JoeMo coming up on SECN..

57stratdawg

Heisman
Dec 1, 2004
148,779
24,660
113
What needs to be fixed in order to compete for a SEC title? ‘Penalties and substitutions need to be cleaned up. We need play within our framework of the scheme too. Controller agreession.’

On Fitzgerald: ‘I thought he ran the ball well. He’s knocking off rust still. Ran the ball very well. Need to get that completion percentage up, but we took a lot of deep shots.’

Sequon Barkley and Kylin Hill: ‘Small back skills in a big back body. He’s a well rounded back. He can catch the ball out of the backfield and needs to pick up it up in pass protection some’

Aries Williams: ‘He’s going to be a big part of what we do this year. Playing time is based on a number of factors which are determined the week before’

On being overlooked (#16 ranking): ‘We don’t compete against the other team or the polls, we compete against our own standard.’

Take us through the plane ride home: ‘Got a couple cheese steaks, some chips and a cookie. It was an hour half flight back, I went to sleep. Had a few of the staff memebers over to watch Penn State.’

Who grills at the Moorhead household? ‘Pizza and wings’

Who turned you onto Biggie Smalls? ‘They said on ESPN I’m a Silverfox, I might look 64, but I’m 44’
 

57stratdawg

Heisman
Dec 1, 2004
148,779
24,660
113
Spears isn’t pulling any punches on Fitz. Basically saying he’s not good enough right now for MSU to compete for a SEC title this year.
 

FQDawg

Senior
May 1, 2006
3,076
618
113
Just based on Saturday, he's not exactly wrong. That being said, I think you can chalk that up to first game back and I think he'll be better even as soon as this week.
 
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coach66

Junior
Mar 5, 2009
12,718
343
83
Spears is right. I love Nick but he looked exactly the same on the deep pass as

he has the past two years. No air under the ball, Tamu is successful because he gives his receivers a chance on the over the shoulder throws and trusts the receivers to break the pass
up if it's poorly thrown. Fitz has got to fix this. If we can get the deep ball working with our running game it will open the whole field up for passing.
 
Dec 13, 2006
1,744
2
0
A. Williams was out worked in practice and JoMo plays the best guy.

Spears doubles down and says that’s the way pros do it.

a big departure from mullenz

also, the man got pizza and wings by the pool Saturday night and had to pick it up himself.
this man needs a personal pizza delivery person.
 

shotgunDawg

Redshirt
Nov 13, 2011
2,035
0
0
Spears isn’t pulling any punches on Fitz. Basically saying he’s not good enough right now for MSU to compete for a SEC title this year.

I agree with him. The better you get, the more you get nitpicked.

Fitz has a lot of pressure on him. Fitz being able to stretch the field with his arm is really the only ingredient were are missing from being an SEC West contender & possible playoff contender. It's that small of a margin
 

57stratdawg

Heisman
Dec 1, 2004
148,779
24,660
113
Yeah. His deep ball is flat. I wonder if his emotions get him too amped up on gamedays.

You know Mullen and JoeMo have tried to address this.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
61,270
32,959
113
Based on what Fitz has shown, Spears is right. He's not a good enough passer, or at least he's never shown that he's a good enough passer, to compete for an SEC title. But he's still a damn good QB and we're going to win a lot of games with him.
 

shotgunDawg

Redshirt
Nov 13, 2011
2,035
0
0
Based on what Fitz has shown, Spears is right. He's not a good enough passer, or at least he's never shown that he's a good enough passer, to compete for an SEC title. But he's still a damn good QB and we're going to win a lot of games with him.

Agree, but winning the West is & should be the goal. This team must be judged against that standard
 

Drebin

Heisman
Aug 22, 2012
22,907
28,505
113
He was being coy about Aeris big-time.

I really believe it's an injury he doesn't want to discuss. Aeris had about 5 pounds of tape on his right ankle Saturday - and I've heard that he's been battling an ankle.
 

irondawg007

Redshirt
Jan 23, 2007
477
0
0
Last year's season ending injury to Fitz did more to hurt his arm than his legs. Sadly, Fitz likely had to spend the offseason gaining his full mobility back. In comparison, Dak spent his final offseason year developing and strengthening his arm and accuracy --- and it drastically paid off and make him into a NFL star.
 

JoMo MoJo

Redshirt
Dec 24, 2017
1,895
0
0
just based on Saturday, he's not exactly wrong. That being said, I think you can chalk that up to first game back and I think he'll be better even as soon as this week.

One consistency with Nick is he always takes forever to get going. Last year it took our offense usually till the 2Q to score. KT was scoring out of the gate in week one, albeit against worse competition. I saw nonimprovement in Nick from last year but last year he did drastically improve game by game. So hopefully that same trajectory continues this year.
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,498
2,500
113
No one ever questioned Jalen Hurts ability to throw down the field until Tua came along. Hurts was considered a top 2 QB in the league ever since he was a true freshman despite not being able to throw past 10yds down field to 5star WR and TE.

Fitz is a better passer AND runner than Hurts.

Having said that, Fitz will have to hit a few deep balls for us to get to the SECCG. He needs to put more air under it. That's it. His balls are usually overthrown by a few steps. Ta'amu's balls are high arcing lobs. Why can't Fitz just watch his tape.

Throw it up and let your receiver run under it! Problem solved!*
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,498
2,500
113
Sad thing is this is true. Wouldn't have hurt us against KState. But it would hurt us at some point.

Jesse Jackson would also likely be out there over Mitchell and/or Williams.
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,498
2,500
113
Austin Williams dropped a pass on the first drive on a 15yard pass thrown perfectly. That prevents a 3 and out first drive we achieved.

Austin Williams also dropped a tough catch for TD when Fitz threw on the run to the back corner. Was a great ball. He made an identical catch for a TD in the Spring game. I expect Austin Williams to catch balls like he did when he picked it up off the ground basically against SFA.

Fitz needs his WR to give him a little help early to get him in a rhythm.
 

Felonious Junk

All-Conference
Oct 23, 2008
1,905
1,314
113
How about just make accurate throws instead of depending on receivers making acrobatic catches.

That’s like Croom blaming our record in 08 on the defense and special teams not scoring as much as they did in 07.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
61,270
32,959
113
Austin Williams should have caught both of those passes. Fitz threw the ball poorly, but the receivers had a few drops too.
 

fishwater99

Freshman
Jun 4, 2007
14,073
54
48
Sad thing is this is true. Wouldn't have hurt us against KState. But it would hurt us at some point.

Jesse Jackson would also likely be out there over Mitchell and/or Williams.


We might have lost vs KSU with Danny Boy coaching , you never know..

So glad he is gone...
 

Drebin

Heisman
Aug 22, 2012
22,907
28,505
113
How about just make accurate throws instead of depending on receivers making acrobatic catches.

That’s like Croom blaming our record in 08 on the defense and special teams not scoring as much as they did in 07.

Those catches didn't require acrobatics.

We should give Austin a pass on the first one because the DB got his hand in there and knocked it loose (but it was a dart, right on the numbers). The other one was a great throw on the run that he has to catch 100 out of 100 times.

Fitz struggled with accuracy but his numbers look a lot better if just those two were caught. I could be wrong, but if memory serves, we ended up settling for a FG on the TD drop, too.
 

Go Budaw

Redshirt
Aug 22, 2012
7,321
0
36
Agree, but winning the West is & should be the goal. This team must be judged against that standard

So this team is a failure if we don’t win the West? I’m calling complete BS on that. You are extremely likely to be disappointed if that is your requirement for an acceptable season.
 
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Dawgzilla

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
5,406
0
0
No, Austin's "drop" was on our second possession, after we had gained our first first down of the game. (first possession saw one completion, a pass that was nowhere near a receiver who had fallen down, and then Fitz's scramble on 3rd down that came up just short of the sticks).

I originally defended Austin's drop on the grounds that Fitz threw the ball way too hard. As Matt Wyatt said, if that ball had hit Austin in the helmet he would be under concussion protocol. But when I rewatched the game on Sunday, Austin did have the ball in his hands and probably should have caught it despite the velocity. I'll give him a "drop" on that one.

The one in the endzone would have required a highlight reel catch. I know Austin believes he should have caught it, but Fitz should have thrown a better ball.

The two bullets Nick threw that were behind Kylin Hill were not "drops". You cannot expect your running back to spin around and catch a ball moving that quckly. He was lucky to even touch them.

However, even though I was one of Nick's biggest critics on Saturday, he has played better in the past and can play better going forward. Saturday was one of the worst passing days he has had (he probably had some worse days in 2016, but I don't remember off the top of my head). He is capable of throwing much better. Remains to be seen if he can throw well enough to take us to the level we want to see.
 

shotgunDawg

Redshirt
Nov 13, 2011
2,035
0
0
So this team is a failure if we don’t win the West? I’m calling complete BS on that. You are extremely likely to be disappointed if that is your requirement for an acceptable season.

I didn't say it would be a disappointment. Also, I'm fine being disappointed. It's ok. We don't always have to protect our feelings. It's ok to hope
 

NWADog

Junior
Aug 16, 2014
757
228
43
Exactly. And the one in the KState endzone that would’ve been a touchdown but the corner made an incredible play and broke it up. Was a great ball. Another play the 5’8” corner jumped like 5 feet in the air to break it up but was a good ball. Kylin had a ball up the seam that hit him in the hands, yes it was high and a bullet but it hit his hands. Counting the Williams drops that’s 5,6 that easily could’ve been completions for around another 100 passing yards. Would’ve put him around 225 passing with 3,4 TDs. He did have like 4 terrible throws but it’s not like he was just awful the whole game. Players make plays. We missed a few opportunities to help him out and a few plays were made by the defenders.
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,498
2,500
113
Fitz did not throw the ball poorly on the throws I'm talking about. The first drive of the game the ball was delivered right at his chest on the post and later it was in the back corner of the EZ. Williams got both hands on it and made an identical TD catch in the spring game.

These two throws are not ones to nitpick on. They were good throws.
 

RiverCityDawg

All-American
Dec 30, 2009
3,363
5,329
113
Exactly. And the one in the KState endzone that would’ve been a touchdown but the corner made an incredible play and broke it up. Was a great ball. Another play the 5’8” corner jumped like 5 feet in the air to break it up but was a good ball. Kylin had a ball up the seam that hit him in the hands, yes it was high and a bullet but it hit his hands. Counting the Williams drops that’s 5,6 that easily could’ve been completions for around another 100 passing yards. Would’ve put him around 225 passing with 3,4 TDs. He did have like 4 terrible throws but it’s not like he was just awful the whole game. Players make plays. We missed a few opportunities to help him out and a few plays were made by the defenders.

As a side note, we were called for holding (or something) on the pass to Kylin down the seam so wouldn't have counted anyway. Sure he Maybe should have caught that, but with no holding and a better pass that would have been a touchdown. Great play call.
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,498
2,500
113
The one above Hill's head I'm not blaming on Hill and Fitz did throw darts too much.

The ball thrown on the run in the back corner to Williams, was the ONLY place the ball could have been thrown. That was a perfect pass. Any short and it's batted down or INT. Any further and it's out of the EZ. If it hits your WR in BOTH hands, it should be caught especially a sure handed WR like Austin Williams is.

I'm giving Williams a break because I know he'll catch that pass most of the time. He picked one up off the dirt against SFA. He's going to be a great WR. He even caught a TD.

On of Fitz worse misses was the slant to Washington he over threw by a mile. Later we came back to it and off his back foot Fitz delivered a strike to Williams.

One good take away was that Fitz was much more accurate in the RZ.
 

Dawgzilla

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
5,406
0
0
I didn't know that Austin even touched the one in the endzone, because ESPN never gave us a replay. If I ever see a good angle on that one I'll be happy to transfer my displeasure to Austin.
 

Drebin

Heisman
Aug 22, 2012
22,907
28,505
113
Anyone still worried about Fitz's ankle should watch at the 11:37 mark of the first video.
 

Msubulldogfan1

Freshman
Sep 12, 2013
8,835
80
48
I didn't know that Austin even touched the one in the endzone, because ESPN never gave us a replay. If I ever see a good angle on that one I'll be happy to transfer my displeasure to Austin.

Yea it hit him in the hands, but it would have been a very tough catch.
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,498
2,500
113
He made the same catch in the Spring Game. Austin would be the first to tell you he should have made that catch. It's the only place the ball could have been throw to give him a chance. Ball was thrown perfectly all things considering.
 
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