I'm a MSU alum, fan, and devoted supporter of all things MSU. I have great appreciation for the dedication of the coaches and players that make MSU sports so fun to follow. I must admit however that my views are jaded a bit for those that get millions of dollars to do their jobs. For that sort of bling, no excuses are acceptable and all responsibility should be fully accepted for the tasks and performance of those in your charge. That being said, there have been observations that I've made over the years and shared with my friends and most of them agree with me wholeheartedly so I decided to share them here.
1-Running up the gut...repeatedly...very repeatedly. There must be a BOOK OF SECRETS hidden in the head coaches desk that every new football HC reads as LAW that includes the play schematic for running off tackle with either the RB or QB carrying the rock and the rule...run this play at least every 4 plays. This year's version started out with Schumpert wasting at least a down every series and against Bama it continued primarily with Dak. It was run so many times, the results were predictable to everyone in the stadium, especially with the dominance of the bama front 7. ADJUST is the word that comes to mind...do something else! Play action then a 20 yard strike to Bear maybe?
2-Razzle-dazzle and going for it: We saw 1 razzle-dazzle play against Bama that would have been successful had the transitions been clean but beyond that, nothing extraordinary was attempted, at least to the point that this somewhat educated observer noticed. Then on the 4th and 1 play, the crowd was hungrily growling GO FOR IT and we did, no one faults you for that one Dan Mullen. You, the players, and everyone in the stadium wanted that play to work to get something positive going. You have to assume success will come and do the things to make it possible, right?
3-Dak & short passes...I appreciate Dakota Prescott coming to my school and giving us all so many wonderful experiences, milestones, victories, and reasons to cheer. I hate the fact that he was so beat up last Saturday. I just watched the video on clarionledger.com of his post game talk, he's all scratched up. I know he was hurried so many times by Bama that checking down to option 4 or 5 receiver often didn't happen. It's too bad too, there were SEVERAL times when, from my seat in the upper deck, I saw receivers running free downfield with no one nearby, drooling for the chance to catch the ball and run to the maroon grass. BUT, more often than not, a pass was thrown to a receiver running a route that gained 5 yards. I don't know if this is the intention of the plays called or the lack of time to see the field but there were numerous chances that could have quickly changed the landscape of the game Saturday.
4-Ball carriers waiting for something to happen: I noticed several times Saturday that MSU ball carriers (RB from scrimmage, punt returners, KO returners) were running left or right trying to get around the edge and going a bit slow as they waited for "something" to develop. Then I notice the bama counterparts seemed to jump to full speed within a couple of steps of starting a run. Their guys didn't trot to the edge hoping to run down the sideline...they weren't looking around for a possible hole to cut through. Instead they seemed to outrun everyone to the sideline then down the field. I guess this is part of that strategy of making the smaller DBs make the tackle on big RBs, but it worked!
5-And my last comment didn't come up Saturday because we never were close enough for it to matter. For the $4M+ that we're paying Coach Mullen, he has to be a very serious student of the game. "Improving every week" is the mantra that we hear from his players and it should applicable to the coaches as well. He's one of the top paid practitioners of the profession but this doesn't put him above the need to learn new things at all. In my opinion, he should make some very serious investment in educating himself on clock management. Hire a consultant, study the tactics of others, etc. In Mullen's tenure some of the moves made on this topic are nuts. I forget which game this year it was when timeouts were being called after every play just before halftime when there was nothing at all gained by doing so. It was like a practice run on calling timeouts to save time but the other team, seems like it was Kentucky, had more than enough downs to kill the clock and make the timeouts irrelevant. No harm no foul in that case but WHY? There have been many instances in recent years that illustrate this as an unfamiliar concept to our coaches.
Just my 2c. I only share my amateur feedback because I want the team to be successful. A win against the HOGS and the TSUN Bearebels and a 9-3 record isn't what we all hoped for but in September but it probably results in New Years in Florida as a reward for all the hard work. With a bowl win the season can still reach 10 wins, better than most can say for sure!
HAILSTATE
