Overall I'm pleased with the direction of the program...

[maroonmania]

but one concern I do have is that so far under Mullen we've not shown the ability to be able to pull out a game in the 4th quarter when playing from behind. Haven't even done it once. Play well for the most part protecting a lead (though we didn't get it done Saturday after the go ahead FG) but once we get down in the 4th quarter we've so far shown NO ability to come back. Let's look at all the games that one late regulation touchdown drive could have won or at least tied the game for us:

LSU 2009
Auburn 2010
Arkansas 2010 (manufactured a tying FG to get OT but a TD would have gotten us the win)
Auburn 2011
South Carolina 2011

OK, only a 5 game sample where its come down to that and maybe its just the way the chips have fallen but given we had never been able to complete a late game winning TD drive before actually did make me feel very little hope of coming back once SC went up 14-10.

 

[aerodawg.sixpack]

We rarely even look ready for the hurry up offense if it is needed. I remember last year in the Arkansas game we barely got the field goal to tie it because players were taking forever to get there asses off the field.

But I felt the same way you did yesterday. Once Jeffrey caught that pass, I just knew deep down that the game was over. I still had hope and would never give up, but the fact that I can't feel optimistic about it is disappointing to me. I consider myself very optimistic and often hold out hope longer than I should.

 

[Incognegro]

He did win in the 4th against UAB after going behind 24 - 23. So it's happened once...

 

[jackstefano]

Once you get better QB play, those comebacks will happen. Pretty much as simple as that.

 

[Incognegro]

Our QB situation isn't the biggest problem. I really think the future is looking up for us there.

 

[00Dawg]

is the one I'm thinking about, that FG run-on was actually done to perfection.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Right now we are not 2 deep at some vital positions, especially on both sides of the line.

The day we get at least 2 deep on the OL and DL you will see some of these happen. The longer the big guys have to stay on the field, with less breathers, the more you see the 4th quarter lapses in blocking or DL penetration.

It can be done and I think we are a couple of years away from that simply because it takes a little time to develop the kind of quality line with depth that Bama and LSU have.

 

[Columbus Dawg]

someone gets injured. Continuity is huge for offensive linemen.

D-line, yeah, you need to rotate and we do. It's a great luxury when you don't have a dropoff like Bama and LSU. We had that once, in 1999.

We lost saturday because we are still looking for playmakers on the outside. Too bad Jason Croom's mom controlled his recruiting.

 

[maroonmania]

but it was against UAB of all people and we still didn't get a TOUCHDOWN drive to take the lead but rather a FG at around the 7 minute mark in the 4th quarter. So it wasn't like we were exactly down to our last opportunity.

 

[aerodawg.sixpack]

but there were players laying on the ground taking their sweet *** time to get up and off the field, not injured just on the ground because they had apparently been knocked on their ***. I guess someone could think it was done perfectly because it was successful, but it was snapped immediately after they got set. Had they done it to perfection, they would have had to wait about 7-8 seconds before snapping it to make sure there would be no time left after the kick.

It is all a matter of success with it, I think if the kick had been no good that everyone would have looked at it and realized it for the cluster17 that it was. But it was good and all was well.