is that Mullen has thus far shown a real tendency to be unconcernedby whom isin the game at certain critical junctures and specificplay-calls. For instance, going into last year I would have told you that we were going to really excel running more inside stuff with Ballard and running screens and wheel routes with Perkins But instead we stuffed Perkins up the gut whenever he was in there and ran our screens, flares, and wheel routes almost exclusively with Ballard. Now Ballard was versatile enough to handle it but I still don't think he was our best option in those cases. And Perkins has no business running up the middle. And in the MCB are we really going to run a last second pass to little short Bumphis in themiddle-back of the endzoneat the end of the first half when we have someone like M. Johnson that has proven he can go up strong and catch a ball (That's if you don't just kick it like you should have).In Mullen's first year with Dixon it was clear what we were trying to do. We had a limited scheme but we gave you a heavy dose of what we really did well. But we didn't do this last year. We never had any identity, and I really thought we would have after the promising outlook provided by the Michigan game the year before. I am tempted to believe that this is Mullen's pride in the greatness of his offensive system, that no matter who he sticks in there the play will work because it's a great play. But we really need to design and call plays around our players strengths and I felt like we moved away from that last year. I thought we were a great option team and that running more sets out of the wishbone would have really put some other defenses in a bind, but we rarely ran these things. Having Relf, Ballard, and Perkins in the backfield would have been tough to stop. And why is it that we can run a speed sweep for 8-12 yards early in the game and we never see that play again. I guess I felt our running game showed none of the creativity that I know are in Mullen's system and that we had used in the past. The cliche that "It is not about Xs and Os but Jimmys and Joes" is still relevant. I am thrilled to have Mullen and I am very impressed by what he has accomplished and the direction that we are heading as a program. I'd sure like to see us play to our team strengths more this year, even if it doesn't look as offensively creative and diverse. Yes, I realize the dynamic will be different with Russell.
Ok, cue the responses that our OL sucked and Relf was hurt. Agreed.