I’d like to discuss Mullen. Just because.

[SouthFarmchicken]

When Mullen was hungry, his strength was running the program as a head coach. Relentless strain. Letting his coaches be themselves and being the CEO of the program. Looking over his ENTIRE tenure, the strength of the team was the defense. The special teams and offense were consistent, average SEC wise to above average over his tenure. Never great because…see below.

The offense itself was rarely the strength of the team. He was a good to brilliant at times play caller but that was it. Our offensive talent was extremely lacking (especially compared to our defensive talent). He couldn’t recruit and that’s probably because he did not play the right people, he valued seniority over talent. No one can tell me a sophomore Dak was not better than a senior Tyler Russell, no matter how many ways you want to spin it or justify it.

We are now embarking on a new era of MSU athletics. Embracing the flash and excitement of a modern offense and coach that speaks to our younguns. We may fall flat on our face OR walk out of Atlanta with a dominant win over Georgia. Something tells me it will be between those two options and we will enjoy the ride!

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

I just want to enjoy the ride. And beat OM every year.

IS THAT TOO 17n MUCH TO ASK?

 

[jethreauxdawg]

I’m with you except for “letting coaches be themselves”. He was hell on DC’s.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I’m with you except for “letting coaches be themselves”. He was hell on DC’s.

Yeah Mullen was not a 'CEO'.....like at all.

 

[LOTRGOTDAWGFAN]

Yeah Mullen was not a 'CEO'.....like at all.

i'd like to see our record against mississippi evened up in my life time.

 

[85Bears]

ou

When Mullen was hungry, his strength was running the program as a head coach. Relentless strain. Letting his coaches be themselves and being the CEO of the program. Looking over his ENTIRE tenure, the strength of the team was the defense. The special teams and offense were consistent, average SEC wise to above average over his tenure. Never great because…see below.

The offense itself was rarely the strength of the team. He was a good to brilliant at times play caller but that was it. Our offensive talent was extremely lacking (especially compared to our defensive talent). He couldn’t recruit and that’s probably because he did not play the right people, he valued seniority over talent. No one can tell me a sophomore Dak was not better than a senior Tyler Russell, no matter how many ways you want to spin it or justify it.

We are now embarking on a new era of MSU athletics. Embracing the flash and excitement of a modern offense and coach that speaks to our younguns. We may fall flat on our face OR walk out of Atlanta with a dominant win over Georgia. Something tells me it will be between those two options and we will enjoy the ride!

so we either blow out Georgia and win the SEC, or we completely fail, but you think it will be somewhere in between ?

Way to go out on a limb there.

 

[ronpolk]

I’d disagree that Mullen was a ceo type. I’d also disagree that the defense was the strength over his entire tenure. His first 5 years for sure. Not so much the last 4 though.

Total offense by year (2009-2017) was 9th, 10th, 9th, 9th, 10th, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 7th in the SEC. Average offensive finish was 7.6

Total defense by year was 11th, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 13th and 6th. Average finish for the defensive finish was 7.4

 

[Indndawg]

When Mullen was hungry, his strength was running the program as a head coach. Relentless strain. Letting his coaches be themselves and being the CEO of the program. Looking over his ENTIRE tenure, the strength of the team was the defense. The special teams and offense were consistent, average SEC wise to above average over his tenure. Never great because…see below.

The offense itself was rarely the strength of the team. He was a good to brilliant at times play caller but that was it. Our offensive talent was extremely lacking (especially compared to our defensive talent). He couldn’t recruit and that’s probably because he did not play the right people, he valued seniority over talent. No one can tell me a sophomore Dak was not better than a senior Tyler Russell, no matter how many ways you want to spin it or justify it.

We are now embarking on a new era of MSU athletics. Embracing the flash and excitement of a modern offense and coach that speaks to our younguns. We may fall flat on our face OR walk out of Atlanta with a dominant win over Georgia. Something tells me it will be between those two options and we will enjoy the ride!

We beat LSU w/a midget QB

 

[OG Goat Holder]

We beat LSU w/a midget QB

You need to get off that crack, man

All your posts are like this

 

[Dawgg]

We beat LSU w/a midget QB

When?

 

[johnson86-1]

When Mullen was hungry, his strength was running the program as a head coach. Relentless strain. Letting his coaches be themselves and being the CEO of the program. Looking over his ENTIRE tenure, the strength of the team was the defense. The special teams and offense were consistent, average SEC wise to above average over his tenure. Never great because…see below.

The offense itself was rarely the strength of the team. He was a good to brilliant at times play caller but that was it. Our offensive talent was extremely lacking (especially compared to our defensive talent). He couldn’t recruit and that’s probably because he did not play the right people, he valued seniority over talent. No one can tell me a sophomore Dak was not better than a senior Tyler Russell, no matter how many ways you want to spin it or justify it.

We are now embarking on a new era of MSU athletics. Embracing the flash and excitement of a modern offense and coach that speaks to our younguns. We may fall flat on our face OR walk out of Atlanta with a dominant win over Georgia. Something tells me it will be between those two options and we will enjoy the ride!

His play calling seemed to get much less impressive as time went on. First year he seemed to do a lot trying to take advantage of Boobie and compensate for the limitations of the QB. He did call plays very differently in 2012 and 2015 compared his usual to adjust to his talent, although 2012 had pretty limited success against decent competition.

 

[Dawgg]

No one can tell me a sophomore Dak was not better than a senior Tyler Russell, no matter how many ways you want to spin it or justify it.

Senior Tyler Russell was the right call to start over sophomore Dak Prescott, at least when the 2013 season started. In 2012, Russell had just set the school single season record for passing yards and touchdowns and Dak had only come in for short yardage situations. Hard to justify starting Dak over Russell based on 2012.

Ultimately, after Russell's injuries through the 2013 season put him on the shelf, Dak took over and grew more and more into 'the guy' and Russell vs Dak ended up being a moot point anyway. Still, it would have been foolish to start Dak to begin 2013.

 

[Dawgg]

I’m with you except for “letting coaches be themselves”. He was hell on DC’s.

Didn't he yell at Manny Diaz on the sideline and say something to the effect of "Do I need to do your job for you?"

 

[Perd Hapley]

Senior Tyler Russell was the right call to start over sophomore Dak Prescott, at least when the 2013 season started. In 2012, Russell had just set the school single season record for passing yards and touchdowns and Dak had only come in for short yardage situations. Hard to justify starting Dak over Russell based on 2012.

Ultimately, after Russell's injuries through the 2013 season put him on the shelf, Dak took over and grew more and more into 'the guy' and Russell vs Dak ended up being a moot point anyway. Still, it would have been foolish to start Dak to begin 2013.

Disagree. Russell was the right call to start in 2012 at the beginning of the season. He was pretty good against some pretty bad teams. And we went 7-0 and scored some points.

But then came Bama. Russell led offense to 7 measley points in garbage time. Then A&M and JFF - 13 points, also mostly garbage time. Then LSU - 17 total points, but 7 of those were from Dak, and Russell also threw a horrible 100-yard pick 6 that put the nail in our coffin. So net of 3 points for Russell in that game. So over 3 games and 12 quarters against our first legit competition on the season, we averaged a whopping 10 ppg with Russell under center, and only 8 ppg if you account for the pick 6. 3 straight lopsided losses.

At this point, Mullen had to know the entire first 2 months of the season was fool’s gold and that HIS offense was going absolutely nowhere against anyone with a pulse with Russell at QB. Next up, we had a historically bad John L. Smith led Arkansas team at home…right before the Egg Bowl. Dak had been on campus almost 2 full years by this time, and had done absolutely nothing but good things in every limited opportunity that he got. That Arkansas game was the perfect opportunity to hand over the reigns and at least give him a chance to win the job full time.

But hell no, Mullen sticks with Russell. We predictably have no trouble with Arkansas. Then comes the Egg Bowl - horrid performance again with Russell only leading us to 17 points against an absolutely atrocious Ole Miss defense. Then Russell aGAIN for the Gator Bowl….4 INT’s in the first half against Northwestern.

Okay so then we get an entire offseason for Dak to maybe takeover. Nahhhh…..Russell starts AGAIN against OSU in season opener. 3 points and a concussion later, Dak finally gets his chance. He then proceeds to damn near lead us to a road win in his first SEC start against a team that played for the natty. The rest is history.

I’ll be damned if Dak didn’t finally pass Russell on the depth chart and prove himself to be the better QB at the exact same time that Russell got a concussion. What a coincidence!!!****

And don’t even get me started on Tyson Lee vs. Chris Relf….

 

[paindonthurt]

When Mullen was hungry, his strength was running the program as a head coach. Relentless strain. Letting his coaches be themselves and being the CEO of the program. Looking over his ENTIRE tenure, the strength of the team was the defense. The special teams and offense were consistent, average SEC wise to above average over his tenure. Never great because…see below.

The offense itself was rarely the strength of the team. He was a good to brilliant at times play caller but that was it. Our offensive talent was extremely lacking (especially compared to our defensive talent). He couldn’t recruit and that’s probably because he did not play the right people, he valued seniority over talent. No one can tell me a sophomore Dak was not better than a senior Tyler Russell, no matter how many ways you want to spin it or justify it.

We are now embarking on a new era of MSU athletics. Embracing the flash and excitement of a modern offense and coach that speaks to our younguns. We may fall flat on our face OR walk out of Atlanta with a dominant win over Georgia. Something tells me it will be between those two options and we will enjoy the ride!

Damn I could swear people always said Dan was a terrible play caller.

 

[SouthFarmchicken]

Disagree. Russell was the right call to start in 2012 at the beginning of the season. He was pretty good against some pretty bad teams. And we went 7-0 and scored some points.

But then came Bama. Russell led offense to 7 measley points in garbage time. Then A&M and JFF - 13 points, also mostly garbage time. Then LSU - 17 total points, but 7 of those were from Dak, and Russell also threw a horrible 100-yard pick 6 that put the nail in our coffin. So net of 3 points for Russell in that game. So over 3 games and 12 quarters against our first legit competition on the season, we averaged a whopping 10 ppg with Russell under center, and only 8 ppg if you account for the pick 6. 3 straight lopsided losses.

At this point, Mullen had to know the entire first 2 months of the season was fool’s gold and that HIS offense was going absolutely nowhere against anyone with a pulse with Russell at QB. Next up, we had a historically bad John L. Smith led Arkansas team at home…right before the Egg Bowl. Dak had been on campus almost 2 full years by this time, and had done absolutely nothing but good things in every limited opportunity that he got. That Arkansas game was the perfect opportunity to hand over the reigns and at least give him a chance to win the job full time.

But hell no, Mullen sticks with Russell. We predictably have no trouble with Arkansas. Then comes the Egg Bowl - horrid performance again with Russell only leading us to 17 points against an absolutely atrocious Ole Miss defense. Then Russell aGAIN for the Gator Bowl….4 INT’s in the first half against Northwestern.

Okay so then we get an entire offseason for Dak to maybe takeover. Nahhhh…..Russell starts AGAIN against OSU in season opener. 3 points and a concussion later, Dak finally gets his chance. He then proceeds to damn near lead us to a road win in his first SEC start against a team that played for the natty. The rest is history.

I’ll be damned if Dak didn’t finally pass Russell on the depth chart and prove himself to be the better QB at the exact same time that Russell got a concussion. What a coincidence!!!****

And don’t even get me started on Tyson Lee vs. Chris Relf….

You remember the truth like me. Not rosy retrospective. Inexcusable we only got two years out of a pro bowl QB. Brady not playing at Michigan is not a valid defense.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Disagree. Russell was the right call to start in 2012 at the beginning of the season. He was pretty good against some pretty bad teams. And we went 7-0 and scored some points.

But then came Bama. Russell led offense to 7 measley points in garbage time. Then A&M and JFF - 13 points, also mostly garbage time. Then LSU - 17 total points, but 7 of those were from Dak, and Russell also threw a horrible 100-yard pick 6 that put the nail in our coffin. So net of 3 points for Russell in that game. So over 3 games and 12 quarters against our first legit competition on the season, we averaged a whopping 10 ppg with Russell under center, and only 8 ppg if you account for the pick 6. 3 straight lopsided losses.

At this point, Mullen had to know the entire first 2 months of the season was fool’s gold and that HIS offense was going absolutely nowhere against anyone with a pulse with Russell at QB. Next up, we had a historically bad John L. Smith led Arkansas team at home…right before the Egg Bowl. Dak had been on campus almost 2 full years by this time, and had done absolutely nothing but good things in every limited opportunity that he got. That Arkansas game was the perfect opportunity to hand over the reigns and at least give him a chance to win the job full time.

But hell no, Mullen sticks with Russell. We predictably have no trouble with Arkansas. Then comes the Egg Bowl - horrid performance again with Russell only leading us to 17 points against an absolutely atrocious Ole Miss defense. Then Russell aGAIN for the Gator Bowl….4 INT’s in the first half against Northwestern.

Okay so then we get an entire offseason for Dak to maybe takeover. Nahhhh…..Russell starts AGAIN against OSU in season opener. 3 points and a concussion later, Dak finally gets his chance. He then proceeds to damn near lead us to a road win in his first SEC start against a team that played for the natty. The rest is history.

I’ll be damned if Dak didn’t finally pass Russell on the depth chart and prove himself to be the better QB at the exact same time that Russell got a concussion. What a coincidence!!!****

And don’t even get me started on Tyson Lee vs. Chris Relf….

This is idiotic. Dak was not ready to play until about halfway through 2013. Russell was the correct option.

He played Lee vs. Relf about as well as it could be done as well.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

You remember the truth like me. Not rosy retrospective. Inexcusable we only got two years out of a pro bowl QB. Brady not playing at Michigan is not a valid defense.

Mullen was not an exceptional play caller. He was a great game planner.

 

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

Mullen was not an exceptional play caller. He was a great game planner.

Mullen always had the first couple series scripted, but he made some huge head scratching in-game decisions during his tenure at Mississippi State.

 

[kired]

Disagree. Russell was the right call to start in 2012 at the beginning of the season. He was pretty good against some pretty bad teams. And we went 7-0 and scored some points.

But then came Bama. Russell led offense to 7 measley points in garbage time. Then A&M and JFF - 13 points, also mostly garbage time. Then LSU - 17 total points, but 7 of those were from Dak, and Russell also threw a horrible 100-yard pick 6 that put the nail in our coffin. So net of 3 points for Russell in that game. So over 3 games and 12 quarters against our first legit competition on the season, we averaged a whopping 10 ppg with Russell under center, and only 8 ppg if you account for the pick 6. 3 straight lopsided losses.

At this point, Mullen had to know the entire first 2 months of the season was fool’s gold and that HIS offense was going absolutely nowhere against anyone with a pulse with Russell at QB. Next up, we had a historically bad John L. Smith led Arkansas team at home…right before the Egg Bowl. Dak had been on campus almost 2 full years by this time, and had done absolutely nothing but good things in every limited opportunity that he got. That Arkansas game was the perfect opportunity to hand over the reigns and at least give him a chance to win the job full time.

But hell no, Mullen sticks with Russell. We predictably have no trouble with Arkansas. Then comes the Egg Bowl - horrid performance again with Russell only leading us to 17 points against an absolutely atrocious Ole Miss defense. Then Russell aGAIN for the Gator Bowl….4 INT’s in the first half against Northwestern.

Okay so then we get an entire offseason for Dak to maybe takeover. Nahhhh…..Russell starts AGAIN against OSU in season opener. 3 points and a concussion later, Dak finally gets his chance. He then proceeds to damn near lead us to a road win in his first SEC start against a team that played for the natty. The rest is history.

I’ll be damned if Dak didn’t finally pass Russell on the depth chart and prove himself to be the better QB at the exact same time that Russell got a concussion. What a coincidence!!!****

And don’t even get me started on Tyson Lee vs. Chris Relf….

Don't forget Perkins playing over Josh Robinson in 2013. No wonder Robinson had a bad attitude. He'd look good one week and then barely play the next. I loved Perkins but we rode him too hard when there was another capable RB on the roster. Should have been more of a 50/50 split.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Don't forget Perkins playing over Josh Robinson in 2013. No wonder Robinson had a bad attitude. He'd look good one week and then barely play the next. I loved Perkins but we rode him too hard when there was another capable RB on the roster. Should have been more of a 50/50 split.

Yayuh mayun. Whayut abowyut Kylinz muh HiLl over Airuss!!111

I'm also guessing I could go back in your posting history and would find plenty of mIkE wRiGhT over Will Rogers, too.

 

[Perd Hapley]

This is idiotic. Dak was not ready to play until about halfway through 2013. Russell was the correct option.

He played Lee vs. Relf about as well as it could be done as well.

/facepalm

So, Dak couldn’t have led us to an average of 14-17 points per game in those 4 games in 2012 against the only good teams we played all year? Dak just so happened to blow the 17 up and put 350 yards of offense on the road against a Top 2 team at the EXACT time that Russell suffered his first major injury in 4 years? Just happened to finally pass him on the depth chart at that exact time? Total horseshít. There’s no doubt Russell was the more polished passer at that time, but he wasn’t nearly the player, athlete, or fit for the offense that Dak was, even from Day 1. Mullen ALWAYS played the older incumbent until his hand was forced. He even tried to give MFing Damien Williams the job over Fitz in 2016, for god’s sake.

Lee / Relf was the most ridiculous of all. Lee had a 107 passer rating in 2009, only 1444 passing yards, 4 TD’s, and 14 INT’s, including 2 or 3 pick 6’s in SEC play that killed us in crucial spots. He was just bad from start to finish. Relf was at 130+ passer rating even that year. Relf threw 2 TD’s in the 2009 Egg Bowl, which was one fewer TD pass than Tyson Lee had in ALL 8 SEC GAMES COMBINED. There’s simply no way Relf couldn’t have, at absolute bare minimum, been as good of a passer as Lee was in 2009. 1444 / 4 / 14 is a horrendous baseline. And if he just did that, him being far superior as a runner gives him the job easily. But no, it all put Mullen too far out of his comfort zone until he was staring down the barrell of 4-8 and back-to-back EB losses if he didn’t do something to create a spark for one of the worst offenses in the league.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

SUPERMAN!!

 

[StateCollege]

Disagree. Russell was the right call to start in 2012 at the beginning of the season. He was pretty good against some pretty bad teams. And we went 7-0 and scored some points.

But then came Bama. Russell led offense to 7 measley points in garbage time. Then A&M and JFF - 13 points, also mostly garbage time. Then LSU - 17 total points, but 7 of those were from Dak, and Russell also threw a horrible 100-yard pick 6 that put the nail in our coffin. So net of 3 points for Russell in that game. So over 3 games and 12 quarters against our first legit competition on the season, we averaged a whopping 10 ppg with Russell under center, and only 8 ppg if you account for the pick 6. 3 straight lopsided losses.

At this point, Mullen had to know the entire first 2 months of the season was fool’s gold and that HIS offense was going absolutely nowhere against anyone with a pulse with Russell at QB. Next up, we had a historically bad John L. Smith led Arkansas team at home…right before the Egg Bowl. Dak had been on campus almost 2 full years by this time, and had done absolutely nothing but good things in every limited opportunity that he got. That Arkansas game was the perfect opportunity to hand over the reigns and at least give him a chance to win the job full time.

But hell no, Mullen sticks with Russell. We predictably have no trouble with Arkansas. Then comes the Egg Bowl - horrid performance again with Russell only leading us to 17 points against an absolutely atrocious Ole Miss defense. Then Russell aGAIN for the Gator Bowl….4 INT’s in the first half against Northwestern.

Okay so then we get an entire offseason for Dak to maybe takeover. Nahhhh…..Russell starts AGAIN against OSU in season opener. 3 points and a concussion later, Dak finally gets his chance. He then proceeds to damn near lead us to a road win in his first SEC start against a team that played for the natty. The rest is history.

I’ll be damned if Dak didn’t finally pass Russell on the depth chart and prove himself to be the better QB at the exact same time that Russell got a concussion. What a coincidence!!!****

And don’t even get me started on Tyson Lee vs. Chris Relf….

Are you really acting like it was some clear cut obvious thing that Russell should have been benched in 2012?

Call it fool’s gold or whatever you want, in that 7-0 stretch Russell was having statistically the best season all time for an MSU QB. He was averaging 220+ yards per game with 15 TDs and 1 INT.

You are acting like Dan was brain dead for not benching him 3 games later for a Redshirt Freshman with like 20 career pass attempts? Put down the bottle man.

 

[Bullldawg78]

Mullen was grey at turning TEs into QBs in his system

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

View attachment 462726
SUPERMAN!!

The Rebel Slayer!

 

[BulldawgFan]

View attachment 462726
SUPERMAN!!

The most under-appreciated player in MSU history! One of my personal all-time favorites. A perfect example of working your *** off and exceeding expectations.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Are you really acting like it was some clear cut obvious thing that Russell should have been benched in 2012?

Call it fool’s gold or whatever you want, in that 7-0 stretch Russell was having statistically the best season all time for an MSU QB. He was averaging 220+ yards per game with 15 TDs and 1 INT.

You are acting like Dan was brain dead for not benching him 3 games later for a Redshirt Freshman with like 20 career pass attempts? Put down the bottle man.

No, I’m saying it was extremely obvious we needed to try something different after the 0-3 that followed the 7-0. Not right after the 7-0. Big difference. The stretch where we averaged 10 points a game and returned to Croom levels offensively should have been much more of a cause for alarm than it was for Mullen.

And to be very crystal clear, the reason we needed a change at QB was not because Tyler Russell was the problem, its because Dan Mullen was the problem. Literally nothing about his offense ever worked consistently except for running plays with the QB. Which is kind of the whole 17ing point of the spread option. It was never going to click with a guy like Russell who was more limited as a runner.

I actually have a great deal of admiration for Russell and his loyalty to MSU….he was a great passer and I think talent wise is still the best QB that MSU has ever signed from Mississippi. He didn’t have to stick around when Croom was canned, or when he had to ride the pine behind Lee and Relf. But he did. I sure wish Mullen was as smart as he thought he was, and wish he could have come up with a better plan for him.