Dan Mullen

[GatorAuthor]

If Mullen allows this game to fester and lead to defeat in the next game like he did last year with UGA then yeah..fire him.

Seems a bit much, really. Patience, Grasshopper.

 

[GatorAuthor]

Not Mullen’s best 2nd half that’s for sure...but we just got flat beat by a better and deeper team. I said it before and I’ll say it again this is where the recruiting shows up. Our starters are good enough to beat anyone on a given day but we aren’t deep enough with talent to afford any injuries at any position (except maybe QB surprisingly). This next stretch of games is gonna be so tough without Greenard and Zuniga. Hearing they are both going to be out next week.

This is a MUCH weaker team without those 2. Seems like the pass rush has made up for other deficiencies on D this year. Even w/out Z, Greenard made an impact. With both those guys out this D may go from a strength to a neutral factor.

 

[soflagator]

And despite all that, UF still could have won.

And going into the year, this was a game nearly everyone considered a loss. And that was before we knew this version of Lsu. If anyone had said we’d roll into BR, with Trask and down two DEs, against a team playing as well as anyone, and coach/play well enough to win but come up short, it would be considered a positive. It’s year 2 and literally everything, including potentially a second shot at a team we all think we could’ve beaten, is still in front of us. We haven’t lost in almost a calendar year. This team needs to refocus, get healed up as much as possible and finish their year strong.

 

[T REX]

Need better players. Period. Any one that says "I trust the coaches over the recruiting services" should be banned on the spot.

Need better players. Not enough depth.

PS the run up the gut on 1st and 20 was chicken bleeping bleep. Mullen crapped himself on that play call.

 

[GatorAuthor]

I understand your thoughts but I disagree.

I don't think this is way we are encouraged to post here. I'm not sure there's a formal rule/policy on it, but your tone (level) and demeanor (reasonable) are not consistent with GCMB norms.

 

[78]

Need better players. Period. Any one that says "I trust the coaches over the recruiting services" should be banned on the spot.

Need better players. Not enough depth.

PS the run up the gut on 1st and 20 was chicken bleeping bleep. Mullen crapped himself on that play call.

Just curious. What do you think LSU was expecting in that situation? I've seen Spurrier call run countless times in an effort to pick up a quick seven yards.

 

[RiverRat]

I don't have a problem with playing EJ he give us a dynamic Trask doesn't. I think we wasted too many plays running it up the gut, I would like to see more miss directions and trying to get outside.

We lost this game by not stoping their offense. Not having out two best pass rushers was a death blow.

 

[UFHealthGator]

We weren't winning even if Trask was put in the whole game. The problem was that LSUs offense was scoring at will. We on the other hand were grinding every drive and needing far more snaps to score. Sooner or later they were getting a turnover.

We were just beat.

 

[MJMGator]

I don't think this is way we are encouraged to post here. I'm not sure there's a formal rule/policy on it, but your tone (level) and demeanor (reasonable) are not consistent with GCMB norms.

You gotta be nice to Ox when he’s pissed. His board, his rules!

 

[T REX]

Just curious. What do you think LSU was expecting in that situation? I've seen Spurrier call run countless times in an effort to pick up a quick seven yards.

It was a wasted play IMHO. As a playcaller, I though he'd come up with something better.

 

[SGG]

Yeah, now it is a trap game for them.

Where is Law and what did you do with him?

I agree, though, Duncechump is gonna Duncechump, he just got out-Smarted yesterday.

It was glorious.

 

[Gatorraid81]

. . . was awful at clock management at the end of each half. But, it didn’t matter.

Florida had the worst defensive game in at least the last 25 years. For context, in the 95 championship game, Nebraska averaged 3 yards per play less than LSU averaged last night. If you remove the two kneel downs it’s even worse and LSU averaged over 11 yards per play. That is astonishingly bad.

Yet, Mullen’s offense was the best defensive coordinator out there. He slowed them down by just giving LSU the ball less often. EJ was part of that. I didn’t love some of the calls and timing, but in an entire game, he did pretty well calling plays (until the second half redzone possessions).

What was wrong with the clock management at end of first half? We left like 4 seconds on clock. Would you rather we scored quicker so LSU could’ve raced down the field and scored again before halftime?

 

[YLGator]

What was most frustrating to me last night was that it was crystal clear early on that we were in a shoot out. The D was lost. We had to be aggressive on O as that was the only way we had a chance. And we did have a chance because Trask, Pitts and WR's were in synch and lighting up LSU's D. We had to keep our foot on the gas at all times. Can't say we would have pulled it out had we done that, but that was our only chance.

Sadly, Dan either didn't recognize that or didn't care. Pulling Trask while he was in the middle of carving up LSU's D in Death Valley was infuriating. I get the rationale, but a good coach has to adjust based on the game situation and put his team in the best position to succeed. Our only chance last night was going all in on Air Trask.

Instead, we wasted opportunity after opportunity trying to run the option with EJ and even Trask when we should have been going balls to the wall throwing down field. I just rematched the 2nd half and it was even worse than I remember. Someone asked me last night for details on why I think Dan killed us last night. Here goes.

- Opening drive of the 2nd half, we march right down the field and score even though Dan tried to blow it by reverting to running the option in the red zone. Trask bails him out with a great 3rd down TD pass.
- 2nd drive of half tied 28 all. We get a holding call on 1st down so its first and twenty. We run Perine up the middle for no gain essentially killing the drive. Gotta try to pick up some yards there.
- 3rd drive of the half. Now down 35 - 28. The wasted EJ series. Absolutely inexcusable. Trask was on fire. Pulling him here was mind boggling to say the least. One of the all-time worst coaching decisions.
- 4th drive of the half. Still 35-28. Trask marches us down the field making play after play. He's clearly in a groove and then on 2nd and 2 on the 17 yard line, LSU calls a time out giving Dan time to think. So he yanks Trask again and calls a failed QB run for EJ wasting a down and breaking Trask's rhythm. Trask throws the int on the next play after being rushed back onto the field.
- Final drive of the game. Now 42-28. Trask marches us down the field yet again making clutch throw after clutch throw. We get to first a goal at the 2 and Dan wastes first down with a halfback option trick play and then calls Perine up the middle on 3rd down and ends the game running another failed option play with Trask.

So, we had five drives in the second half. Dan killed 3 of them with his stubborn insistence on playing EJ and/or running the option and he killed another by going too conservative. He also tried to kill the only successful drive but thankfully Trask bailed him out on that one.

Just a terrible night for Dan. His play calling killed us.

 

[Sec14Gator]

What was wrong with the clock management at end of first half? We left like 4 seconds on clock. Would you rather we scored quicker so LSU could’ve raced down the field and scored again before halftime?

The result was fine. The situation wasn’t. We had a lot of time available and nearly ran out of time before we ran out of downs, as well as rushing at the end as a result. Replay that several times and we miss a TD opportunity due to that same clock management.

Let it run down some to reduce time for LSU, but don’t risk completely running out of time.

 

[SeabeeGator]

I thought the one give away series with Jones was weird but other than that, he did okay. On the other hand, the defense had a historically disastrous night and if someone is to blame, it would have to be Grantham.

Totally agree. Maybe you should have a talk with your son - he seems to have forgotten the defense gave up 42 points, 500+ Yards, and 10.6 ypp. Historically bad yet we were still in it at the end thanks to many great calls by Mullen.

 

[FireFoley]

The result was fine. The situation wasn’t. We had a lot of time available and nearly ran out of time before we ran out of downs, as well as rushing at the end as a result. Replay that several times and we miss a TD opportunity due to that same clock management.

Let it run down some to reduce time for LSU, but don’t risk completely running out of time.

Don;t forget we had one less timeout than we should have had b/c early in the game we had 4th down and 12 with the punt team on the field and I have no idea what they were doing but obviously not paying attention so Cousin Eddie was "forced" (*cough cough) to take a timeout, other wise we would have had to punt on 4th and 17. What is the damn difference? So me thinks that someone clued Cousin Eddie in on how stupid it was to trade that timeout for 5 yards when you were punting anyway B/C in the 2nd half we had another 4th and long much deeper in our own territory with Townsend already standing in the endzone and lo and behold we get a delay of game penalty. Explain to me why Cousin Eddie took a timeout in that exact situation in the first half when Townsend was no where near his own endzone, but does not take one that leaves Townsend standing under his own goal post?

 

[SeabeeGator]

Don;t forget we had one less timeout than we should have had b/c early in the game we had 4th down and 12 with the punt team on the field and I have no idea what they were doing but obviously not paying attention so Cousin Eddie was "forced" (*cough cough) to take a timeout, other wise we would have had to punt on 4th and 17. What is the damn difference? So me thinks that someone clued Cousin Eddie in on how stupid it was to trade that timeout for 5 yards when you were punting anyway B/C in the 2nd half we had another 4th and long much deeper in our own territory with Townsend already standing in the endzone and lo and behold we get a delay of game penalty. Explain to me why Cousin Eddie took a timeout in that exact situation in the first half when Townsend was no where near his own endzone, but does not take one that leaves Townsend standing under his own goal post?

Fire Knox. STs were bad again last night, highlighted by multiple delay of games.

 

[stephenPE]

Cousin Eddie is why we were ranked so high and playing LSU even for quite awhile. Two great Def ends missing certainly hurt. Bottom line is they were better than us last night. We are still on the right track.

 

[SeabeeGator]

Cousin Eddie is why we were ranked so high and playing LSU even for quite awhile. Two great Def ends missing certainly hurt. Bottom line is they were better than us last night. We are still on the right track.

I wouldn’t call Zuniga great but I agree with your point in general.

 

[NavetG8r]

I wouldn’t call Zuniga great but I agree with your point in general.

At 100% healthy, he is great, and damn near elite. He hasn't been 100% since we played Miami.