Smart Football on MSU's change to Mullen's spread offense...

[TR.sixpack]

From Smart Football:

Again, I like Dan Mullen, but this is a very strange article [the Clarion-Ledger article chronicling Byrne's research on the spread] to me. The administration basically went out to hire an offense and found a man, versus the other way around. Second, they did so as much for marketing purposes as for anything to do with the football bona fides. And third, like an investor who wanted to get into the market for "flipping houses" in 2006-2007 or into that "dotcom thing" in late 1999, their choice for "being different" was the spread, a philosophy that peaked as a way for underdogs to surprise favorites at least three or four years ago, if not further back.

I do think Mullen can be successful there, but I predict that the offense will be pretty mediocre this fall, if not bad at times. You just can't get a jump on people by being spread anymore -- it's just not that different considering what Florida, Auburn, and others around the country do -- and Mullen will have to build success the old fashioned way: by recruiting players and teaching them well. I think he can definitely do it, but I don't think there will be sudden manna from heaven in the way of fast and easy scoring this year as a byproduct from "being different."

The one thing Chris Brown may not realize is the spread is the kind of offense that fits the type of football player Mississippi regularly produces.

[Edit: added link]

 

[TR.sixpack]

From Smart Football:

Again, I like Dan Mullen, but this is a very strange article [the Clarion-Ledger article chronicling Byrne's research on the spread] to me. The administration basically went out to hire an offense and found a man, versus the other way around. Second, they did so as much for marketing purposes as for anything to do with the football bona fides. And third, like an investor who wanted to get into the market for "flipping houses" in 2006-2007 or into that "dotcom thing" in late 1999, their choice for "being different" was the spread, a philosophy that peaked as a way for underdogs to surprise favorites at least three or four years ago, if not further back.

I do think Mullen can be successful there, but I predict that the offense will be pretty mediocre this fall, if not bad at times. You just can't get a jump on people by being spread anymore -- it's just not that different considering what Florida, Auburn, and others around the country do -- and Mullen will have to build success the old fashioned way: by recruiting players and teaching them well. I think he can definitely do it, but I don't think there will be sudden manna from heaven in the way of fast and easy scoring this year as a byproduct from "being different."

The one thing Chris Brown may not realize is the spread is the kind of offense that fits the type of football player Mississippi regularly produces.

[Edit: added link]

 

[FlabLoser]

Hell, he doesn't understand that CL article, period. And it was a damn good article. We need to move beyond the boring, un-inspired, not-offensive-minded stuff that we've waded through most of the last 30-40 years.

And if it doesn't work, so what. What have we lost? It can't be any worse than what we've tried before.

 

[msudawg12]

"State hires Spread Offense as marketing strategy"

 

[thunderclap]

1. our offense this decade, has been borderline caveman, while everyone else in the country has adapted systems to athletes. Criticize that.

2. our staff, for this decade, has not taken advantage of offensive ingenuity, though Mississippi is filled with athletes that fit this system. Criticize that.

3. Mississippi State hires a coach who has been out of the college game for 17 years who shows early on he is out of touch with college football and the college football athlete of the 21st century. Nobody criticizes that.

4. State finally hires a young, tuned-in athletic director who then hires a young, tuned-in offensive coordinator who has been right at the heart of the development of the new wave of college football offenses. Criticize that.

5. Byrne admits that we set out to hire a football coach who is well-versed in the current trends of offensive football. Criticize that.

6. Our state is filled with athletes who apparently are looking for a system like this to play in. Criticize that.

7. We finally aim to put an offense with a defense. Criticize that.

In other words, exiting the Dark Ages is being criticized. Staying in the Dark Ages was criticized.

17 them.

 

[sixpackmafia]

it was put to me last night like this....... line up 2 wides to the left, 2 wides to the right, 1 in the slot.....the defense has to put a man on everyone of them and a safety (if not 2) which leaves the defense 5 up front vs 5 for the offense .... in the "3 yards and a cloud of dust" the offense is outnumbered by the defense, and if you dont have talent, you dont stand a chance if you are outnumbered. ......something along those lines

 

[patdog]

Among others, Byrne spoke with Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti and Boise State coach Chris Petersen.

Bellotti, now Oregon's AD, said he spoke with Byrne specifically about the spread, a variation of which he ran in Eugene. He recommended it to Byrne, citing three schools as good examples: Northwestern, Bowling Green and Utah. Mullen coached with Urban Meyer at Bowling Green and Utah.</p>

"It does certain things to a defense," Bellotti said. "With the combination of the spread approach and the option approach, it puts stress on the defense."</p>

Stricklin spoke with, among others, Texas A&M defensive coordinator Joe Kines, Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez.</p>

"Rich is the one who says if the defense is that fast, it doesnt matter what you run," Stricklin said. "If they're that much faster than what you have on offense, nothing's going to work.</p>

"So, the question becomes: Do you want to try to make five really fast guys miss you, or do you want to try to make one really fast guy miss you?"</p>

Stricklin said Kines told him that the spread requires more depth from an opposing defense, so that SEC speed might be mitigated by the end of the game by tired players on the other side of the ball. And Muschamp was "one of thoese guys who said that's exactly what you should be doing," Stricklin said.</p>

According to Stricklin, Muschamp felt the type of athletes needed to make the spread successful could be found in State's natural recruiting area</p>

Link to entire article

 

[RebelBruiser]

The other thing is that even if it was a marketing decision to bring in a spread coach (and part of me believes that had to at least be a consideration) it has worked so far, as evidenced by your spring game attendance. Your fans are craving anything other than 3 yards and a cloud of dust (or -1 yard and a cloud of dust if you're Croom). Byrne was smart enough to give that to you, and I'll bet that you'll have good crowds for the next 2-3 years win or lose. At that point, Mullen will either be winning or start winning, and you'll carry that momentum, or he'll not be a success, and you'll be looking to bring someone else in to generate more optimism.

 

[Shmuley]

Do you not f'n understand that many of us lifelong, forlorn state fans are essentially squirting runny feces on ourselves over the notion that we are about to behold an offense that is only 4 years out of date, when all we've ever known are offenses that are 40 years out of date? Do you not f'n get that, Christopher?

Sincerely,

The most abused fan base on the face of the planet

 

[TR.sixpack]

just the way Croom ran it/taught it.

 

[thunderclap]

we would take a "mediocre" offense any day. If Croom could have ever sniffed mediocre, he'd still be riding around in a golf cart thinking he was smarter than everybody else and making a cool 1.7 mil.

 

[KurtRambis4]

look national media guy that (once again) has no clue. It's not about one specific offense. It's about taking what you have at any given time (personnel wise) and finding a way for them to succeed. Our best chance to succeed with our lack of talented players (in relation to the UFs or USCs of the college football world) is by creating one on one matchups and creating mismatches. In order to do so we need an innovative leader (not crooms) to form an offense around this idea. Get serious and quit being and dubmass, *****.

 

[FlabLoser]

<span style="font-weight: bold;">Do you not f'n understand that many of us lifelong, forlorn state fans are essentially squirting runny feces on ourselves over the notion that we are about to behold an offense that is only 4 years out of date, when all we've ever known are offenses that are 40 years out of date?</span> Do you not f'n get that, Christopher?

Sincerely,

The most abused fan base on the face of the planet

Post of the week.

 

[Coach34]

nobody criticized Crooms awful coaching but now they want to write **** like that? Where was this kind of **** 3-4 years ago?

 

[Todd4State]

is that the players are the ones that make the spread work rather than you just install the spread and you magically become better.

I think most people at least agree with him somewhat, or we all think our defense is going to be horrible- I think 5-7, 6-6 is the party line for most on here.

He seems like he's talking more about us marketing the spread, but it's no different than Georgia Tech's "The Perfect Option" campaign last year.

I do think he is a little off base about us hiring an offense rather than a coach.

 

[paindonthurt_]

We should strive to win. Rugby style, spread pass, spread option, wishbone, WC, etc. I would take 3-2 VICTORIES all year if we were constantly having winning records.

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

We've been through a lot down here

 

[Mjoelner]

I thought this was intresting and totally discounts this guy. He should be writing about kickball instead of football.

their choice for "being different" was the spread, a philosophy that <font color="#336699"><font color="#FF0000">peaked</font> as a way for underdogs to surprise favorites at least three or four years ago</font>, if not further back.

Ahhh. Hasn't this offense won 2 of the last 3 National Championships plus turned a 2-star recruit whose claim to fame was that he was Reggie Bush's high school QB into the #1 overall NFL pick?

and, as the orignal poster stated:

The one thing Chris Brown may not realize is the spread is the kind of offense that fits the type of football player Mississippi regularly produces.

Even though it was after his time, could you imagine McNair in his college prime running the spread? Holy $%#&!

 

[TR.sixpack]

It's not going to sneak up on anyone. MSU isn't going to be the only spread team on another team's schedule, like say WVU or Northwestern would've been 4-5 years ago. However, I think it's a better fit for Mississippi athletes, rather than having to wait on a once-a-decade pro-style QB fall in our laps.

 

[MSUCostanza]

it hasn't been unique in quite a few years. But it still works. So there must be something to it.

 

[dbb49]

that it was our administrator's comments about searching for uniqueness that struck him as odd -- not whether or not the offense was a good fit. He goes on to express strong approval of the hire in the comments section.

 

[patdog]

We will never again see the day when teams lined up with 2 RBs, 2 WRs and 1 TE again. Of course offenses will change and evolve over time, but they will always retain the basic spread concept.

 

[Guy From Gulfport]

When the "Spread Offense" is no longer innovative, will our coach be? Say 10 years down the road at MSU, or anywhere else, the defenses catch up to the spread. Does Dan Mullen have enough foresight to gradually change the offense to keep it unique?

 

[Mjoelner]

I see your point with the McNair thing saying that's why he says that its basically old hat but you still can't argue with what spread offenses have done just in the past few years. Not only 2 championships but Alex Smith (a nobody) as a #1 pick. Instead of him saying that the spread is has-been, I think he should focus on the fact that it was invented and implemented about 5 or 6 years too late. You can stop any offense after you study it. Ask Emory about the wishbone. Ask the Dolphins about the 'wildcat' last year which started off for them like a house on fire then ended up in a heap of crap and them having to rely on Pennington's weiny arm. The thing with the spread is, a scheme alone won't stop it. You have to have the talent along with the scheme to stop it. Of course you do have to have the talent to run it too. That's why I'm not expecting much this year. Two years from now is when I'll actually be expecting us to push for a good bowl.

However, I think it's a better fit for Mississippi athletes, rather than having to wait on a once-a-decade pro-style QB fall in our laps.

We agree 100% on this point. FINALLY, for the first time in 5 years I won't call the game over if we don't score first. We may not win a damn game but at least the first time since Norwood was here, I have hope that we may actually score on any play.

 

[Mjoelner]

1. Even though Mullen is a 'spread' guy, unlike Croom he has already stated that we'll run an offense that fits our talent.

2. Mullen said early on that there are elements of his offense that he never put in at Utah or Florida. I think he already has other things planned if/when we consistantly run up against defenses with skill players faster and more athletic than ours (yes, I know we're used to running into situations like that at MSU but I think in a couple of years, our offense will catch up if not surpass most of the defenses we face in speed). Defensive speed does more to stop the spread than scheme does.

 

[Hooston728]

This is the right move no matter what any talking head says. It has already paid off. Im not going to say we have the same talent as a Florida but we have players that have the potential to develop on that level. Fast, elusive football players who have the quickness to make me people miss is what makes a college football player a first round draft pick. Throw ball, catch ball, run with ball towards paydirt. It is the most simple yet the most sensible way to play to the game. </p>

 

[Todd4State]

It's not going to sneak up on anyone. MSU isn't going to be the only spread team on another team's schedule, like say WVU or Northwestern
would've been 4-5 years ago. However, I think it's a better fit for Mississippi athletes, rather than having to wait on a once-a-decade pro-style QB
fall in our laps.

Tyler Russell may finally be that QB. But that said, if he was coached by McCorvey/Croom, there's no way in hell that he would make it to the NFL. Same thing for Jackie.

If Russell makes it to the league, a big part of it will be because of the coaching he got from Mullen.

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

I personally think it's up to the player. Does he have the talent, and is he driven to make the most of that talent. I think college coaches are great but I give the credit to the NFL players for their accomplishments. In fact, the importance of individual performance seems to me to be one of the outstanding differences between college and pro ball.

Is there a player with NFL talent that Croom screwed up as far as getting to the league? A lot of really great college talent does not end up being realy great NFL talent. I think the NFL is more objective: size, strength, footspeed, reaaction time, raw athletic instinct. Some of this **** I've never looked at as coachable. Athletes gotta have their own hearts. And their own muscles.

I have a lot of respect for the knowledge and observation you usually bring to your posts. But this just seems to be a flippant join-in of the board pile on of Coach Croom.

It should be a damned interesting football season. Hope we both enjoy it.

 

[GloryDawg]

It's not going to sneak up on anyone. MSU isn't going to be the only spread team on another team's schedule, like say WVU or Northwestern
would've been 4-5 years ago. However, I think it's a better fit for Mississippi athletes, rather than having to wait on a once-a-decade pro-style QB
fall in our laps.

Tyler Russell may finally be that QB. But that said, if he was coached by McCorvey/Croom, there's no way in hell that he would make it to the NFL. Same thing for Jackie.

If Russell makes it to the league, a big part of it will be because of the coaching he got from Mullen.

I don't know if Jackie would have recruited Russell as a QB. He tended to recruit QB's as DB's and WR. Jackie was old school, line up and pop them in the mouth, keep it close and win with a field goal. That brand of football might be out of date but I am not so sure that it wouldn't work if you have a good defense.