My issues with Mullen

[Dawgfann1977]

When we hired Mullen we supposedly hired a great Offensive mind.Looking at his history with QB's and offense at BGSU, Utah, and the way he handled the Leak/Tebow situation had us all foaming at the mouth about what he could do at MSU. Fact of the matter is, we are not a very good offensive team with Dan! As I watch what Petrino is doing at ARK, watching OSU this season, watching Baylor last night, and what Houston has done this year just makes me sick. In the three years since Mullen has been here we have regressed offensively in play calling, we still dont have a threat at WR (Morrow is not the answer folks), and he make horrendous decisions at times (ie fake punts, going for it on 4th down, and inserting Farve). Its also been said that Mullen was not a great recruiter when he was at UF and other places, so what did he do? He surrounded himself with friends from the Northeast, instead of going out and getting great recruiters with ties to the area. He did a good job with Hughes, Knox, Wilson, and Collins, but hiring Smith(past his prime), Koenning, Salich, Hervesy(better coach than recruiter), and Mirando were reaches.
If ,and at this time its a BIG BIG IF, Mullen is going to succeed, he needs to overhaul some assistants and revamp this offense. Go out and get the the OC fromHouston, FIU, or lets pony up some money andget the OC from Clempson. I know Teabow is not coming to State, but we can go out and get the same type of players that Baylor gets, Houston gets, we can get some skill players like ARK has. To do this Mullen and co need hit the JUCO's and as some have already alluded to go out and get some west Texas/Houston kids, ATL kids, and Florida kids. Guys this aint rocket science, Mullen is making it harder than it is. We are paying his *** 2.6 million and what is our return on investment, 6-6?? Give some of that money back and lets get some assistants!!

 

[Mutt the Hoople.buhoops]

The Mississippi State University lost to:<div>-The Top Three BCS teams in the country. Only one of them was a complete blowout, and that was a game in Little Rock, where we've never played well.</div><div>-The current SEC East Champ, a team that if they get Isaiah Crowell back healthy, could possibly beat the SEC West champ.</div><div>-Last year's SEC East Champ, who we could've beaten.</div><div>-Last Year's National Champion, who we should've beaten.</div><div>
</div><div>6-6 isn't what we expected, but I'll take it for now. Maybe next year, maybe the year after that and Mullen will have us winning 8-9 a year easy.</div>

 

[eurotrash]

He's paid well to minimize game-day mistakes and make wise recruiting choices. I think he's a good coach but I'm not sure if he's $2.6 million good. Haven't lost faith, though. Next two years should give us answers.

 

[Dawgfann1977]

The Mississippi State University lost to:
<div>-The Top Three BCS teams in the country. Only one of them was a complete blowout, and that was a game in Little Rock, where we've never played well. </div><div>-The current SEC East Champ, a team that if they get Isaiah Crowell back healthy, could possibly beat the SEC West champ.</div><div>-Last year's SEC East Champ, who we could've beaten.</div><div>-Last Year's National Champion, who we should've beaten.</div><div>
</div><div>6-6 isn't what we expected, but I'll take it for now. Maybe next year, maybe the year after that and Mullen will have us winning 8-9 a year easy.</div>

Valid on all points. I can takethe loss to LSU, 19-6, I can take the loss to UGA on the road, I can take the loss to Bama, but what pisses me off is the loss to a very average Auburn team that we should have beaten, a home loss to a USC team that begged us to beat them,and getting blown out against ARK when there D was statiscally not very good.

 

[Dawgzilla]

MSU's schedule this year is kind of weird. We have played 6 teams in the Top 25, and lost to all of them (and there is still no excuse for losing to Auburn).

We have also played/will play 6 pretty awful teams. Our non-conference schedule was creampuff, and I thought UK was one of the worst SEC teams ever until I saw UMiss play.

Our W/L record is not much of a barometer for where this team is right now. We might know much about this team until after the bowl game.

So, instead of just looking at the opponents and the scores, we have to actually look at the quality of play on the field to try to determine what type of progress this team might be making. It really does no good to say "Well, we lost to the top 3 teams in the BCS rankings, what do you expect?" What I expect is for us to compete with those teams. We kept the LSU and Bama games respectable, I guess, but the outcome was never really in doubt. I expect us to at least put a little scare in one or two of those teams.

I will give Mullen credit for beating the crappy teams. This is more than Croom ever did, and even Jackie was good for about one head scratching loss per year. I actually agree with Mullen when he says it is difficult to win a Division 1 game. Upsets abound, and so far he has avoided the embarrassing upsets.

OTOH, he's got to get the team more competitive. I do not accept these claims that we should not expect to be competitive due to our talent level. We have ALWAYS been outmanned in the SEC, and yet our teams have managed to score upsets once in a while. And - contrary to what a lot of people on this board claim- those upsets are NOT the result of thinking unconventionally and running a bunch of trick plays and going for it on 4th down. The team just gets up and plays hard.

Also, I don't want to claim that Mullen has NEVER upset a team or played a good team closely. Just think about 2009: close calls with LSU and Houston, and then 41-27. Even in 2010, the win over Florida was big, and taking Arkansas to OT was pretty big.

This year has not been very satisfying, particularly given the preseason expectations. Expectations that Mullen encouraged.

 

[shotgunDawg]

I think Mullen is a very good coach that really for better or worse sometimesthinks outside the box, and I think that is necessary at MSU. In my opinion, the biggest mistake that was made happened this time last year when Mullen was either unable to recruit a few decent JUCO offensive lineman, or misevaluated our current guys and decided we were fine. Either way, with that and the loss of Tobias Smith, we just simply can't block anyone. Mullen was a genius last season, and didn't get dumb over night. Offensive line is the single most important part of an offensive scheme. Playcalling doesn't matter, and QB play cannot really even be evaluated with a poor offensive line. You can win with a bad QB if you have a good running back, and O-Line. Bama does it every week. You can win with bad receivers if you have a great running game and QB, but you CANNOT move the ball with a poor offensive line. People who blame play calling just simply have no idea what they are talking about. Our problem is fixed for next year if we hit on a few JUCO O-lineman, and our problem is fixed in the future by recruiting better on the O-line. Everything else is complimentary.