Thoughts on team thus far....

[thekimmer]

Best thing we can say is we got a win and that is never a bad thing.

Fitz locked up #1 on the dept chart. Looked great running the ball, in fact he is the only real ground threat we have. Just hope we can keep him healthy running that much. Made some pretty good throws but made a couple of really terrible ones.

We have a serious liability in the backfield.

For the second game in a row we disappeared offensively in the second half. At least we were able to hang on to this one. Cannot continue trend of scoring just 3 pts in second half.

I guess those occasional WTH decisions are just part of Mullen's DNA. The fake punt was just the latest installment. Reminded me of the ogre going for it on 4th down at mid field in what turned out to it be his last egg bowl. Why risk providing an opportunity for a beaten down team to get back into the game? Plus it was counter intuitive to the supposed strategy of running clock in the second half. Also, terrible sequence on 1st and goal at the 2 netting -2 yds on 3 plays culminated by inexplicably going for it on 4th down at the 4. Just awful.

Defense looked pretty solid. Dline especially. The secondary still concerns me a bit and we whiffed on multiple 4th down conversions.

We actually have a chance at LSU especially if fournette is still out. Not a real good one but it is a chance.

 

[missouridawg]

I'm sorry but you can't have it both ways. You either ask your head coach to create a 2nd half spark (fake punt) or you stay content with bad 2nd halves.

Kudos to Mullen for trying something to jolt the team in the 2nd half.

 

[57stratdawg]

We look faster this year. We've pretty consistently beat teams to the edge which hasn't really been a big part of the Mullen era. I don't see much push G-C-G; that's the only thing missing from our ground game. Sending Holloway through there probably doesn't help things, but the OL has exceeded my expectations so far this year.

LSU has to be as big of a mystery as we are. Mullen wants big bodies on D. It matches up well with LSU ever year. I think we'll hold up fine on that side of the ball. Can we score 27 though?

 

[patdog]

There's a huge difference between not going into a shell on offense and going for a fake punt on your own side of the field with a 24-0 lead. There are 3 other downs to get 10 yards. Get those yards then.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

While we did not score much

our O did eat up a good bit of the clock, in the second half.

And the D looks more like a swarm of bees, getting after it.

Both positives.

 

[rugbdawg]

Your logic makes no sense. Why not just leave your offense on the field then? Chances are better.

Our play calling and personnel usage in the 3rd quarter was the worst in the Mullen era. Light a fire by being aggressive. Not stupid. See early decision to forego FG attempt and fake punt.

 

[Drebin]

There's a huge difference between not going into a shell on offense and going for a fake punt on your own side of the field with a 24-0 lead. There are 3 other downs to get 10 yards. Get those yards then.

I'm fine with it. If you were there, Dan gathered the entire team on the field before the second half kickoff and was his old yelling, screaming, hat-throwing self. As he said in the post game, he was concerned with their intensity level coming out of the locker room. I see that fake punt as an attempt to fire the team up and get momentum rolling. In that case, I think it was a good call.

 

[Msubulldogfan1]

I guess if I have a complaint, going for it on 4th down instead of taking the FG was stupid. Always go up 2 scores if you can.

 

[DudyDog]

I wasn't crazy about the fake punt. But i absolutely hated the actual play itself. Let's let probably the slowest player on the team try to run 15 yards to get us a first down. I know it wasn't 4th and 15, but from where he was standing he had to run about 15 yards. If you're going to fake it, I just thought it could have been a better play called.

 

[Dawgg]

The fake punt. There was an hour plus delay.

In the first half, our team was fire and our fans were raucous.

I think there was a fear that the extended delay may have killed some of the edge and momentum (Dan tweeted fans during halftime to come back to the stadium) and he wanted to do something to get everybody moving again. I'm also guessing he wasn't in the mood to turn the vanilla play-calling and field position game on after what happened last week.

He gambled. It didn't pay off. I'd much rather he do that when we're up by three possessions than one or two. I didn't hate the call.

Also, going for it on 4th instead of the chip shot field goal. This year, like past years, for this team, 'chip shot field goal' is an oxymoron. You could make the argument that we were just as likely to to get into the endzone as we were to get it between the uprights.

 

[Digging dog]

First full game for our QB and he breaks the all time rushing record. I've said that again and it still hasn't sunk in.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

I'm fine with it. If you were there, Dan gathered the entire team on the field before the second half kickoff and was his old yelling, screaming, hat-throwing self. As he said in the post game, he was concerned with their intensity level coming out of the locker room. I see that fake punt as an attempt to fire the team up and get momentum rolling. In that case, I think it was a good call.

Agreed on all points. I was there. Mullen fired my *** up seeing that pre-kick intensity. The head scratching thing is...that fervor seemed to die, along with our opening offensive drive, with the Holloway Truffle Shuffle behind center play calls.

 

[rugbdawg]

Graves was a hell of a kicker last year and will be a hell of a kicker this year. You're an idiot.