Moorhead never saw this as "the year".

[Dawgzilla]

Moorhead's not saying it. The OP is just making stuff up.

 

[mount lefroy]

He is...it isn't going to get any better.

We are MSU and made a serious mistake....such is our life.

Waaa

 

[esplanade91]

What everyone is underestimating is how talented we are now. All the talk of Joe is doing good for a 1yeR coach getting 8 wins is misguided. He has more talent now than he probably ever will.

I would argue that we're not, though. If the season ended today and hypothetically everyone was eligible for the draft, of our skill positions on offense only Hill likely gets drafted (late...... MAYBE) and Williams probably gets a camp invite to the positions they currently play. Not one of our receivers or TE's get looks, and our QB is probably invited to a team to work out at WR and TE that doesn't NEED WR's or TE's (i.e. someone with the luxury) and would get cut before the 2nd preseason game.

This isn't a 2018 issue. There's a reason why almost everyone else in the SEC has more non-linemen playing in the NFL than Mississippi State. We've historically gotten by by the grace of close proximity to above average non-skill high school players which have historically granted State the ability to field competitive teams against our P5 schools. Mullen's lazy *** recognized this in year one and convinced all of us to reward this "coach them up" philosophy.

I know the vast majority of people on this board fall into the "I don't care about the NFL" crowd, and that's fine, but interest in your skill players is a great non-biased gauge of how talented you think your team is. And it's not exactly a great look that USM and UAB have more RB's and WR's from the last 5 years alone playing in the NFL than we do. We can't expect to beat Alabama with a great defense and a "we beat UT-Chattanooga out for half of these players" offense when even Alabama's undrafted free agents have the ability to put up 100+ receiving yards in an NFL game as Robert Foster did yesterday. Meanwhile the best receiver we've had in 30 years can't graduate from a practice squad for a team devoid of WR talent.

My point: it's a shame that the defensive and offensive talent didn't sync up in what would have been a magical year. I'm optimistic that Joe is realistic and knows that this team isn't as great as fans' expectations and learned a valuable lesson from his predecessor's faults and figures out you can't build an Atlanta-bound team with players only Mississippi State wants. If we had beaten UK and finished 9-3, no one is complaining though.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

Last night in Chat rosebowl said he was extremely confident that we were going to go get a grad transfer qb this year. Did not say who but does not expect it to be Kelly Bryant.

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

...I don't have all the answers for why his offense is not working against good defenses, but I know that Moorhead did not expect a multi year installation. His offense was up and running in year one at both Fordham and PSU. He is a confident man, and he was not expecting an 8 or 9 win season this year.

The Flea Flicker call in the Bama game was the perfect example of why it doesn't work. Nick is incapable of seeing that Dedrick was going to be wide open on that play and held the ball. Not necessarily Nick's fault because he just does not have enough experience to be able to see those things. But it takes that trust and swagger to make those plays against great teams. Those have been the guys to beat Bama over the past decade.

 

[Clarence Boddicker]

Nope. Pretty simple. JM came in and installed a system that'll be capable of beating elite defenses (you have to be able to throw down field, something Mullen's offense never did and doesn't do), but then he realized who his QB was.

He's got an absolute stud and perfect fit for the offense signing in December and enrolling in January by the name of Garrett Shrader. He's about 6-4 with a big frame and very athletic.

Some folks act like asking a coach to adjust his offensive philosophy wouldn't present any challenges. If asking players to change philosophy causes issues, why wouldn't asking a coach to do the same thing not cause them as well?


I personally underestimated the changing of schemes. I thought Fitz would be better, but not 1st round NFL draft pick like some preseason drafts had Fitz. I do gripe about not feeding the RBs more, but other than that I see tight ends dropping a lot of passes and a QB who's inconsistent and can't really read defenses very well. Not to mention our QB went from top end speed around 4.5 to a 4.7.

JM hired a very good coaching staff. They all recruit better than any coach we've had previously and that's saying something. As much as Mullen hated recruiting he did elevate us.

I don't have an answer for why we don't feed the RBs. I am dumbfounded there and it pisses me off, but guess what Mullen pissed me off a lot too. Saban is the only coach who doesn't piss off his fanbase.

Lastly, folks like Drebin saying "our football team is retarded." How retarded did they look when Mullen took in the best team he's ever personally coached at Miss St ranked #1 at Alabama and we were down 19-0 and the game was over nearly immediately??? at the onset?

This guy is right. Mullen’s offense never did anything vs elite defenses. You could argue it was talent I guess, but I don’t see us ever having more offensive talent than we did in 2014.

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

Last night in Chat rosebowl said he was extremely confident that we were going to go get a grad transfer qb this year. Did not say who but does not expect it to be Kelly Bryant.

Why do we need him? He couldn't make it at Clemson. Do we think he will be so much better here? We have Shrader coming in with Thompson and Mayden at QB also. What we need is some good, competent offensive linemen, who can block for our RB's and give our QB's time to throw.

 

[Go Budaw]

We have tons of talent on defense and it shows.

Problem is you can't be one dimensional in the SEC and beat the upper tier teams. You may be able to upset them on occasion, but not consistently. We have zero talent at wideout, we have zero talent at TE, and our O-Line is average at best. Combine all that with the fact that Fitz is probably in the bottom 3rd of the SEC in terms of being able to throw the ball, and you see the problem.

All the talent is on the defensive side of the ball. The coaches all-sec team (the real one, not the AP biased one) we only had one player (our center) that earned all-sec honors period. No clue where all this supposed talent is everyone claimed we had coming back

Nailed it. We are not talented on offense....outside of 2.5 positions on the field (RB, C, and Fitz gets credit for half due to his running). We got by last year with marginal players that were recruited to run a certain type of system and also had 2-3 years of practice and playing experience in that system (“developmental program”....remember?). And even then, we still looked just like we have looked this year against elite defenses that weren’t missing their Top 4 Linebackers.

I compare this team team offensively to our 2012 team, where Mullen had to run the offense through a QB he kind of inherited but wasn’t totally comfortable with. The results against good defenses were the same, although we didn’t play nearly as many that year. We’ll see what happens next year when we aren’t doing the equivalent of running 11 true freshmen out there on offense.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

It's funny, the same people who say, "If Mullen was such a bad recruiter why do we have this much talent?" are the same people who say, "We have no talent at WR or OL." While they never talk about the ineptness at QB....

 

[campshelbydog842003]

Why do we need him? He couldn't make it at Clemson. Do we think he will be so much better here? We have Shrader coming in with Thompson and Mayden at QB also. What we need is some good, competent offensive linemen, who can block for our RB's and give our QB's time to throw.

I think you you should reread my post. We aren’t going to get him. It will be someone else.

 

[archdog]

Or was KT supposed to teach Joe the offense he knew?

Recruiting and hiring staff was probably a better use of Joe's time, and we won the bowl game.

Nothing Joe has said indicated he had low expectations for this year. Good to great. Championship standard.

I don't think it's a lack of fire in his belly that has plagued his first year. I think it's because he's a rookie SEC head coach, who was mistaken about how well his new offense was "installed" going into the season. I'm disappointed but still optimistic going forward.

We would be better as a team if KT played every snap this year though. Mark it down, we would either be 6-4 like we are right now or maybe even 7-3, and KT would have an entire year that would actually benefit us for next year. Instead, Fitz and we still have zero QBs with experience for next year.

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

I'm glad he didn't coach the bowl game. I quite enjoyed WINNING it.

He came in, completely oblivious to the fans' expectations for this year. He sees it as a building year in a long-term effort to build HIS team. He probably thinks 8-4 is exceeding expectations for a first-year coach in the SEC.
I say bump that... I want a coach who has a fire in his belly for EVERY game.
I never liked that he didn't want to coach the bowl game. He said that it wasn't his team. I think he still feels that way.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

there a lot of other offenses out there with less talent than we have on offense that aren't this dysfunctional. even in transition years.

 

[Dawgzilla]

That is a decent example, because that play included the inability to make blocks. Nick got really quick pressure form the backside, but he had 3 different receivers with one on one coverage downfield. He should have just heaved it in the general direction of one of them and hoped for the best. There were actually several plays where Nick had open receivers, but he doesn't seem to want to throw the ball until they look back at him, and by then the defense is all over him.

I'm not willing to place all the blame on Nick, though. I still think a "football savant" should be able to work around those issues.

 

[dawgdr]

But apparently Mullen didn’t think this was “the year” either. Undobtedly would have stayed one more year if so. Or was the allure to get away so strong he just said 17it?

 

[Dawgs'n'Grizz]

Moorehead should've never said that "what's your ring size...make room on your trophy shelf" ******** then.

Maybe he thought Fitz would win the Heisman with a 7-5 team.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Or was KT supposed to teach Joe the offense he knew?

Recruiting and hiring staff was probably a better use of Joe's time, and we won the bowl game.

Nothing Joe has said indicated he had low expectations for this year. Good to great. Championship standard.

I don't think it's a lack of fire in his belly that has plagued his first year. I think it's because he's a rookie SEC head coach, who was mistaken about how well his new offense was "installed" going into the season. I'm disappointed but still optimistic going forward.

I wish we had whatshisname around still to archive a few of these idiots who have decided Joe sucks before he finishes his first season with Dan’s offensive players and Super Recruitor’s OL while still being ignorant of the fact that we actually have a head coach that recruits finally.

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

I totally agree it is not Nick's fault at all. I actually see some development on him during this year. He has started to put an arc on the deep ball and the receivers have had opportunities. However a coach has to understand what he has and needs to use those strengths when it is nut cutting time. You could be a basketball coach who believes in 3 pointers or a Baseball coach that wants to hit 3 run HRs, But if you don't have the personnel to do those things, you have to make adjustments to your philosophy. Joe has been a little slow for my tastes to make those adjustments. I don't think we are anywhere near the end of days for him or should be. Just want to see improvement. As I said before it is just a shame to have wasted this defense. Might not see another one at MSU like it in awhile.