Yesterday's result was horribly disappointing. More than any rival, I loathe the Humpers and their delusional fan base with how they view themselves alongside Bammer, ND, USCw as college football royalty. I hate them. Hate, hate, hate.
Yesterday: We didn't seem right from the beginning. Not converting on that very first drive and the gawd-awful play calling.... I will say this: Any head coach should be fired immediately if they have a 4th and less than 1 yard to go - and they run a play, any play - especially a passing play - from the friggin shotgun. Absolutely idiocy. Line up under the mother-f&*king center and run for the half yard! The tone for the game was set right there when we told them we can't get half a yard on the ground. Honestly, I am surprised the final score margin wasn't greater.
That said, yesterday was not a gut shredding, "question my existence" loss like we've felt in the past. 2001 against the Chuggers, the losses SOS suffered to the Clowns, perhaps most especially the Doak Choke spring to mind. We're just not "there" yet.
Yes, we lost all of our season's most meaningful annual goals yesterday. But realistically, when you consider the dumpster fire we've been since 2009; the absolute dearth of elite talent on the roster and that Mullen is only in his second year, what did you expect? I think all of us expected 2-3 losses this year. Assuming we can get past pesky Mizzou and win our bowl game, we'll finish 11-2. In year 2 of a vast reclamation project, I think we'd all take that. Remember how you felt as Butters was leaving the field in Jax two years ago, smiling after getting raped by the Sniffers? Then compare to yesterday. Mullen has brought us a very long way in a very short period of time. Then add to that the other splash hires that year - Chip, Frost, Taggelwain........ Things could be a lot worse. I do not love his offense and given Trask and Franks' immobility, you have to figure he's running only 60-70% of his playbook (seriously, how bad must EJ be to not be getting more snaps?) - but things could be a lot worse for us.
All that said, the biggest forward-looking concerns for me are connected. The first is talent/recruiting. This has to get better and immediately. I will not belabor a point pretty much all of us have made about Mullen, but somehow, someway, he or his staff have to get better on the recruiting trail. The talent disparity between us and the top SEC and national programs is vast and has to get better. Now. This year's class.
The second and more serious concern is the mindset of the Administration. All organizations take their cues from the top and those top-tier cues form the broader organizational culture. If some posters are correct that Stricklin and the University muckety-mucks are happy with 8-9 wins each year with an occasional run at an SEC title and plenty of cash coming in to support the Olympic sports, then we will never rise to the SOS and CUM heights again. Let us all hope this is not the case. Prove it by getting the damned football facilities built!
I think it was Ox that said that Mullen was the right guy to dig us out of the hole created by the last, absentee year of CUM and Duncecramp and Butters lost decade, but that is all he is good for and that championships are just not in him. I hope this is wrong. But my hope in this is waning. He needs to improve recruiting to show signs of life (and develop a vertical passing attack, while I'm dreaming).
And regardless of all my drivel above, I am done losing to the Humpers. I don't give a rat's ass how he does it next year, but he WILL beat them next year.