I think it's time to evaluate whether Dan Mullen is the guy or not

Avenger48c

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Mullen is at a crossroads right now. He caught lightning in a bottle with Trask but even that wasn't quite enough to get him to the next level. If he takes a long look in the mirror over the next few weeks and sees all of the things holding the team back from reaching that next level, he could start building a much more solid program. That starts with gutting the defensive staff and hiring top name people to replace them. Someone like Kevin Steele or Derek Mason could build back the team a lot better. He needs people who can recruit and he needs more staff for QC and game prep. I think he's had enough success and earned enough leverage with Stricklin to get that stuff if he pushed.

Is he going to do that? I'm not sure. The Mullen who stepped off the plane wouldn't, but I think he's learning more than we give him credit for here. Hires like Tim Brewster show he sees the need for better recruiting, at least. His willingness to open it up on offense at the beginning of the season is another sign, though the regression is worrying.

I still think Mullen can be the guy if he's willing to make changes, and I don't think we could've done better at the time we hired him. A lot of it is going to come down to this off-season, though, and if Grantham is still on the sideline at UF next year I'll be convinced that Dan isn't the guy.
 

Towels 'N Sporks

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This loss was from three turnovers and a thrown shoe.

And busted coverages, and poor pass protection, and Davis tripping on the grass with some open field in front of him that led to a 3 and out in the fourth quarter, and the inability to run the football, and field goal kicking, and out best player watching from the sideline.
 

lagator

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This loss was from kill the clock playcalling in the first half.
And literally killing the clock before the go ahead FG. You know how badly LSU wished they had a timeout when they were trying to scramble to get the offense off the field and kicking team on in time to maybe get off a desperation 57 yard kick?

And how about sitting your best player? This loss falls squarely on Mullen even if he refused to take any responsibility afterwards, which tells you all you need to know about the guy.
 

NavetG8r

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I mean I get it. I do. He's definitely showing pretty strong signs of being our own Mark Richt, but as long as Saban is at Bama, who are you going to find that can build a better program? You all do realize he's in the way of any progress, right? It ain't Smart stopping us. He's proven he does less with more than anyone I've maybe ever seen, but that isn't true for Saban and Bama. They're always in the way of getting to the playoffs. Just like this year, even had we won against LSU, if we're honest with ourselves we all know beating Bama was a pipe dream with this year's defense. Bama is and always will be in the way until Saban leaves. Some of you need to come back down to earth and realize that. Mullen's fine to keep us relevant until Saban retires. Then maybe there actually will be someone out there better than Mullen to hire so we can get back on top. Right now I'm just happy to at least be beating who we're supposed to beat (well, except that major screw up Saturday night) and stay in the recruits' minds as a program to keep their eyes on. I'm just trying to be realistic here.
 

Bait'n Gator

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And literally killing the clock before the go ahead FG. You know how badly LSU wished they had a timeout when they were trying to scramble to get the offense off the field and kicking team on in time to maybe get off a desperation 57 yard kick?

And how about sitting your best player? This loss falls squarely on Mullen even if he refused to take any responsibility afterwards, which tells you all you need to know about the guy.

I actually agreed with the time out. LSU's kicker is great and they had around 27 seconds to run the fg team out to make the kick so it wasn't gonna be a crazy rushed attempt. If no time out and they make it then it's game over, the time out actually worked as well as it could. Gave Trask enough time to get our kicker in range, he just missed.
 

lagator

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I actually agreed with the time out. LSU's kicker is great and they had around 27 seconds to run the fg team out to make the kick so it wasn't gonna be a crazy rushed attempt. If no time out and they make it then it's game over, the time out actually worked as well as it could. Gave Trask enough time to get our kicker in range, he just missed.
It was more like 21 seconds when they called the TO and the ref was still holding the ball hadn't even started to get it set. I understand your's and Mullen's side but definitely don't agree. All you have to do is ask yourself if you are LSU do you think they would rather have us call the TO or not? It looked like their coaches couldn't believe Dorky Dan actually stopped the clock for them. It was a huge advantage for them to have the clock stopped and be able to set up for the FG and if we don't call it I think we probably win the game in OT.
 

soflagator

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It was more like 21 seconds when they called the TO and the ref was still holding the ball hadn't even started to get it set. I understand your's and Mullen's side but definitely don't agree. All you have to do is ask yourself if you are LSU do you think they would rather have us call the TO or not? It looked like their coaches couldn't believe Dorky Dan actually stopped the clock for them. It was a huge advantage for them to have the clock stopped and be able to set up for the FG and if we don't call it I think we probably win the game in OT.

I can see it both ways. In the moment, I was definitely in agreement with you and hated the call. But after the fact, I see what he was trying to do, and it almost worked. You put everything on one kick if you don't stop the clock there. At least with the TO, you give yourself the option to get it back and either tie it(or win if he misses) with a FG of your own. In OT, I'm convinced we lose because we were going to lose all night. Every battle is won before it's ever fought. Saturday is prime example of that.
 

GatorMan5K

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I think he confirmed it for me tonight that he's not. The question is how long does he have?

I agree to a point.... He gets rid of grantham, he has two more years. He sticks with grantham, he is firmly on the hot seat.
And lets face it. Next year should be a down year looking at what we are losing. So. Lets see where his loyalties are... Family? University? Or friends.
 

TheDouglas78

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Lets be honest, we played for the field goal on the previous series. We didn't play for the touchdown. If we played to win, instead of tie on the previous possession once we got in the red zone, this point is moot. Mullen didn't lose the game on the "shoe attempt" or the time out. It was at 2nd and 16 we are running a draw play. The both sides of the time out argument makes sense. We lacked the killer instinct on the drive before that.

Lets all remember, LSU has 57 scholarship players, they traveled with 54. We were scared of a team with a roster at just over 50% missing almost their entire defensive backfeild, a true freshman bb gun armed qb, and the 13 ranked SEC pass defense (ranked 117th in the nation against passes over 20 yards).
 

TheDouglas78

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I agree to a point.... He gets rid of grantham, he has two more years. He sticks with grantham, he is firmly on the hot seat.
And lets face it. Next year should be a down year looking at what we are losing. So. Lets see where his loyalties are... Family? University? Or friends.

quarterback, top 10 pick tight end, 3 offensive linemen, a couple of WRs... next year will be different.
 

GatorMan5K

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quarterback, top 10 pick tight end, 3 offensive linemen, a couple of WRs... next year will be different.
Well. From what ive seen his qb is gonna be well lets say duel threat at best. Te should be good, but come on. No pitts. Some freshman ol's check, unproven wr. Ok i get ya. But this year was... Or could have been special.
Could have been with a servicable D.
So again. He hitches his buggy on grantham. Let him go and you get a few more years. Keep him, down with the ship capt.
 

Bait'n Gator

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It was more like 21 seconds when they called the TO and the ref was still holding the ball hadn't even started to get it set. I understand your's and Mullen's side but definitely don't agree. All you have to do is ask yourself if you are LSU do you think they would rather have us call the TO or not? It looked like their coaches couldn't believe Dorky Dan actually stopped the clock for them. It was a huge advantage for them to have the clock stopped and be able to set up for the FG and if we don't call it I think we probably win the game in OT.

I know the clock was at :27 when the previous play ended because I was yelling at the t.v. to call a fuching timeout. I believe it was about 24 seconds when they actually called it and stopped the clock. Of course LSU was happy we called the time out.

The 4th down call on the 1st drive was way worse in my opinion.
 

NavetG8r

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Lets be honest, we played for the field goal on the previous series. We didn't play for the touchdown. If we played to win, instead of tie on the previous possession once we got in the red zone, this point is moot. Mullen didn't lose the game on the "shoe attempt" or the time out. It was at 2nd and 16 we are running a draw play. The both sides of the time out argument makes sense. We lacked the killer instinct on the drive before that.

And that lack of killer instinct showed in the players. I remember the drive before that one when we got that FG. I saw the offense walk, not trot, not run, walk...with their heads hanging like "we have to go try again". I told my mom, it's over. The offensive players don't even look interested, much less excited about getting another chance to win this game. They looked already defeated. I was actually very shocked they managed to move the ball into range for Evan on that drive. I didn't think they had it left in them. The final drive was even more of a shock to me. I expected them to go 3 and out based on their 2nd half demeanor.
 

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