Dan Mullen just put himself on the hot seat

With two weeks to prepare for Auburn, Dan Mullen did nothing and put himself on the hot seat.

After the South Alabama debacle, I didn’t think Dan Mullen would be fired barring an 0-12 season. But I was assuming two things: Scott Stricklin would remain the athletic director and the team would not quit on Mullen.

In a 38-14 loss to Auburn, it certainly looked like the team quit on Mullen. The game wasn’t even as close as the 24 point margin makes it look as the Tigers got everything they wanted in the first half and called off the dogs in the second half.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen a really poor effort (2012 vs. Texas A&M comes to mind), but this was about as bad as it gets. I won’t bother with the report card this week. Everyone gets an “F”.

We’ve talked about the country club before. It’s Dan Mullen and his boys: John Hevesy, Greg Knox, Scott Sallach. They’ve all been at State now for eight years and coach the offense. (I’ll leave Billy Gonzalez and Brian Johnson out of it for now).

Not that the defense played well in this game, because they didn’t – they were terrible. But this core group of coaches on the offensive side of the ball have gotten way too comfortable in Starkville and that relaxed attitude has spilled through the entire program.

With two weeks to prepare for this game, MSU looked like a Croom-era team. They were absolutely pathetic in every phase of the game. You had players like Fred Ross dropping punt returns or Brandon Bryant not hustling:

It’s time to shake things up. There’s no excuse for the lack of effort we saw vs. Auburn. It wasn’t a talent gap that put the game out of reach in the 1st quarter – it was effort. This team has no leadership whether it be from the players or coaches. They are just going through the motions.

We saw them go through the motions and lose to South Alabama. Then they came out fired up and beat South Carolina, but that team hasn’t showed up again. Apparently they aren’t going to unless the coaching are chewing them out.

I don’t think Dan Mullen has “lost the team” yet, like Houston Nutt lost his in 2011 or Gene Chizik did in 2012, but if they continue this poor play that’s what will happen. Things need to change or we are going to see more of these blowouts as the season progresses.

I have to agree with Boobie – this season is all but shot. The words “bowl game” should not be uttered unless this team turns things around and gets to five wins. This coaching staff should be coaching for their jobs. If play does not improve significantly then John Hevesy, Greg Knox and Scott Sallach need to be the first on the chopping block.

There was a small but vocal minority of fans that were ready to get rid of Dan Mullen prior to this game. But he lost a lot of fans today. Games like this put you on the hot seat because fans don’t want to show up to watch a terrible team. And when that happens, a third straight loss to your rival will do you in – which seems like an certainty at this point.

What are you going to do, Coach Mullen? We’ve seen two pathetic performances, at home, this year. Rebuilding or not, that’s inexcusable. Make your staff coach better and your players give more effort. The buck stops with you.