I understand what Dan is doing with the second team in
- Thread starter DerHntr
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The timing was bad....if he had already told those guys they were going in on the third possession then I get it, but I really wish he wouldn't tell them that. Put 'em in early, but we really had a chance to re-establish momentum there.
OTOH, maybe he doesn't think USM can get a first down.
OTOH, maybe he doesn't think USM can get a first down.
Agreed. Don't be cute. Get ahead and then knock yourself out with second, third, etc. teams.
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You got a chance to go up 14-0 and really take them out of it
Oh well. Defense looks good. Quit screwing around, get some imagination in the offense and put it away by halftime
Oh well. Defense looks good. Quit screwing around, get some imagination in the offense and put it away by halftime
It was a pretty typical Mullen head-scratcher. He`s done a very nice job of developing a team that can win pretty big if the chips fall right but his game day coaching still worries me. Didn`t matter last night but he needs to cut down on the in game brain farts.
I just wonder if there was some sort of limiting situation where he wouldn't have followed through with it. What if we were still tied 0-0? What if USM had run back a punt or kickoff and we were tied 7-7 or down 7? I hope he had something in place that let the guys know we wouldn't bring in the ENTIRE second team if we were 17ing up.
Promising that he would do this is ridiculous even though USM was supposed to be, and proved to be, terrible.
And yes, for those of you who will say this is just bitching to for the sake of it, I know we won 49-0. I also have a very good understanding that USM was going to suck. Regardless of those things, the timing was bad and it also showed a lack of in-game awareness. We were just stuffed on the one yard line and turned it over on downs. Put your starters back in, promise be damned.
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I have given this some thought overnight, and while I still think it was the wrong time to do it, I wonder if Mullen was pissed off about being unable to score from the 4 yard line and was more than happy to give the second team guys a chance?
And while we're on the topic, what the hell is up with this "1B" stuff? Is second team so bad that you would rather be on the "B" team???
And while we're on the topic, what the hell is up with this "1B" stuff? Is second team so bad that you would rather be on the "B" team???
Looks like he's trying say we're 2 deep on offense and defense. Kinda like starting guys that really aren't starters (d line and Beckwith).
I didn't attend a game last year cause I was sick of his head up the arse decision making on offense. When Koenig left I was hopeful that things would change but after last night I'd say Dan is the real problem with offensive decisions and maybe defense too. Potential all American Jones is second team. What's that all about?
I didn't attend a game last year cause I was sick of his head up the arse decision making on offense. When Koenig left I was hopeful that things would change but after last night I'd say Dan is the real problem with offensive decisions and maybe defense too. Potential all American Jones is second team. What's that all about?
You guys kill me.
First game, got to play a lot of people in situations where you see how they are going to react so you have specific points to coach them to. You're going to see the same thing next week, so be prepared to call Dan a ********** again. This kind of thing happens when you are trying to build a team for the entire season, not one game against a team that cannot score against even your third team defense.
First game, got to play a lot of people in situations where you see how they are going to react so you have specific points to coach them to. You're going to see the same thing next week, so be prepared to call Dan a ********** again. This kind of thing happens when you are trying to build a team for the entire season, not one game against a team that cannot score against even your third team defense.
We really are 2-deep on defense. And Dan won't be putting the 2nd team offense in in a real game. He did it yesterday because he knew he could get the reserves meaningful minutes without any risk they could hurt us. My only complaint is that I would have rather seen Williams take one series with the starters after he pulled Dak early in the 3rd quarter.
Does Bama, LSU, Fla State, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, etc. bring in the entire second team that early in a game playing a tune-up team when up by one TD? I could have missed it but it doesn't seem like they do. Maybe Mullen is on to something and the rest of those teams will follow.
You guys can't be surprised that something so outside the norm raises eyebrows and that it creates discussion.
In these type games if the other team isnt going to create any adversity, u create it yourself. Besides, why would u show ANY wrinkle tonight.
Creating discussion is one thing. Calling your coach a GD moran ********** because he did something out of the norm is another.
I don't disagree there, hence why I didn't do that. Can't control the masses
With Dak being a runner, and our OLine not looking the best, I'm all for giving anybody a shot on second team to see if they are better. Early game or not, you get 4 plays vs USM inside 10 yards you better score even if you run it 4 times. Williams needs good reps too; Dak will get banged up at some point this year; hopefully something minor and temporary.
Well, I give Dan a lot more credit than you do. Any coach with even half a brain knows that there are no safe opponents out there. You have to beat everyone, and you don't just win be showing up. I know from all the "pep talk" clips that he reminds our team of that all the time, so I really don't think there is any way he just "knew" that we would beat USM despite any idiotic coaching decisions.
And, I really don't have a problem with giving the second team some meaningful snaps...I just didn't like sticking them in right then. We had all the momentum going, and we let a little bit slip away by failing to score from the 4 yard line. Sending in the second team kinda sucked all the momentum out completely. Yeah, we recovered and won easily, but its not a good idea to screw around with stuff like that.
Remember the Maine!!
*******'s Full!!
And, I really don't have a problem with giving the second team some meaningful snaps...I just didn't like sticking them in right then. We had all the momentum going, and we let a little bit slip away by failing to score from the 4 yard line. Sending in the second team kinda sucked all the momentum out completely. Yeah, we recovered and won easily, but its not a good idea to screw around with stuff like that.
Remember the Maine!!
*******'s Full!!
I agree with DerHntr on this. I can appreciate that DM is trying to build quality depth and he has to practice what he is preaching by giving the 2-deep quality reps in the game, but I (as a fan) would have preferred to wait until we up by at least two scores. A couple of other points, there were a lot of recruits at the game so it also was showing our recruits that he will play a lot of kids, even early in the game. I think that was a factor. I wouldn't put it past Dan to play the 2nd team after the failure to score inside the 5, but I think it was more the aforementioned reasons. In the post game radio show, he mentioned taking some criticism on his play calling on the turnover on downs and he was good natured about it. I liked that because the play calling seemed poor to me, but you expect your players to execute whatever plays are called.
I kinda like it. You can't get real experience unless the game is on the line, and it's always going to be on the line in conference games. put them out there, and see if you can trust them. can backfire, but it didn't this time.
To me it's sort of a belicheck (sp) move, so we won't be as dependent on 3-4 players. We have other guys that can contribute in a tight spot.
To me it's sort of a belicheck (sp) move, so we won't be as dependent on 3-4 players. We have other guys that can contribute in a tight spot.
Mullen did not want to embarrass Monken.
Although there is no game where there is 100% chance of winning, the Southern Miss. game close to that. Southern's O line rarely slowed down our pass rush. Mullen knew that before the game started. And after the game, Mullen stated the following to try to help Monken out:
"We're probably a couple of years ahead of them in our program right now from the program he's building."
"But you can see that they're going to have a great future in what they're doing down there at Southern Miss."
Although there is no game where there is 100% chance of winning, the Southern Miss. game close to that. Southern's O line rarely slowed down our pass rush. Mullen knew that before the game started. And after the game, Mullen stated the following to try to help Monken out:
"We're probably a couple of years ahead of them in our program right now from the program he's building."
"But you can see that they're going to have a great future in what they're doing down there at Southern Miss."
Really? You don't think its embarrassing to basically say "we can beat you with our second team"???
He put the second team in the third quarter to avoid embarrassing Monken. Doing it in the first quarter didn't make sense. I don't have any problem with giving players meaningful snaps, but putting in the entire second team at that particular moment was an unnecessary risk with very little upside. What if the Williams/Griffin fumble had occurred on that series, and USM managed to go down and tie the score? I don't think everyone would be sitting back and claiming that Mullen "knew" he couldn't lose the game. Mullen may have been very, very confident, but he is smart enough to know that nothing is guaranteed in this game.
He put the second team in the third quarter to avoid embarrassing Monken. Doing it in the first quarter didn't make sense. I don't have any problem with giving players meaningful snaps, but putting in the entire second team at that particular moment was an unnecessary risk with very little upside. What if the Williams/Griffin fumble had occurred on that series, and USM managed to go down and tie the score? I don't think everyone would be sitting back and claiming that Mullen "knew" he couldn't lose the game. Mullen may have been very, very confident, but he is smart enough to know that nothing is guaranteed in this game.
If they had lost that game, it wouldn't have been because Dan gave the second string a series halfway through the first qtr.
They should have been up by two TD's at that point.
I hope that he does that every game. I'm not one for rotating QB's, but I like to have a special groupings to change things up in a game.
They should have been up by two TD's at that point.
I hope that he does that every game. I'm not one for rotating QB's, but I like to have a special groupings to change things up in a game.
You are right. Part of the reason for the substitution was Mullen being Mullen.
And part of it was to get some players some experience.
But the score could have been 70+-0. State played a vanilla offense and defense. The disparity in talent between Southern's offensive line and State's defensive line is overwhelming. With that much difference in talent, the primary question was whether Southern might luck up and score. Not whether State would win.
QB Nick Mullen deserves a courage award. I thought he showed a lot of guts in the game with P.J. Jones and others in the backfield on every passing play.
And part of it was to get some players some experience.
But the score could have been 70+-0. State played a vanilla offense and defense. The disparity in talent between Southern's offensive line and State's defensive line is overwhelming. With that much difference in talent, the primary question was whether Southern might luck up and score. Not whether State would win.
QB Nick Mullen deserves a courage award. I thought he showed a lot of guts in the game with P.J. Jones and others in the backfield on every passing play.