Just skimmed the first 5 or 6 pages of the message board and

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
54,438
22,467
113
I am amazed at the level of stupidity. What the 17 did some of you expect playing Alabama? They're better than a lot of national champions have been. The TD we scored on them was the first they've given up in the last 44 offensive possessions and the first 4th quarter points their defense has given up since the Penn St.game. You can ***** about playcalling all you want, but the fact is every offense in the country is just plain outmanned when they play Alabama. It's that simple.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
54,438
22,467
113
I am amazed at the level of stupidity. What the 17 did some of you expect playing Alabama? They're better than a lot of national champions have been. The TD we scored on them was the first they've given up in the last 44 offensive possessions and the first 4th quarter points their defense has given up since the Penn St.game. You can ***** about playcalling all you want, but the fact is every offense in the country is just plain outmanned when they play Alabama. It's that simple.
 

triton28

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Dec 18, 2009
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we could have saved 50000 people a lot of trouble and we could have avoided some key injuries. The game I watched was winnable till the token call.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
54,438
22,467
113
We went for it on 4th down because we WERE trying to win the damn game. We sure as hell weren't going to win it by punting that late. Mullen calls the play, Favre hits Green right between the 3 and the 2 for the first down and Green drops the ball. And you're bitching about Mullen and Favre??? WTF? If Green catches that pass, maybe we do have a chance to win the game (especially if our craptastic FG kickers could make a damn chip shot).
 

dawgstudent

Heisman
Apr 15, 2003
38,747
16,721
113
our D was playing well enough where if we didn't get it, it didn't hurt. But you could still play the field position. There wasn't a wrong call in that situation.

I really think Mullen was hoping we would gain some yardage on the previous play. Favre ran the read option on 3rd and 5 and lost 2 I think? So we are 4th and 7 instead of 4th and 3. And then Marcus Green drops the ball.
 

MSUDawg25

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Jan 21, 2010
2,088
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38
patdog wrote:
<span style="font-weight: bold;">They're better than a lot of national champions have been.</span>
Both Alabama and LSU's teams this year could beat a lot of previous national champions.

-I started a whole paragraph here about how stupid some people are on this board but then realized I was wasting my time and deleted it.
 

dawgstudent

Heisman
Apr 15, 2003
38,747
16,721
113
but you don't know what's going to happen. And by the way our D was playing - it wasn't much of a risk.
 

triton28

Redshirt
Dec 18, 2009
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I wholeheartedly disagree. I thought that our d had played so hard all night that it was a slap in the face to put them in that position. that's a playstation call. not a real game call.
 

jackbaddawg

Redshirt
Nov 16, 2005
1,654
42
48
is doing a better job coaching our defense than Dan and his offensive coaches are doing with our offense. Our O-Line is very weak compared to last years and Russell's high school line probably gave him more time to throw than ours does since he holds the ball too long all the time.
 

mcdawg22

All-American
Sep 18, 2004
12,589
9,087
113
Mullen knew we couldn't keep trading 3 and outs because their depth would come out on top. I think that's the reason we were so slow snapping the ball. By getting a first down there you give the D more time to rest.
 

Dawgzilla

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Mar 3, 2008
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But poor coaching is inexcusable whether you win or lose.

I don't care how good Bama's defense is: when you have the ball 1st and goal at the 4, you should come away with some points. Even if you don't score the TD, you should at least run some plays that give you some faint hope that you might score a TD. When you lose 8 yards and then you put in a new FG kicker who promplty yanks the ball way left, it makes no sense at all to just say "Well, Bama is the #1 defense in the country." That series would have been considered poor coaching even if the '85 Bears were on the other side of the ball.

And the above is just one example of my discontent.
 

Todd4State

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Mar 3, 2008
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Seriously, that's the main difference between us and the teams that have beaten us this year.

We actually have a decent QB situation for once, we have some good skill people, and we have a good defense. Our special teams could be shored up a little bit, but they're not horrible.

And to clarify, no- I'm not saying that if we had a good o-line that we would be 10-0 right now. I'm saying that we would be about 7-3 at worse with one with a convincing win over a probably bowl bound La Tech team thrown in there.

I'm actually more pissed off about the o-line situation than any play call that we've made this year. Croom should have recruited better and should have brought in more than two a year and Dan should have realized what was about to happen and bring in JUCO's LAST year. And ones that can play unlike Joey Trapp.
 

Incognegro

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Nov 30, 2008
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is the changing of the kickers, but even then... it's hard for me to disagree with the change since DePasquale has been struggling with his FGs these past few games. Personally, I think he should have kept him in, but I really don't have a big problem with him making that decision.<div>
</div><div>If you're bitching about play calling then you and I clearly didn't watch the same games. They ran good enough plays for us to score. It just came down to execution and a possibly missed pass interference play that could have been a td (not to mention Carmon not being able to settle down). Play calling on the goal line was not the problem by any means.</div><div>
</div><div>Hearing you guys talk about "poor coaching" this and "poor coaching" that sound like yall are just looking for something to ***** about and will felate Mullen when those plays actually work (which they could).</div>
 

triton28

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Dec 18, 2009
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I can assure you. while hud is at Ulala getting some "valuable head coaching experience" Dan is showing us what a seasoned one he is. Hud probably would have found a way to win that game last night.
 

Incognegro

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Nov 30, 2008
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His personaltherapist? How the 17 do you know Hud would not have gone for that? Hell, Saban is (from my viewpoint) in the top 3 coaches in the NCAA right now and he went for it on 4th and 1 around midfield as well. Even though Mullen was at 4th and 7, he almost got it, but just like Saban..came up short.<div>
</div><div>I could care less if you honestly prefer Hud over Mullen since that's your personal preference, but your fascination with Hud is becoming down right disturbing. I'm pretty sure you'd include yourself into the "extra incentives" in his salary were he our coach.</div>
 

Dawgzilla

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Mar 3, 2008
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3 false starts in one half. Inexcusable. Well coached players don't do that. I understood Carmon doing that in the first 2 games of the season, because he was new to the offense. In the 10th game of the season, your left tackle cannot do that. That is 100% on the coaches.

How can they keep dialing up fade routes to Bumphis? He is too short for that. I do not recall him ever successfully catching a ball on a fade route (I'm probably wrong on that, but I sure don't remember him catching an important pass on a fade route). There was 0% chance that play would work.

I was not entirely opposed to switching kickers, since DePasquale has been in such a slump. OTOH, wasn't that Egan's first ever FG attempt? You put him on the field against Alabama, with the game still close? Granted it was an easy enough kick that Egan should have made it, but I think it would have made more sense to let DePasquale use it as a confidence booster.

This team is poorly coached. I'm sorry you don't like to hear it, but the enormous number of mental errors they make is on the coaches. VERY late hits out of bounds, senseless PI calls, multiple pre-snap penalties, bad snaps on punts....those are all mental errors. Good teams....WELL COACHED team....don't make those same errors over and over again.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
54,438
22,467
113
mcdawg22 said:
Mullen knew we couldn't keep trading 3 and outs because their depth would come out on top. I think that's the reason we were so slow snapping the ball. By getting a first down there you give the D more time to rest.
We were down2 scores against maybe the best defense ever in college football. You're not going toget many chancesagainst them and you've got to takeyour chances when you get them.Not to mention, the play worked. Green dropped a perfect pass with no defender within 2 yards of him.
 

Dawgzilla

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Mar 3, 2008
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If your defense is playing well, then you punt and let your defense hold them to maintain field position.

I was only about 70/30 opposed to that decision, and I felt that way BEFORE the snap. I thought it was too early to put the game on the line like that, and by failing you were essentially negating the defense's short yardage stand on the previous series.

OTOH, if you're successful, you give the defense a rest and possibly give your team the momentum it needs. Heck, the pass should have been caught.
 

Shmuley

All-American
Mar 6, 2008
23,454
9,181
113
us continually miss on legit OL prospects who HAVE to be able to see how ****** we are there and KNOW that they will get early PT. How do we not get OL prospects? Makes no sense.

We also need legit playmakers on offense. Our WRs are average trending to below average. Bumphis didn't do **** last night. Totally disappeared.

I could not be more impressed with the job Wilson has done with this D. Our DL played a fantastic game last night. Very pleased.

And while I'm at it, it appears to me that Relf is just a big *****. Seriously. It's like he decided he didn't want to play, so he took himself out.
 

Incognegro

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Nov 30, 2008
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First off, I don't care how good of a coach you are, there are some things you just can't coach into a player. Carmon's inability to settle down is one of them. Sure, you can try to beat into him snap cadences but believe it or not, there are really some players that just have a hard time with snap counts. And that goes to your last point as well. **** like that shouldn't need coaching and saying that good teams don't do that is being foolish. Weren't we just talking about that inexplicable hit against the Vandy player by one of Arkansas' players? What about Mathieu's choke hold against one of Bama's? Anybody that uses the "good teams don't do 'blah blah'" is just resorting to falsified statements just to make themselves seem like they know more about what they're talking about.<div>
</div><div>Secondly, the ball hit Bumphis in the hands. That 0% chance is only true after the fact. Because it hit him in the hands, the play still had a good chance of happening before the outcome. Again... making up stats that you can't prove.</div><div>
</div><div>Not going to touch to the kicking situation since I already said I agreed that DePasquale still should have been out there. I'm just not upset about the switch even though Egan did miss it.</div>
 

triton28

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Dec 18, 2009
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But not just Hud- any good coach that has a brain punts the ball. You see, speaking of Hud, which you brought up- I am sure that there was a time at Winston Academy in 1998 when Hudspeth learned his lesson about **** like that. Maybe it happened at North Alabama, but my point is- you can pick any color or shade of lipstick you want, but that pig just ain't gonna get pretty. I have read it a million times on this board 1. Mullen is a young head coach, still learning. I'm sorry but thats not a good thing. You dont learn how to coach at a SEC west school making 2 million a year. Sure, it may be a good place for the coach to learn how to coach, but its bad for the poor team that has to watch him 17 up till he learns how to coach. When you make what Mullen is making, you should be past all that.

Saban going for it on fourth and inches was not even close to being the same situation.

Did you see what happened after Bama scored? We caught a break and scored a touchdown. That kind of **** happens. You play smart against a team like that until you catch a break. If we keep it 10 nothing, who is to say we dont catch a break? Maybe I really am a dubmass cause apparently I am in the minority here. But I cant wait till I can watch a game on tv (i work weekends) and not hear the announcers question our decisions.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
54,438
22,467
113
We were already down 10 to a defense that hasn't given up 10 points but twice all season (11 and 14 in blowout wins). If we were only down 1 score, then yeah, punt the ball. But you're not going to get 3 chances on Bama's side of the 50 in the 4th quarter so you can't afford to punt one away when you've got it. And as you mention, the pass should have been caught and everyone would be talking about what a great gutsy call Mullen made to go for it.
 

Incognegro

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Nov 30, 2008
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I just find it interesting that you honestly believe that **** about Hud not doing that same situation 100 out of 100 times. When you start saying **** like that it makes you look even moredelusionalthan we once thought you were.<div>
</div><div>I don't care how you paint it, Saban was faced with a 4th and 1 that almost converted. We were faced with a 4th and 7 that almost worked. Both at mid field. The only difference is the distance between the 1st down marker. We were down 2 scores against the 2nd best team in the nation who has depth flowing all across their side lines. You can't play conservative if you're an inferior team. I have no issue with him going for it on 4th since he's trying to do what ever he can to win. Had Green caught that (which he very well should have) no body would be bitching about it.</div><div>
</div><div>And you saying we caught a break is something that's not guaranteed. Just like I said previously, playing conservative hoping for breaks against the 2nd best team in the nation is foolish. You have to try to make your own breaks some times. That's what I consider good coaching. When you're willing to take gambles at opportune times. Hud may not have made that same decision, but I can assure you even he would make certain calls that may or may not work that even would make you question his sanity.</div>
 

Dawgzilla

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Mar 3, 2008
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Are you saying this team is well coached??? Do you have any examples to support such an assertion?

It is clear you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the coaches' responsibilies.

Yes, players make errors. Even the best players on the best teams will make mistakes. But just watch this MSU squad over the course of the season and take note of the constant stream of repeatedly making the same mental errors. It is the coaches' job to correct those errors.

False starts by lineman are the perfect examples. You drill this over and over and over again in practice. Every single snap of every single practice. Players run laps for failing to grasp it. It becomes a point of pride among the OL that they have the discipline to avoid false starts. If a lineman jumps off even once, he should be so ashamed of letting down his teammates that it doesn't happen a second time.

Now, even in the best of situations, a lineman is going to jump occasionally. Particularly if he has a player like Upshaw to block. So, it happens once, a coach has to make sure the player is properly motivated to avoid it happening again. Most coaches use fear and intimidation, but maybe some players respond better to positive reinforcement. Whatever it takes.

If he jumps a second time, you have a serious problem on your hands. If he is a trusted lineman that has performed well and is just having a bad game, then you threaten him with a benching if it happens again. If he is a player like Carmon, you go ahead and bench him.
 

Dawgzilla

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Mar 3, 2008
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If we cannot play conventionally and win, then lets just go whole hog unconventional.

There is a reason why conventional wisdom exists: it usually works. I was not totally opposed to going for it, I was just saying don't use the strong play of your defense as an excuse to go for it. If your defense really is playing well, then that is a reason to punt. Its not a reason to go for it.

I was less concerned about that 4th down call than a couple of other decisions Mullen made. I was 70/30 opposed to it. If the pass had been caught, I would have been relieved, but I still would have been opposed to the decision.
 

Incognegro

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Nov 30, 2008
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And I don't know if you noticed, but Carmon did get benched.<div>
</div><div>It is the coaches job to try to instill these principles in their players, but what a player does in a game doesn't always reflect theirpreparationin practice. It could be well possible that Carmon has the least amount of false starts than any of the lineman in practice and those same kicks that DePasquale misses, he makes in practice.</div><div>
</div><div>When a game is on the line, a player's nerves tend to escalate higher than it would in practice, and having them regulate their nerves is not something that can be coached. When I had my little stint on the team for a bit.. I can assure you.. They drill these things into the players. That's why I don't put his false starts on coaching. That's solely an issue with Carmon not settling down.</div>
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
54,438
22,467
113
Yeah, taking a very reasonable chance (that nearly worked and should have worked)is the same as completely changing our offense to something that's nowhere near suited to our personnel.</p>
 

triton28

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Dec 18, 2009
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Let me add that I have not accused you of having any male body parts in your mouth or attacked you personally, I believe in running a positive campaign, it pays off

Now here is your first point-

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">"When you start saying **** like that
it makes you look even moredelusionalthan we once thought you were" - Ok let me just add that I have been made out to be delusional for quite some time now and over the years, I get less and less of that talk as the days go by. You wouldn't believe how idiotic Costanza thought I was when I first mentioned Hudspeth. This was well before he began in D1 coaching (at State of all places). So I am ok with you calling me delusional.
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Point #2:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> "</span>The only difference is the distance between the 1st down
marker."- Not wasting my time with this one but thats a pretty big 17n factor when making a decision like that.
</p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal">

</p><p class="MsoNormal">3: "Had Green caught that (which he very well should have) no
body would be bitching about it." That's the problem with the call, if you don't convert its a catastrophe. Green didnt catch the ball and the game was officially over at that point. Glad Mullen got a good chuckle out of it by the way.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal">4. "hoping for breaks against the 2nd best team in the nation is
foolish." EXACTLY--- going for it there was asking for the break of all breaks. I will admit, we almost got it. But that's not good enough. If grandma had nuts she'd be grandpa. You have to think there. In order for us to do better than Memphis, La Tech, UAB, Kentucky, and UT Martin, we are gonna have to beat a team in our division. Alabama is a damn good team but last night, they were beatable.
</p>

<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>

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normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">.</span></p>

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normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
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Dawgzilla

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Mar 3, 2008
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That is inexcusable.

Whatever the coaches are doing, it clearly doesn't work with Carmon. And Carmon is just one example of the constant stream of mental errors this team makes. At a certain point you cannot just keep saying that all of the players are stupid.

I will grant you one thing, though: Bumphis did actually have a hand on that fade pass. I still think pitting Bumphis against Menzie on a fade route is a losing proposition, but since Menzie was late getting over there and isn't perfect, I will upgrade the play to having a 1% chance of success. Still not something I would have called.
 

Dawgzilla

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Mar 3, 2008
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Look, I was responding to DS, who said he was 50/50 on the decision, partly because the defense was playing so well. I was just pointing out that the defense playing well was actually an argument in favor of punting, not going for it.

You decided to jump on my use of the phrase "conventional wisdom" to step in and say you've got to do things unconventionally to upset Alabama. I think if you look back over our big upsets over the years, you will not find much evidence to support such a claim, so I just tried to come up with something very unconventional that I don't think would have worked.

My only real point was that strong defensive play means you should punt in that situation. Now, there are other reasons why going for it made sense, but strong defensive play is not one of those reasons.
 

Incognegro

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Nov 30, 2008
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I will apologize about all of the homoerotic jokes, but let me go ahead and get a couple of things straight...<div>
</div><div>I'm not calling you delusional for thinking that Hud is a better coach than Mullen (which he very well might be) I'm calling you delusional on you saying you know exactly what Hud would do. You don't. Stop kidding yourself.</div><div>
</div><div>As far as points 2, 3 and 4, I was talking about making your own breaks. if he did that when he was well in our territory then I'd say that would have been a foolish decision on his part. We were in mid field and needed to create some momentum for ourselves. That's just a break you have to take with a high risk/reward. I'm saying that just waiting for something to happen without doing for yourself is being too reserved in this type of game.</div>
 

muddawgs33

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Aug 28, 2007
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Are you saying this team is well coached??? Do you have any examples to support such an assertion?</span><div></div>
</span><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">
</span></font></div><div>[list type=decimal][*]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">Our defense is ranked 38th in the nation after losing 3 starters to the NFL....</span>[*]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">We had 3 penalties vs. Kentucky, 1 vs. USC, and 2 vs. UAB.... so the fact that you are blaming coaches for penalties is complete ******** unless you are saying our coaches coached fundamentals better in that 3 game span than they have in the other 7 games... I would also like to add that we have only had more penalties than the team we are playing only 1 time and that was against Auburn. Every other game we have had the same amount of penalties or less so I guess Saban, Miles, Richt, and Spurrier all suck at coaching as well... </span>[*]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">The fact that we have been in EVERY game this season despite playing 5 ranked teams...</span>[/list]</div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">
</span></font>

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Incognegro

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Nov 30, 2008
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I specifically said that it could be nerves more than it could be their intellect. Now you're just trying to put words in my mouth.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
54,438
22,467
113
Hell, you even disagree with it 30%. My point is, in most game you're right. But you don't beat a superior team without taking a few calculated risks and/or making a few big plays. Just lining up and trading punts with Bama is not going to beat them, unless you're LSU.But then again, Bama's not a superior team compared to LSU.