What went wrong

[Ibdancin]

1- Leach seemed to not adjust in the first half at all. The over all concern is the dropping of 8 is something Leach has faced. He's a smart man and he had to know that somebody was going to do that. His whole approach was, per him, you take what they give you.

2- Where was the conversation between Leach and his QB? You know the "Take what they give". They gave up the short passes all night. We didn't see an effort to exploit that until the 3rd quarter.

3- Where was the only other RBs with experience? You have the SR, former #1 RB in the nation out of HS that weighs 220 pounds not touch the ball. You had Lee Whiterspoon who has yet to see the field. Don't get me wrong, I think the 2 young guys will be ok, but on tripped over his own OL. I counted 3 times that the inexperienced backs ran straight into the pile where no running lanes were when a bounce outside was clearly there. The lack of experience doomed the run game

4- WRs not finishing routes. Too many standing around. This may be why younger guys came in.

5- ZERO... and I mean ZERO intensity on either side of the ball. None. Arkansas came there to win. You could feel it from the time they came out of the field.

6- KJ... If you are going to lead.... You gonna have to take the hit. If you can take a hit in the pocket for a throw.... take one and get that extra yard to help your team.

7- Plain and simple. Arkansas wanted it WAY more. They had 2 out prior to the game and dropped like flies during the game and they still slapped us around.

8- Why.. in the WORLD was a freshman returning punts? You got experienced people that have been doing that this season and a FRESHMAN is out there doing it.


I don't think this is the end. But this team seemed to give up towards the end. The body language was bad.

 

[KeyserSoze1999]

Sometimes someone becomes so madly loyal to a System that it almost becomes a religious conviction or cult.

Sly Croom was a fervent follower of the West Coast Offensive system - and nothing was going to stop him from forcing MSU to run it. Granted we did not have the personnel to run it and Croom was incapable of teaching it - but to him the West Coast Offense was the "right" thing and he was a fully indoctrinated member of it.

And that's my fear - Mike Leach's claim to fame is the Air Raid system.

Bear Bryant had to switch to the Wishbone Offense in his latter years at Alabama - it fit his personnel better and allowed him to pick-up a few more National Championships.

Can Mike Leach alter his system to benefit MSU or is the Air Raid Offensive system too holy to be altered...we will all find out soon enough.

 

[ronpolk]

Sometimes someone becomes so madly loyal to a System that it almost becomes a religious conviction or cult.

Sly Croom was a fervent follower of the West Coast Offensive system - and nothing was going to stop him from forcing MSU to run it. Granted we did not have the personnel to run it and Croom was incapable of teaching it - but to him the West Coast Offense was the "right" thing and he was a fully indoctrinated member of it.

And that's my fear - Mike Leach's claim to fame is the Air Raid system.

Bear Bryant had to switch to the Wishbone Offense in his latter years at Alabama - it fit his personnel better and allowed him to pick-up a few more National Championships.

Can Mike Leach alter his system to benefit MSU or is the Air Raid Offensive system too holy to be altered...we will all find out soon enough.

Do you think we hired Leach to adjust his offense?

 

[Russ Wheeler]

Sometimes someone becomes so madly loyal to a System that it almost becomes a religious conviction or cult.

Sly Croom was a fervent follower of the West Coast Offensive system - and nothing was going to stop him from forcing MSU to run it. Granted we did not have the personnel to run it and Croom was incapable of teaching it - but to him the West Coast Offense was the "right" thing and he was a fully indoctrinated member of it.

And that's my fear - Mike Leach's claim to fame is the Air Raid system.

Bear Bryant had to switch to the Wishbone Offense in his latter years at Alabama - it fit his personnel better and allowed him to pick-up a few more National Championships.

Can Mike Leach alter his system to benefit MSU or is the Air Raid Offensive system too holy to be altered...we will all find out soon enough.

We didn't hire Mike Leach to come here and change up his system. He is a system coach, a playcaller, to the point that hires people to handle discipline and management of the program. He's not changing.

Any fan who expects that is an idiot.

 

[paindonthurt_]

What went wrong?

People over react to wins and losses.

It’s never as bad as it seems and it’s never as good as it seems.

Arkansas had a good game plan. We’ve been in this offense for 8 quarters.

WE HAVE THE EXACT SAME RECROD WE ALL THOUGHT WE WOULD AT THIS POINT.

 

[Ibdancin]

Nobody expected him not expects him to change from his system. His system isn't to throw it deep every play.

His system is to take what they are giving. Per his words, the passes underneath were there all night. If he knew that, then it's up to him to relay that message to the QB... over and over and over. Now why was that adjustment made at the half, and not before?

 

[boatsandhoes]

Simple answer, 4 turnovers. You will lose every game in the sec with that stat alone.

 

[HD6]

Didn't lose to LSU.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Every game except our first one. KJ got the big head. This will be a good thing for this team.

 

[boatsandhoes]

you’re not wrong.

With 4 TO’s odds aren’t in your favor. especially if they sit back in that zone so not to give up explosive plays

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Well that’s what Cohen wanted and went for. He wanted a more passing system with his hire of moorhead and then leach. That’s the direction he wanted us to go. Don’t get me wrong I like leach as a coach but that’s on Cohen for getting Passing System coaches. He won’t alter. Anywhere he has been it’s live and die by the air raid. If y’all want a coach that is like Mullen and adapts his system to the players he had then you have to fire Cohen hire an AD that wants to hire a Mullen clone. I like leach even though I’m not a major fan of coaches that don’t adapt to their players. I’m also willing to give him a shot because he’s turned most schools he has been at from a running school to an air raid school pretty successfully his first year and has won a bunch of games. We probably won’t ever win a championship but we should be as competitive as we have been.

 

[ColoradoDawg]

We were a little to excited after the first game and a little overconfident. This was definitely a humbling game. It takes time to implement a new scheme, plain and simple. There are going to be bumps. After the LSU game I think we know that Costello has the ability to make some pretty crazy throws (our first touchdown of the night was actually a pretty great play), but he has to cut down on the turnovers and play with more fire. You think Dak would of fell down half a yard away from 1st down marker. HELL NO. And that's why everyone loves Dak.

I swear Arkansas ran the exact defensive almost every play last night. Three down linemen and everyone else in coverage. They weren't going to get beat deep and they forced us to have long sustained drives. Then they let us make mistakes and beat ourselves. Then we decided to beat ourselves by... a) 4 turnovers b) not taking field goals c) failure to make plays in the big moments. Our defense definitely played a solid game and I thought that they looked slightly improved over last week.

Costello is a guy that will get us through this season and then he will be gone. He is from the Pac-12, he isn't an SEC QB. Hell, he will probably be decent in the NFL and he has already put our school in the record books once this season, but if you ask the question of will he win many games as our QB. After last night I have no idea. This season is all SEC. There are no cup cakes on the schedule this year. The rest of season we are going to see heavy zone defense. Either we will learn how play against it or it is going to be a long season. Will Rogers is up next, but to be honest I really hope he can redshirt.

We can't jump ship after one loss. Mike Leach's record as a coach speaks for itself. If he was some scrub that no one had ever heard of it would be different but he's not. He has won a lot of football games as a head coach. I'm sure in his 20 plus years of coaching some one else has played zone defense. We have seen 2 games and it seems like we had 2 different teams on the field. I think we can safely assume that no one has any idea what to expect against Kentucky next week. If Ruiz has the leg I think he does, then lets kick the easy field goals. And if no one is open throw the ball out of bounds. Those 2 simple things would have won us the game.

 

[johnson86-1]

We were a little to excited after the first game and a little overconfident. This was definitely a humbling game. It takes time to implement a new scheme, plain and simple. There are going to be bumps. After the LSU game I think we know that Costello has the ability to make some pretty crazy throws (our first touchdown of the night was actually a pretty great play), but he has to cut down on the turnovers and play with more fire. You think Dak would of fell down half a yard away from 1st down marker. HELL NO. And that's why everyone loves Dak.

I swear Arkansas ran the exact defensive almost every play last night. Three down linemen and everyone else in coverage. They weren't going to get beat deep and they forced us to have long sustained drives. Then they let us make mistakes and beat ourselves. Then we decided to beat ourselves by... a) 4 turnovers b) not taking field goals c) failure to make plays in the big moments. Our defense definitely played a solid game and I thought that they looked slightly improved over last week.

Costello is a guy that will get us through this season and then he will be gone. He is from the Pac-12, he isn't an SEC QB. Hell, he will probably be decent in the NFL and he has already put our school in the record books once this season, but if you ask the question of will he win many games as our QB. After last night I have no idea. This season is all SEC. There are no cup cakes on the schedule this year. The rest of season we are going to see heavy zone defense. Either we will learn how play against it or it is going to be a long season. Will Rogers is up next, but to be honest I really hope he can redshirt.

We can't jump ship after one loss. Mike Leach's record as a coach speaks for itself. If he was some scrub that no one had ever heard of it would be different but he's not. He has won a lot of football games as a head coach. I'm sure in his 20 plus years of coaching some one else has played zone defense. We have seen 2 games and it seems like we had 2 different teams on the field. I think we can safely assume that no one has any idea what to expect against Kentucky next week. If Ruiz has the leg I think he does, then lets kick the easy field goals. And if no one is open throw the ball out of bounds. Those 2 simple things would have won us the game.

This is a free year for Rogers regardless.

 

[o_HuntDawg]

1- Leach seemed to not adjust in the first half at all. The over all concern is the dropping of 8 is something Leach has faced. He's a smart man and he had to know that somebody was going to do that. His whole approach was, per him, you take what they give you.

2- Where was the conversation between Leach and his QB? You know the "Take what they give". They gave up the short passes all night. We didn't see an effort to exploit that until the 3rd quarter.

3- Where was the only other RBs with experience? You have the SR, former #1 RB in the nation out of HS that weighs 220 pounds not touch the ball. You had Lee Whiterspoon who has yet to see the field. Don't get me wrong, I think the 2 young guys will be ok, but on tripped over his own OL. I counted 3 times that the inexperienced backs ran straight into the pile where no running lanes were when a bounce outside was clearly there. The lack of experience doomed the run game

4- WRs not finishing routes. Too many standing around. This may be why younger guys came in.

5- ZERO... and I mean ZERO intensity on either side of the ball. None. Arkansas came there to win. You could feel it from the time they came out of the field.

6- KJ... If you are going to lead.... You gonna have to take the hit. If you can take a hit in the pocket for a throw.... take one and get that extra yard to help your team.

7- Plain and simple. Arkansas wanted it WAY more. They had 2 out prior to the game and dropped like flies during the game and they still slapped us around.

8- Why.. in the WORLD was a freshman returning punts? You got experienced people that have been doing that this season and a FRESHMAN is out there doing it.


I don't think this is the end. But this team seemed to give up towards the end. The body language was bad.

If your talking about Hill in point #3, facts are wrong. Hill wasn't even close to the best RB in the nation coming out of high school. He was a 4 star recruit.

But I get your point.

 

[johnson86-1]

If your talking about Hill in point #3, facts are wrong. Hill wasn't even close to the best RB in the nation coming out of high school. He was a 4 star recruit.

But I get your point.

He's referring to the JUCO transfer that started off in the BIG10 (Michigan, I think). And he was behind Lee Witherspoon last year when Witherspoon was a true freshman, so he was not the answer.

I think both running backs looked pretty good. I'm surprised they were both ahead of Witherspoon, or at least far enough ahead that he didn't get any touches. I thought witherspoon was going to be pretty good.

 

[kired]

He didn't play much at Michigan and I don't think he even played much in juco. If he's really on our roster but can't beat out a couple of true freshmen, or even get time on special teams - I'm assuming there's a reason we'll likely never see the guy.

 

[thekimmer]

The LSU game contained the clues to what went wrong vs Arky. That was two things. The propensity of Costello to make mistakes and struggles in the red zone.

The Arky strategy was pretty simple. Eliminate explosive plays. Keep the ball in front of the defense. Make State drive the ball methodically downfield with the expectation that we would eventually turn the ball over or stall in the red zone. We did both and then made it worse by going for it on 4th down in the red zone instead of taking what was given to us.

Lots to fix but A1 on that list is Costello MUST fix the turnovers. 5 pics, 2 pick sixes, in 2 games is not going to cut it.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

Well that’s what Cohen wanted and went for. He wanted a more passing system with his hire of moorhead and then leach. That’s the direction he wanted us to go. Don’t get me wrong I like leach as a coach but that’s on Cohen for getting Passing System coaches. He won’t alter. Anywhere he has been it’s live and die by the air raid. If y’all want a coach that is like Mullen and adapts his system to the players he had then you have to fire Cohen hire an AD that wants to hire a Mullen clone. I like leach even though I’m not a major fan of coaches that don’t adapt to their players. I’m also willing to give him a shot because he’s turned most schools he has been at from a running school to an air raid school pretty successfully his first year and has won a bunch of games. We probably won’t ever win a championship but we should be as competitive as we have been.

This is 100% correct. I'm more of a fan of the Mullen way but I'm willing to give Leach a shot, if he can't get the passing going, no one can.

Likewise with program popularity - if Leach can't thrust us consistently in the spotlight, no one can.

 

[MSU Fan.sixpack]

re: #4 - receivers non finishing routes. I noticed this as well. Seemed like WRs didn't quite know what to do.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

Nobody expected him not expects him to change from his system. His system isn't to throw it deep every play.

His system is to take what they are giving. Per his words, the passes underneath were there all night. If he knew that, then it's up to him to relay that message to the QB... over and over and over. Now why was that adjustment made at the half, and not before?

For a guy that stuck with Moorhead until the bitter end, you are awfully critical of Leach 2 games into his tenure (one of which includes a win at LSU).

 

[horshack.sixpack]

It looked like KJ was throwing to space and not looking at what was happening. It was almost like, OK, I'm at the end of my progression, I have to throw it now. It was unbelievably bad. I'm having flashbacks to all the fun I made of Ole Miss and their run to grass, don't worry about what the defense is doing strategies they had in the past...

 

[Russ Wheeler]

The LSU game contained the clues to what went wrong vs Arky. That was two things. The propensity of Costello to make mistakes and struggles in the red zone.

The Arky strategy was pretty simple. Eliminate explosive plays. Keep the ball in front of the defense. Make State drive the ball methodically downfield with the expectation that we would eventually turn the ball over or stall in the red zone. We did both and then made it worse by going for it on 4th down in the red zone instead of taking what was given to us.

Lots to fix but A1 on that list is Costello MUST fix the turnovers. 5 pics, 2 pick sixes, in 2 games is not going to cut it.

Agree, nix the horrific INTs and we win the game. The INTs were on the short stuff too, which was open all night. Costello simply didn't execute and I'm sure that's maddening for Leach to watch, and will probably be worse on the film study.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

It looked like KJ was throwing to space and not looking at what was happening. It was almost like, OK, I'm at the end of my progression, I have to throw it now. It was unbelievably bad. I'm having flashbacks to all the fun I made of Ole Miss and their run to grass, don't worry about what the defense is doing strategies they had in the past...

No doubt, it looked a lot like the 'Go Deep' offense they ran...

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

Crossing routes don't really do anything against a zone. Need to overload the zone to stretch it and sit in the gaps. We did not start doing that till later in the game. KJ did not do well throwing into the gaps.

 

[Ibdancin]

For a guy that stuck with Moorhead until the bitter end, you are awfully critical of Leach 2 games into his tenure (one of which includes a win at LSU).

Being Critical of Leach is not calling for him to be fired. If people are calling for Leach's job right now, I would gladly oppose that.