The problem with our team is very simple....

[Coach34]

people can go on RANTS about how we lost this or we lost that from last year...people can RANT about the DL...people can rant about Mullen...<div>
</div><div>but this season changed when Carmon went down against Auburn. If Carmon doesnt get hurt- we beat Auburn. End of story. He went down and the offense went into a flux trying to figure out what we could run with Clausell in the game- especially after Clausell got in the way of the throwback to Ralph that would have gone for big yards.</div><div>
</div><div>Carmon went down- we lost a game we shouldnt. Then another OL starter gets hurt and suddenly the strength of our team- the run game- becomes a weakness. If we cant run- we arent going to win with Ralph at QB its that simple- we dont play him at QB because of his passing. We spend 60% of our offensive practice on the run game- not passing. It's who we are. And if you dont have the men to block- you cant run. Being 3-1 and healthy on the OL makes our team totally different than today's 2-2 with injuries and uncertainty. We just simply had injuries the one place we couldnt have them for this season to be all it could be.</div><div>
</div><div>Hell, if we had lost Sherrod for a few games and another starter for the season last year- we wouldnt have won 9 games. We have got to sign better players on the OL and the DL too for that matter.</div><div>
</div><div>Hopefully we'll get a little better this week with Carmon back and the run game gets better- thats what will decide the game.</div>

 

[Coach34]

people can go on RANTS about how we lost this or we lost that from last year...people can RANT about the DL...people can rant about Mullen...<div>
</div><div>but this season changed when Carmon went down against Auburn. If Carmon doesnt get hurt- we beat Auburn. End of story. He went down and the offense went into a flux trying to figure out what we could run with Clausell in the game- especially after Clausell got in the way of the throwback to Ralph that would have gone for big yards.</div><div>
</div><div>Carmon went down- we lost a game we shouldnt. Then another OL starter gets hurt and suddenly the strength of our team- the run game- becomes a weakness. If we cant run- we arent going to win with Ralph at QB its that simple- we dont play him at QB because of his passing. We spend 60% of our offensive practice on the run game- not passing. It's who we are. And if you dont have the men to block- you cant run. Being 3-1 and healthy on the OL makes our team totally different than today's 2-2 with injuries and uncertainty. We just simply had injuries the one place we couldnt have them for this season to be all it could be.</div><div>
</div><div>Hell, if we had lost Sherrod for a few games and another starter for the season last year- we wouldnt have won 9 games. We have got to sign better players on the OL and the DL too for that matter.</div><div>
</div><div>Hopefully we'll get a little better this week with Carmon back and the run game gets better- thats what will decide the game.</div>

 

[Coach34]

people can go on RANTS about how we lost this or we lost that from last year...people can RANT about the DL...people can rant about Mullen...<div>
</div><div>but this season changed when Carmon went down against Auburn. If Carmon doesnt get hurt- we beat Auburn. End of story. He went down and the offense went into a flux trying to figure out what we could run with Clausell in the game- especially after Clausell got in the way of the throwback to Ralph that would have gone for big yards.</div><div>
</div><div>Carmon went down- we lost a game we shouldnt. Then another OL starter gets hurt and suddenly the strength of our team- the run game- becomes a weakness. If we cant run- we arent going to win with Ralph at QB its that simple- we dont play him at QB because of his passing. We spend 60% of our offensive practice on the run game- not passing. It's who we are. And if you dont have the men to block- you cant run. Being 3-1 and healthy on the OL makes our team totally different than today's 2-2 with injuries and uncertainty. We just simply had injuries the one place we couldnt have them for this season to be all it could be.</div><div>
</div><div>Hell, if we had lost Sherrod for a few games and another starter for the season last year- we wouldnt have won 9 games. We have got to sign better players on the OL and the DL too for that matter.</div><div>
</div><div>Hopefully we'll get a little better this week with Carmon back and the run game gets better- thats what will decide the game.</div>

 

[BehrDawg]

nm

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

i agree our problem right now is OL injuries. croom left the depth chart pretty bare of upperclassmen OL, and mullen's 1st class (largely a croom class as mullen was coaching fla in the BCS title game) is just now entering their 3rd season on campus. mullen's 1st real class is redshirt FR and true sophs right now. 4* and 5* OL have trouble playing early in major conferences, so our 3* definitely aren't gonna step in a be studs. day and clausell and others will be fine with time, but they are gonna struggle right now. it's just the facts. hopefully dan is gonna make sure we don't have the gap we had this year, and if he thought he could survive with FR and sophs playing key backup roles, hopefully this is changing his mind in a hurry. the sherrod's are few and far between, most OL need a couple of years of practice, building muscle and quickness, and spot game duty before they are ready to step into a starting role their 3rd or 4th year on campus. we are turning to guys 1-2 years before they should really be ready to play full time.

 

[Hump4Hoops]

How do you think Moving Carmon out of LT this week will affect our game as opposed to how it was before he got hurt?

 

[tenureplan]

If you go back and watch the AU game, Carmon did well on running plays, but looked like a bull fighter on a few passing plays. At guard, he doesn't have worry about a quicker DE on passing downs and can do what he does (move the line) on running downs.

ETA: The true question is who is better at their position, Day or Clausell. If it is Day, I wouldn't be against moving Saulsberry to LT (he has played tackle) and leaving Day at center. I really don't know the answer to that though. But we need to make sure we have our best 5 out there.

 

[bonedaddy401]

play calling have been very frustrating. I think that has been the fuel for the fire a lot of people are "ranting".<div>
</div><div>Also I think even theannouncerson TV said the pass that Clausell caught byaccidentwouldn't have made it to the back he was throwing it to. But I do agree, if Carmondoesn'tgo down we win. Hell just the image of him being carted off the field did serious mentaldamage.</div><div>
</div><div>Got to recruit better and get deeper. Jackie stocked up on D and O linemen. He knew, and Mullen is learning the hard way.</div>

 

[coachdaddy]

i still dont understand why you run two straight running plays at Auburn--to your LEFT to win the game. but thats why i am no longer employed as a coach i guess.

 

[aTotal360]

<div>Problem is you're making it sound like the Carmon injury is why we are not as good as we would like. That's one of them though.</div><div>Yes, we ran all over Memphis. But I also think we would have ran over Memphis no matter who was on our OL. They are horrible. SMU and Ark St mauled them too.</div><div>The Carmon injury sucked. And I agree that he COULD have been the difference against AU, but that is the only situation where I can think his presence would have been the difference between winning or losing.</div><div>Hopefully Carmon will be the difference maker this weekend. </div><div>Let's be honest, having a 100% healthy offensive line is never gonna happen in the SEC.</div><div>We certainly have no room to play the injury card against UGA.</div>

 

[Buford T. Justice]

I agree about recruiting. You have to have the bodies and they need time to develop. You generally don't win in the SEC playing freshmen on the line unless they are bigtime players.

Our offensive line classes (excluding JUCO)

5th year seniors:
A. Lawrence (starting)
DJ Looney (medical)
D. Merritt (quit)
Q. Saulsberry (starting)
C. Jenkins (never came)
D. Sherrod (didn't redshirt, so left after 4)

4th year juniors (can't believe we only signed 2):
T. Smith (hurt)
T. Hardy (hasn't contributed)

3rd year sophomores (can't believe we only signed 2):
S. Watts (hasn't contributed)
G. Jackson (starting)

redshirt freshmen (finally got our numbers up):
D. Robinson
D. Day
E. Lawson
A. Muniz (Anthony's son**)
B. Clausell

true freshmen (good numbers again):
J. Malone
Knox
Maiden (could play offense or defense)
Redmond

The Tobias Smith class and the Gabe Jackson class have killed us. When you only sign four offensive linemen in 2 years, they better all pan-out quickly. Watts and Hardy have done nothing. Tobias Smith has had injuries. Gabe Jackson has been the only consistent contributor.

edited to remember Ben Beckwith in the redshirt freshman class. He walked on and has played. Has the real potential to help us in the future. Plays guard and also changes jersey numbers and plays TE in a goal line package. Actually played with two jersey numbers against Memphis.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....Carmon beat out Clausell. I think many thought the race was close, and it may have been, but Mullen tends to act like races are closer than they are in reality. We've heard for 2 years how the starting qb spot was wide open. There was no doubt (especially this year) that Relf would be the guy. Based on this policy, I'd be willing to bet that Carmon is a good ways ahead of Clausell.

 

[onewoof]

nm

 

[FISHDAWG]

one lousy running play on the goal line at AU..... it's not up to Clausell to call time out when you are down by 2 scores with over a minute left in the game .... Clausell didn't call a fake punt from our own 35 yd line that allowed LT to tie the game and almost win it.... I know we were hurting a bit on the OL but that is NO excuse

 

[boomboommsu]

we thought we had a coach (and staff) that could fully adjust to the loss of Carmon in 2 weeks time. he didn't adjust at all. add on top of that the seemingly random strategery (goes conservative and won't throw with Relf, then when going conservative is OVERWHELMINGLY the clear choice decides to not be conservative anymore, fake punt, etc.) and piss-poor clock management. wool sheared.

 

[Coach34]

one lousy running play on the goal line at AU..... it's not up to Clausell to call time out when you are down by 2 scores with over a minute left in the game .... Clausell didn't call a fake punt from our own 35 yd line that allowed LT to tie the game and almost win it.... I know we were hurting a bit on the OL but that is NO excuse

if Carmon isnt hurt- those things never take place- well, except for being down to LSU- thats like death and taxes....we finish Auburn off and it doesnt come down to the last play- the La Tech game is not as close...and so on <div>
</div><div>playcallin is a mf'er when you aint blocking anybody upfront</div>

 

[Coach34]

i still dont understand why you run two straight running plays at Auburn--to your LEFT to win the game. but thats why i am no longer employed as a coach i guess.

 

[whatever.sixpack]

I disagree also, I think the problem with this team is clearly the defense, and I think the games from here on out when Carmon returns are going to prove that.<div>
</div><div>Nobody really realized that's what set our team apart last year, but the reason we won 9 games was because we held UF to 7 points, UGA to 12 (with a garbage TD), Auburn to 17, Michigan to 14, UK to 17, etc... I think we finished 11th in the SEC (in conference games only) in scoring, but finished 21st in the nation in scoring defense. We held some pretty good offenses and traditional power programs to under 20 points.</div><div>
</div><div>Our offense could end up producing the same this year, but we ain't holding the Auburn's, UGA's, UF's, or USCe's to 17 points or less, much less 7(UF) and 12(UGA), which was the difference in 8-4 and 6-6 last year.</div><div>
</div><div>Even last year's great OL w/ Sherrod only scored 14 on Auburn, 10 on UF, 10 on Bama, 7 on LSU, and 24 on UGA, showing that even with an OL at full strength that we're not putting 30 up on elite SEC defenses. Put last year's OL and offense with THIS year's D and we still lose those games b/c we give up close to 30</div><div>
</div><div>Carmon will make us marginally better on offense than Clausell, but if we're giving up 10-14 more points per game and offenses are able to control the clock by running on us unlike last year, then it's not going to matter. If UGA and USCe score between 24-30 on us as opposed to around 17-20, we lose the swing games.</div>

 

[hulkbuster77]

one lousy running play on the goal line at AU..... it's not up to Clausell to call time out when you are down by 2 scores with over a minute left in the game .... Clausell didn't call a fake punt from our own 35 yd line that allowed LT to tie the game and almost win it.... I know we were hurting a bit on the OL but that is NO excuse

Okay as far as the fake punt goes, we faked it instead of actually linning up in a goalline situation because heguards were NOT pushing people off the ball. So there was no running between the tackles for us ALL NIGHT! Think about this for a minute, the majority of Relf's runs go where? Answer: Between the tackles. Where the guards & center is. Gabe kept falling down and Saulsberry reverted back to his Croom days. I hear all this talk about Carmon going down & it sounds a WHOLE lot like 08' when Mike Brown (LT & our best OL back then) got in trouble about that gun **** on campus. What happened? We **** the bed that year! Now with a better coaching staff, better players we overcame that adversity. "A championship team doesn't mean everything went right. It means when faced with adverse situations they were able to overcome them." Tony Dungy. The guards are our problem, that's why June is moving on the inside to play the RG spot. That's what's wrong with the team right now. If we are going to maintain this identity that we are going to pound you with the ball, we gotta be able to lock up the middle spots on the O line. It ain't the playcalling, it ain't Relf, it ain't the jumbo tron, it SURE as hell ain't Mullen because he made the switch to start running OUTSIDE the tackles because our guards were playing like ****.

 

[tenureplan]

You rail on Stansbury for his inability to close out games. Yet you are making excuses for Mullen after he has mismanaged the end of the game for the last 3 games.

Sure losing our linemen hurt. But those missing linemen are not what caused Mullen to channel his inner Miles vs Auburn or to quit in the 4th quarter vs LSU and La Tech.

 

[Coach34]

You rail on Stansbury for his inability to close out games. Yet you are making excuses for Mullen after he has mismanaged the end of the game for the last 3 games.

Sure losing our linemen hurt. But those missing linemen are not what caused Mullen to channel his inner Miles vs Auburn or to quit in the 4th quarter vs LSU and La Tech.

there was no mismanagement of the LSU game- we conceded, took Ralph out to save his body for the rest of the season, and Les quit blitzing so they wouldnt kill Russell at the end once it was on ice. <div>
</div><div>I didnt like the way he chose to go on the last drive vs Tech- but it wasnt mismanaged. He just was not going to chance turning the ball over- and thats the way he played it. Between us struggling with protection, WR's not figuring out they are uncovered, and Relf having to read a defense- it appears he made the right choice
</div><div>
</div><div>"You rail on Stansbury for his inability to close out games"</div><div>
</div><div>The Recruiter never wins them- Mullen has shown he can. Georgia, Fla, Tech, UAB are 4 that come to mind...The Recruiter doesnt do that</div><div>
</div><div>
</div>

 

[tenureplan]

If you have the ball and 3 timeouts and a minute left and can win with a field goal, waiting for overtime and putting the ball back into the opponents hands is ridiculous. If he didn't have faith in Relf, he could have still ran screens and sweeps and USED his damned timeouts. It's not like we had to get a TD, all we needed was a field goal.</p>

 

[maroonmania]

between being an 8 to 9 win type team down to a 5 to 6 win type team. We just don't have the depth of talent as most SEC teams do so we really need things to go well for us on the injury front or we are in big trouble. The current JR & SO OL classes for us are nearly non-existent and when you have one guy go down and then have to depend on a RFr to start that's a big problem. We really should have brought in AT LEAST 2 JUCO OL last year that were of at minimum the caliber to be contributing 2nd teamers and instead we only brought in one (Trapp) who can't even get on the field. That's on our coaches.

 

[Maroon90]

Don't think so. I think they would be both be surprised to hear that.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

thanks for breaking down the numbers. i hadn't actually looked at the numbers, but i knew we didn't have much/any 3rd/4th/5th year OL guys behind our starters, and the numbers reflect that. the last 1.5 recruiting classes signed 4 total OL. that's unacceptable. of course he did an unaccectable job, which is why he's gone. i give dan a pass in year 1 coming in late in recruiting/finishing out job with florida. being msu, we aren't gonna just pull some OL because we are msu, we gotta build a relationship, and dan didn't have much chance to build one that 1st year. it's promising that we have 9 total guys the last 2 years at OL spots.

 

[whatever.sixpack]

I know Carmon's 'ya boy' and all, but I went back and looked and we were more productive statistically in the Auburn game with Clausell in the lineup.<div>
</div><div>With Carmon, the offense had 41 plays for 219 yards, 5.34 yards per play. With Clausell, the offense had 55 plays for 311 yards, 5.65 per play</div><div>
</div><div>Carmon was in on 8 drives, 3 ended in scores (including the drive that they both played, which ended in a FG). Clausell was in on 6 drives, 3 ended in scores (and the last drive would've made 4 outta 6)</div><div>
</div><div>5 out of the 7 drives Carmon finished ended in 4 punts and a INT. 4 out of the 6 drives that Clausell finished ended up inside the Auburn 15 yard line, and the shortest drive Clausell was in on was a 9 play drive, while Carmon was on the field for three 3 and outs and a 6 an out.</div>

 

[FISHDAWG]

down while they watch you obvioulsly give up ... that's a crock of crap (LSU) ... flip the page and now we see similarities with La Tech .... sorry, but I just don't buy hanging all of it on the TEAM

 

[patdog]

Now you've gone and brought facts into a Coach34 manlove/hate for a player/coach thread.

 

[Buford T. Justice]

NFL HOF Anthony Munoz is father of Archie Muniz??? Don't think so. I think they would be both be surprised to hear that.

They are not related. Poking fun because some asshat seriously asked if they were father/son a year or so ago. This despite their names not even being spelled the same.

 

[Mullenation]

and our DE's are SWAC material

 

[aerodawg.sixpack]

but you can definitely attempt to go around them (speaking of La Tech game only because I agree LSU is a completely different animal). Hell when we did, we actually moved the ball. Then we would run it up the middle or rely on Relf to hit a 25 yard post pattern, and then there goes that drive.I agree completely that the injury to Carmon has been the biggest blow and catalyzed the crappy feeling of the season so far. But I don't believe that is the only reason. La Tech was slower than us, they got the push up front on our OL but all you have to do is go around them when you have the advantage of speed. Our offensive coordinator obviously does not have the common sense to see something like this and continues to try to force the issue up the middle the entire game.

I really hope the return of Carmon, and especially in the interior of the OL, will help us get some push up the middle, because if I know anything, I know we are going to try to pound it up the middle on each and every drive.

 

[Coach34]

and we put more points on the board with Carmon in the game...and while it may be just coincidence- we didnt really move the ball that well with Clausell in until after we brought the headset "problem" to the officials attention

 

[Foronce]

we had a more conservative gameplan early against Auburn.

2 or 3 of the drives we were in 3rd &10+ and relf just got the yards needed on the opposite side of the field of Clausell
ALSO another thing you have to figure in was Auburn was not/didn't have a gameplan to attack the rs fr... the last two weeks team have known and focused on it.




why do people not see that with our team and what had just taken place it was actually smarter to take it to overtime rather than rush and screw up by taking shots for a fieldgoal... we were at home, it was smarter ...i swear it seems like some are you are pissed off, that it worked out.

 

[hulkbuster77]

and our DE's are SWAC material

So Wilson sucks and Manny was "awesome"? You do realize that with the great Manny we gave up 330yds of offense to..........Alcorn St? Yes, yes we did. That was WITH Mcphee, White and KJ. That's (in case you didn't hear me) ALCORN STATE! Also gave up 354yds vs UAB and armed with a freshman QB Houston put up 403. It's the same scheme we had last year dumbasses! The only difference is Chris is doing about the same with ALOTless talent, and younger kids! And don't put any numbers up from the Auburn game from last year vs this year. They had NO identity at that point last year. DE's are SWAC material? Why don't you stand back there in the pocket and "take one for the team" then? I mean are you people even ACTUALLY state fans? Next your gonna say "well um, why do the CB's play so far off? And not play press coverage?" The reason is when your "star" safety is consistantly caught out of position (see Sr. Mitchell's 4 carrer INTs vs Nickoe's Soph 6-7) you have to tailor your gameplan around what's on the field. Our CBsmostly play in a Tampa 2 so that they keep all the plays in front of them. Go read football for dumbasses, then come back and speak to me so you won't look like a JV bench roller who keeps his jersey clean in a game. DUMBASS!

 

[Big Sheep81]

nm

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

nm

 

[Big Sheep81]

nm

 

[bonedaddy401]

<span> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/smsMgmUT5eA?f=videos&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355" allowScriptAccess="never" ></embed> </span>

 

[hulkbuster]

I know I'm newISH but what does "nm" mean?

 

[woozman]

nm=no message