Dan Mullen, UF's offensive coordinator, did not lose Saturday's game against Mississippi.
Mullen does not deserve to be fired.
Let's pause now so all those crazy people who don't listen to reason can go fire off nasty e-mails to me.
Done now? All right, good.
That doesn't mean the rest of you have to agree, but at least you're willing to think rationally.
Heck, FireDanMullen.com was launched this week.
Seriously?
There is a fundamental principle that must be established before Mullen's credentials are debated.
Does the offense's efficiency lie in the hands of the players or on the shoulders of the man calling the plays?
The true answer likely lies somewhere in the middle, but ask yourself first which way you lean.
Now let's re-address the topic in question.
Consider the theory that the offensive coordinator should hold final responsibility for how the unit produces. Certainly a valid thought.
UF racked up 443 yards of offense Saturday, averaging 6.1 per play. It recorded four touchdowns and set up a field goal. It scored enough to force overtime until that final blocked PAT.
Now, the Gators went 2 for 4 on fourth down. That's two turnovers that can be attributed to Mullen, right?
The decision to go for fourth down is not made by Mullen. He said after the game Saturday that Meyer tells him before third down whether he has one or two plays to try and convert the first down.
As for the Gators' last drive, yes, everyone in America knew what play would be called on fourth-and-one with the game hanging the balance.
Normally it's not a good thing to be predictable, but I would have called the same thing. It's been nearly automatic for three seasons.
Many people in hindsight have called for an option or even a jump pass. But before Tebow failed, how many of you would have made such recommendations? And, how many of you would've been ready to jump down Mullen's throat when he called a jump pass or option, and the defense stopped it?
But if Mullen's job is simply to get his unit to score more points than the other team no matter what, yes, he failed Saturday. Yet remember he fell short amid a sea of miscues. It took numerous bad deep balls by Tebow, three fumbles by go-to offensive weapons (Tebow, Harvin and Hernandez), a blocked PAT and a Rebels defense that finally figured out how to stop Tebow to keep the Gators from probably scoring and winning. That's a lot of coincidences to go against Mullen.
Let's not forget the potent offensive attack that was the 2007 Gators. Mullen called the plays for a unit that scored 42.5 points last year, good for third in the nation. UF scored on 54.6 percent of its drives last season, a rate that was the best in the Southeastern Conference since the league started tracking the stat in 2000.
Now let's test that second possibility - that the players are the ones who ultimately decide a game's outcome. Then the praise for 2007 should rightly go on the shoulders of the Heisman Trophy winner and his assortment of weapons. But the blame for Saturday also lands in the players' laps.
The truth is, the turnovers lost Saturday's game. They put the defense in bad situations leading to momentum-swinging scores.
Every secondary will give up big plays during a season.
That was certainly bad timing for Joe Haden and Major Wright to mess things up with an 86-yard bomb, but while teams can have perfect records, they never play perfectly.
Either way, calling for the firing of Mullen does not really make sense.
You can't credit the players in success and hate on the coach in failure.
Double standards should be left to the world of trying to date girls.
