of you have a damn clue about football.

What was comical is quickly becoming sad.

 

[thatsbaseball]

I understand your points...you should have used Miles instead of Saban and Spurrier though, he practically invented overcoming "dumb ****" coaching with overwhelming talent advantages. We`ll see the last two games. I think Arky is easily a 2 touchdown win and OM should be a near toss-up at DWS. However SoCar, OkSt and aTm were not nearly the teams they were cracked up to be before the season and we had Auburn beat and let it get away. The deck was not nearly so heavily stacked as it appeared to be before the season began. We could be at 6-3 right now with our current team talent wise.

 

[CookieMonster.sixpack]

We get A&M in Starkville hopefully without JFF. We get Auburn and Arkansas in Starkville. Bama will have lost a lot of their stars. We get UK and Vandy.

If the stars align just right and Dak stays healthy then we have a shot at 10-2 which is a pretty wooly view of things but maybe now is not the best time for a change. Not to mention risking transfers by some of our up and coming talent that might not be happy with a coaching change.

So you're opinion of Mullen changes based on his opponent? That's certifiably idiotic. How does a weak schedule make him a better coach?

 

[57stratdawg]

I understand your points...you should have used Miles instead of Saban and Spurrier though, he practically invented overcoming "dumb ****" coaching with overwhelming talent advantages. We`ll see the last two games. I think Arky is easily a 2 touchdown win and OM should be a near toss-up at DWS. However SoCar, OkSt and aTm were not nearly the teams they were cracked up to be before the season and we had Auburn beat and let it get away. The deck was not nearly so heavily stacked as it appeared to be before the season began. We could be at 6-3 right now with our current team talent wise.

Agreed.

I just want a coach that puts us in the best position to win. Saban kicks the FG against Bowling Green, Saban isn't out there throwing the ball with Dak on the final drive against UK, and Saban doesn't give A&M the ball back at the end of the first half.

 

[Philly Dawg]

Obviously, this is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't think Mullen is that bad at managing a game. He's more organized than any other coach we've had since I've been an active fan, i.e. Felker, Sherrill, and Croom. Does he occassionaly make mistakes, yes, but all coaches do.

I'd suggest to you that fans are hyperaware of those issues with their own team and much more forgiving of them in others. Some of the mental mistakes we've made this year have been magnified by the quality of the competition we've played and our opponents' ability to capitalize or break open close games as a result.

There are certainly things I'd criticize Mullen for, but there are things I'd criticize most coaches for, even successful coaches who would be considered to have done a good job for their school, something I think Mullen has done for MSU and deserves credit for.

 

[Hanmudog]

So you're opinion of Mullen changes based on his opponent? That's certifiably idiotic. How does a weak schedule make him a better coach?

The same way playing a nearly impossible schedule makes him a bad one.

Look, I have been frustrated at times this year with Mullen too but I just don't think we should fire a coach right before what could set up to be potentially one of the best seasons in MSU history.

Who's to say that Dak, Chris Jones, Shumpert, or one of the young guys doesn't just say screw it and transfer if Mullen is let go? Ever heard of Rodney Hood?

No sense in rolling the dice now. If we don't perform up to par next year then adios Dan.

 

[fishwater99]

No the schedule won't change but the offense will. Also, likely most of the coaching staff and the training staff. I feel pretty good about 8-10 wins next year under Mullen. Maybe we get that under another coach too. I just don't see the point in changing directions when you know things are set up for a good run next season.

Why will the offense change?
We are running the spread right now, and Mullen doesn't know another offense.
What coaches do you think will be let go? I don't see any changes being made...

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

The same way playing a nearly impossible schedule makes him a bad one.

So 17ing true.

 

[Hanmudog]

Agreed.

I just want a coach that puts us in the best position to win. Saban kicks the FG against Bowling Green, Saban isn't out there throwing the ball with Dak on the final drive against UK, and Saban doesn't give A&M the ball back at the end of the first half.

True. I should have used Freeze and Miles as my examples.

Lets not forget that Freeze who is considered by most to be Mullen's superior also has made his share of bone headed fourth down calls. When it works you are a genius and a "gambler" when it doesn't you are a clown. Les Miles.....well he is just Les Miles.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Oh boy! We got another one of those football experts on here.

Lemme get my pad and pen and take notes.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I'm so glad all us idiots have this place to hang together.

 

[ronpolk]

Why will the offense change?
We are running the spread right now, and Mullen doesn't know another offense.
What coaches do you think will be let go? I don't see any changes being made...

My reply was about if we fire Mullen. Obviously nothing major will change if Mullen stays.