Most posters know that I have been on the Russell bandwagon from the get-go. I'll be the first to say that I was proud of how Prescott played yesterday. He keeps the ball too much on the read-option, but that's fixable with time. However, the issue has never been quarterback play (which is amazing to say as a State fan). The issue is coaching. We are completely unprepared to win. Period.
Example 1: No planning.
Think about this for a second. Is Russell a running threat? No. But Mullen and company have known he'd be their starter for at least two seasons since 2000 and 17ing NINE! They've had 3 seasons ('09, '10, & '11) to slowly tailor the offense to suit Russell. We're not talking about a complete overhaul. Just slowly introducing more pro-style formations and plays so that they had a suitable offense for Russell in 2012 & 2013. Did they do this? No, they just kept jamming that square peg in the round hole like a bunch of 17ing morons. On top of that, we foolishly burned Shumpert's redshirt so that he could carry the load against Alcorn High and get one 17ing carry against Auburn. Why? I have no 17ing clue.
It shows a complete lack of planning.
Example 2: Dumb game management. We leave points on the table (see 1st quarter extra point). We tighten up and play scared in tight games. Sometimes we win like that (UF '10) but most of the time it hurts us (last week). We either wasted timeouts by not using them in the first half (LSU '11) or throw them away like Saturday. We wasted a 4th quarter timeout trying to get Auburn to jump offsides in their own 17ing building (everyone in the stadium knew we wouldn't snap it). A timeout we could have used to reset our defense when they were gashing us on that last drive. We go for it on 4th down on our own 20 and then punt it when it's 4th and 2 on their 40. That back-and-forth crap is what someone in over their head does.
Bottom line, we get out-coached on almost every Saturday.
If this continues, he will lose the locker room and we'll have a post-2000 Sherrill situation on our hands. Let's not forget that we are 2-7 over our last nine. We can try and sugar coat it all we want, but beating Troy and Bowling Green is not going to change anything. We had a better team last Saturday and we lost. That was the one thing Mullen did (not lose to inferior teams) and now he doesn't do it anymore. If he doesn't turn it around, it's time to look somewhere else. We're paying him too much to do otherwise.
Example 1: No planning.
Think about this for a second. Is Russell a running threat? No. But Mullen and company have known he'd be their starter for at least two seasons since 2000 and 17ing NINE! They've had 3 seasons ('09, '10, & '11) to slowly tailor the offense to suit Russell. We're not talking about a complete overhaul. Just slowly introducing more pro-style formations and plays so that they had a suitable offense for Russell in 2012 & 2013. Did they do this? No, they just kept jamming that square peg in the round hole like a bunch of 17ing morons. On top of that, we foolishly burned Shumpert's redshirt so that he could carry the load against Alcorn High and get one 17ing carry against Auburn. Why? I have no 17ing clue.
It shows a complete lack of planning.
Example 2: Dumb game management. We leave points on the table (see 1st quarter extra point). We tighten up and play scared in tight games. Sometimes we win like that (UF '10) but most of the time it hurts us (last week). We either wasted timeouts by not using them in the first half (LSU '11) or throw them away like Saturday. We wasted a 4th quarter timeout trying to get Auburn to jump offsides in their own 17ing building (everyone in the stadium knew we wouldn't snap it). A timeout we could have used to reset our defense when they were gashing us on that last drive. We go for it on 4th down on our own 20 and then punt it when it's 4th and 2 on their 40. That back-and-forth crap is what someone in over their head does.
Bottom line, we get out-coached on almost every Saturday.
If this continues, he will lose the locker room and we'll have a post-2000 Sherrill situation on our hands. Let's not forget that we are 2-7 over our last nine. We can try and sugar coat it all we want, but beating Troy and Bowling Green is not going to change anything. We had a better team last Saturday and we lost. That was the one thing Mullen did (not lose to inferior teams) and now he doesn't do it anymore. If he doesn't turn it around, it's time to look somewhere else. We're paying him too much to do otherwise.
