SPD's random thoughts from the road......

[War Machine Dawg]

In no particular order:

1. We were clearly the better team. We were stronger, faster, more physical, better conditioned, you name it.
2. We played balls to the walls for 4 quarters.
3. Special teams were a little scary on return, but we had "good" kicks by our standards this season. The blocked punt woulda made The Kang proud.
4. Anyone know why we didn't try to advance the blocked punt? Or at least jump on it to save a few yards? Probably cost us 7, not that it wound up mattering.
5. The two most important assistants on our staff are Matt Balis and John Hevesy. The turnaround the OL has made in 2 years has been amazing.
6. Speaking of Hevesy, his wife is hot. I know, worthless without pics. Whatever.
7. Perk is the Truth.
8. Brandon Heavens: DAMN. Highlight of the day. Should make Sportscenter Top 10 Plays, though I doubt it will.
9. The Big 10 continues to prove they shouldn't be a BCS Conference. OSU should be scared to death of Arkansas.
10. We're a better offense without Chad Bumphis. Fire away, I know you want to. I stand by it until proven otherwise.
11. We scored 31 points in the first half. When is the last time an MState team did that without a little defensive help?
12. If you give our coaching staff a month to prepare, it's over. I can't ever remember saying or thinking that about an MSU staff. Superb game plan, ruthlessly executed.
13. This group of seniors deserves a ton of credit. From putting up with Crxxms to buying into Mullen's vision then working their asses off to make it happen. Hell of a way to go out.
14. Michael Carr: 1st career TD, in the Gator Bowl, on New Year's Day, against Michigan. Think he'll always remember his first TD?
15. After the first quarter, our D was crazy good.
16. Denard Robinson can play. What I was really impressed with was his burst when he got into the open. You just can't see it until you're watching him in the stadium.
17. GREAT crowd. I expected us to bring a big crowd and was still surprised. Seems like most got the memo about wearing maroon today. Now if our fans could just figure out how to shut up when we're on offense.
18. He may leave tomorrow, but Mullen seems like he genuinely wants to be here. Of course, if Penn State comes calling, all bets are off. I think that's a Cohen-UK-MSU situation for us.
19. Yes, Michigan is a little down. But it's still Michigan. Don't talk down a huge, huge win for this program.
20. The extra bowl practices are going to be huge for the freshmen this spring. Throw in the win, and we've got serious moment for the spring and fall. And finally....

21. Chris Relf. Where do I begin? That was the best game of his career. His decision making was nearly flawless. Passing was crisp and on target. His running was what we've come to expect. The only play he really "missed" was when he was scrambling for his life, missed the WR wide open in the zone, and threw it away. And even that can't really be complained about. Most of the year, Relf would have thrown it up for grabs and gotten it picked. Throwing it away may have cost us some yardage, but it was excellent game management considering the pressure he got. Anyone who still thinks Tyler Russell needs to play is a fool who doesn't know a damn thing about football. Period. This is clearly Chris Relf's team and offense. He just makes it happen, even if it isn't always pretty. He's always had the physical tools, but it seems the game experience and the mental aspects of the position are finally starting to catch up. And that, my friends, makes for a hell of a QB, as we saw today. The extra practices obviously helped him. With his work ethic and another spring and summer to continue improving, I'm very excited about what he might be able to accomplish next season. Other than Aaron Murray and maybe Tyler Bray, I don't know another returning QB in the SEC that's better right now. Garcia is way too erratic. Relf for pre-season All-SEC? I wouldn't be shocked.

 

[therightway]

nm

 

[Frances Drebin]

...you aren't allowed to say anything negative about Bumphis. I was castigated for calling him overrated earlier this year. I wouldn't go so far as to say we're a better team without him, but I do think we're better off at least with Perkins returning kicks and punts.

 

[FlabLoser]

I think when Bump plays, the offense thinks it needs to feature him. Truth is Bump is talented, but not head and shoulders more than other guys on the roster. I think what you are seeing now is other receivers getting a fair chance rather than trying to force something to Bumphis, whom the defense keys on precisely because we attempt to feature him.

Relf...there was a lot to be impressed about. One new thing I saw from him today was pocket presence. He had a real good feel for how long he could stand there before running or throwing the ball away. Even when Michigan rushed only 3 and he had 5 minutes to look around, when the protection finally broke, he felt that and ran or protected the football.

 

[esplanade91]

Bingo.

Chad Bumphis = Reggie Bush. Both are F-R-E-A-K athletes and will embarrass any team on any given day, but I feel like both are more of a "threat". The potential is there, and that's what's scary.

And just like Reggie, I don't think Mississippi State uses Bumphis correctly. (Reggie from RB to WR, Bumphis from WR to RB/WR hybrid)

But with State stepping up in the passing game Bumphis might become the next Eric Moulds.

 

[Statefan]

Regardless, at least he had an awesome block

 

[mrmiyagi.sixpack]

Hope you boys had a good time in Jacksonville this week. I sure as hell did. They got plenty of good bbq and cold beer

 

[therightway]

nm

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Bumphis is a talented guy but he doesnt have the speed to be great and lots of times he looks a tad slow.

 

[mrmiyagi.sixpack]

However, I was fortunate to stumble upon a little jewel of a concession stand over there by the east sideof the stadium. That old boy was selling cajun red hots and the hottest tamale you'd ever want to tangle with. EM HMMM Only problem was bout half way through the third quarter I had to make a visit to the john. I feel sorry for the brave soldier that walked in there after meand the stadium cleaning crew.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

You got to the heart of my point. Bump is talented. No one in his right mind would deny that. But as Drebin points out, he's overrated at this point. He doesn't have stellar hands and jukes too much instead of catching it, making one move, and going downfield. Look at Perk he jukes, but he does it while going north-south. Same for Heavens.

As you point out, the problem is we try to feature Bump and force it too him way too much. Guys like Perk, Chris Smith, Secret Weapon, and Heavens have all needed more touches. Hell, even Ricco and Carr made some good plays when given a chance today. Bump's value isn't in touching it every 17ing time we throw. His value is in touching it maybe 8-10 times a game within the game plan, like dare I say, Percy Harvin at UF. He'd be so much more explosive in a more limited role. FL didn't focus on Harvin that much. They spread the ball around and when Harvin touched it, he was free to make a big play. Plus, I feel like the coaches use Bump as a crutch and it makes for lazy, predictable play calling. We're better off when we're distributing the ball to all our weapons than when we're focusing on Bump. That's all I was saying. And if you look at the numbers we've put up on a per game basis before he got hurt and after he got hurt, I'd be willing to bet we're averaging much more as an offense. I know the passing numbers have certainly seen a dramatic increase. Hopefully our coaches are learning this lesson.

 

[esplanade91]

I wasn't saying Bumphis is Reggie. Reggie is by far one of the best football players to ever play the college game. But as a Saints fan, they have both come up short in the same sense. So much hype, so much talent no one gets to see (only referring to the NFL in Reggie's case).

But you can't argue, both are identical in the return game. Which is why both are the flashiest ~4 yards per return players you'll ever see.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

The one I watch sucks at returns. Bush has broken a few for TDs in his NFL career. Bump has yet to break a return for a TD. It isn't a "flashy" 4 yard return. It's awful. He just isn't good in the return game. Perkins, Berry, and Langston were all better than him at it this season. The guy tries to juke everyone without ever getting downfield. He hasn't figured out this isn't HS anymore. He's got to make one move at most and cut it up. That's what the other guys I mentioned do, and that's why they're better at returns.

 

[Requiem For A Dawg]

*

 

[esplanade91]

The one I watch sucks at returns. Bush has broken a few for TDs in his NFL career. Bump has yet to break a return for a TD. It isn't a "flashy" 4 yard return. It's awful. He just isn't good in the return game. Perkins, Berry, and Langston were all better than him at it this season. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The guy tries to juke everyone without ever getting downfield.</span> He hasn't figured out <span style="font-weight: bold;">this isn't HS anymore</span>. He's got to make one move at most and cut it up. That's what the other guys I mentioned do, and that's why they're better at returns.

Reggie Bush. He hasn't taken one back since '08 in Minnesota. (Of course, that could not be true. But for the sake of argument... I'm going with it.)

Both suck at returns. We could sum up this Reggie/Chad thing by saying: "Chad hasn't figured out he isn't in HS anymore, Reggie hasn't figured out he isn't in college anymore. More specifically, the Pac-10".

 

[shsdawg]

Reggie's game was pure speed. Everybody has speed in the NFL.

 

[Todd4State]

The problem was he was considered our best WR and offensive threat at the beginning of the year, and that allowed teams to key in on him more, and he also may have put a lot of pressure on himself to be the man as well, and he may have tried to do too much at times.

Losing Leon Berry and Marcus Green didn't help him either.

If Carr, Chris Smith, and Perkins had been the players that they are now at the beginning of the year- and I'm not blaming them or anyone because players devleop at different times and the light comes on at certain times for players- it would have helped Bumphis out some.

And yes, Chad does dance around too much, and he needs to work on that. And let's not forget- he is a sophomore. He should get better and has some developing to do himself, and I think he will.

 

[CivilEngineerDog]

On kickoffs when the other deep man gets the ball, he will not ever block someone-he just runs up field and watches the play.

 

[BoDawg.sixpack]

Also, I think we also relied on Bumphis alittle too much as a freshmenand he got wore down some. What he needs is to gain another 10 to 15 lbs of solid muscleto increasehis toughnessand thento drop another 10th off his 40 yd dash. When we put Chad on the field with Green, Brassell, and Carr he will be much more productive because safeties are going to be forced to cover other people.