There were a lot of different things to take away from the game Saturday, it wasn't all good, and it definitely wasn't all bad...

Positives:
This team played a 60 minute game. Dak is just a all around good guy and a beast at the football. We have a lot of young talent that will be stars. De'runnya Wilson, Josh Robinson, Ashton Shumpert (On his carries he looked damn good, hard physical running), Jameon Lewis (not young necessarily but a beast), Ross, Fred Brown on offense all show flashes of greatness. On defense it is hard to deny that we have talent, especially in the front 7. B Brown is going to be a beast IMO. Also, I think we are a good safety away from having a jam up secondary. Yeah our corners get beat occasionally but any great corner is going to take some chances and get beat sometimes, and sometimes the chances will pay off. They are mostly young, Love and Cox are the exceptions and even Cox is in his first year of D1.

Mullen is a two part topic. Some good, some bad. The good was that our offensive numbers at the end of the game were nothing short of impressive. We were playing A&M so the argument could be made that any other team and it might have been a W. But if it were any other team, their defense wouldn't have been as bad, so that is a double edged sword. The offense in the second half was what I was most impressed with. We looked like we actually made some adjustments and the offense actually picked it up in the second half opposed to trending down. Nothing but positives there.

Negatives:
The front end of the game was hard to watch, which I think was the reason people started to get chippy in the game thread. Some of us were envisioning another blowout loss and getting tired of it. The first thing that stood out to me, which several people have already pointed out was the 3rd and 4 and 4th and 1. On the 3rd and 4, we call a quarterback blast/lead over the left side. Russell's too slow to get around the corner. Not what many of us would have called with Russell in the game, but fine, put us in a manageable 4th down if we were planning on going for it anyway. (Which I applauded at the time, long field goal, can't keep punting the ball, only 1 yard to gain, go for it) Then comes the 4th down. Run up the middle with Perkins. Not sure there are many here that think that was a good play call. Maybe with Robinson or Shumpert in the game but not Perk. This is the bad side of Mullen I alluded to in the positives section. One minute he's looking like the play caller at Florida, the next he does some ridiculous shite like this.

The next negative of note is that we cannot keep squandering the defense's valiant efforts. We get a roughing the punter call after a great three and out and what does the defense turn around a do? Get a pick! Big time players make big time plays in big time situations and all that. What does the offense do with the ball? Stall after a false start or some other boneheaded penalty. Three and out. This happens time and time again, which has to be frustrating for a defense that has tried, to no avail, to carry the team this year.

The last negative I will point out, and not really an all negative point is about Nickoe. Sigh. Since day 1 Nickoe was one of my favorite players. He seemed to be that "thug", if I may, that had the attitude that our defense needed. Big time hits and big time interceptions. Hell saturday with his pick he is the active player national leader of interceptions I believe. Never has gotten into any off the field trouble that I can recall and has just gone out and played. The Achilles injury couldn't be any worse for Nickoe. Completely changed him as a player and forever changed some fans perception of him overall. To me, if he is in his first or second year that touchdown he gave up to SC would have been a pick all day. It hurts to watch him struggle out there. It hurts even more to see our coaches leave him in positions to fail it seems. I understand our safety depth has been bad, but something has to give. Let him be in on run support plays, first downs and such and move Cox back there on pure passing downs. Anything really to mix it up at this point.

Overall take:

There are positives to take from the game saturday. That is fact. There are also negatives to look at. That is fact. For those of you that refuse to see the other side opposite from your perspective are selling yourselves short IMO.

In a thread I made specifically to address the keep Mullen/ fire Mullen issue, I said it would come down to how the team played in the last five games. Blown out - fired. Play well - Keep and ride into next season. Well here we are boys. Two games down.

South Carolina - Saw some Mullen emotion, 5 turnovers, saw a little quit at the end, blow out.
Texas A&M - Saw more Mullen emotion, called out D Coord for prevent, played a full 60 minute game, Hard Fought IMO.

We will see how we play in the next three games. A lot left to see as far as our coaching decision goes, but a step in the right direction Saturday IMO.