Bear's Boys

Have the days of Bear Ball finally gone by the wayside? The University of Alabama has finally looked away from Bear's Boys with the hiring of Nick Saban and are now reaping the rewards of that change in strategery.

See the flow chart (credit SallyStansbury at SixPackSpeak.com) pertaining to the offensive strategy and play calling of Jackie Sherrill and Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State. The Bear was able to line up much better players than the other guy and run it down their throats while playing lights-out damn good defense.
When Sherrill was successful at State he had NFL caliber offensive linemen and put almost entire defensive rosters into the NFL.

Sylvester Croom's offenses have been absolutely terrible and this team is now made up 100% of his recruit. I don't think it takes five years to install an offense. Just take a look at the stats below (credit vhdawg on SixPackSpeak.com for the legwork):

Under Jackie Sherrill:
1999 88 out of 114 (323.82 YPG) (10-2, 6-2, Peach Bowl victory)
2000 46 out of 114 (386.36 YPG) (8-4, 4-4, Independence Bowl victory)
2001 85 out of 115 (343.55 YPG) (3-8, 2-6)
2002 93 out of 117 (336.83 YPG) (3-9, 0-8)
2003 99 out of 117 (320.67 YPG) (2-10, 1-7)
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Under Sylvester Croom:
2004 107 out of 117 (303.18 YPG) (3-8, 2-6)
2005 113 out of 117 (276.18 YPG) (3-8, 1-7)
2006 103 out of 119 (286.83 YPG) (3-9, 1-7)
2007 113 out of 119 (297.15 YPG) (8-5, 4-4, Liberty Bowl victory)
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2008 111 out of 119 (284.71 YPG) - through 10/18/08 (3-6, 1-4) - through 11/01/08

Croom isn't working out. It's time for Mississippi State to hire a young, energetic, up-and-coming coach who is willing to try something different on offense while stressing the solid defense that Mississippi State is typically known for.