Texas Tech

[raider]

Was curious how many were going to make the trek up to Lubbock?

(No Flame intended)
Going from being very competitive last year against Tech, do you guys believe that a win in Lubbock is a possibility. What are some of the keys of the football game that SMU will have to be successful at and who are some key players coming back.

For Tech offensively we could have the ability to be better next year. With the return of 9 starters - best oline in school history, best skilled position players in school history we should be in good shape. The only question that has to be answered on offense is the absence of KK. Many people believe that the absence of KK will bring down the production of the offense. Symons has been under KK for three years and almost won the job over KK his soph year. BJ is a totally different style of player than Kliff being that he has a rocket arm, wheels, and the ability to make plays. The down part about his game early in his career was the mental part of the game by forcing the situation. Many fans feel comfortable about BJ due to a great spring.

Defensively, who knows? Tech is going more to a scheme based defense. With the loss of Flu and Hunt will be big but the emergence of a new star has arrived. His name is Brock Stratton and was a transfer from BYU. He came of a 2 year mission and decided to come back to TX. He was a big time player at San Antonio Roosevelt in HS and also the state 5A wrestling champion beating out a kid named anthony schlegal who transfered from the AFA to Ohio State. Stratton absolutely had a huge spring and has become a Zach Thomas look a like clone. Going back to the scheme it looks like we will be running some type of psuedo 3-4 with a lot of blitzing and firmly controling the box. The scheme on paper shows the ability for the defense to stop the run at all cost play on a island with the corners. The corner back position will be the position where I personally am worried about the most because both starters are gone. The only bright side to the situation is that we signed possibly the best JC DB class in the nation. The player that stands out in the class is Jamaal Jackson, NJCAA Defensive player of the year. This defensive unit will have better talent with about 8RS FR and soph battling for and possibly winning positions but at the same time having not a lot of experience.

[MustangKurt20]

I don't expect us to win, but I do feel like we're gonna give a good showing. However, I like playing Tech right of the bat so we'll get to see them at their rawest (that isn't a word but oh well). And Tech has the reputation of playing down to their competition so that could be good for us too.

Prediction

Tech 31
SMU 20

[Sam I Am]

Tech will kill us in the opening game. We're just not ready for big time competition yet. Sorry, pony fans, our time has come and gone.

SMU Class of 63

[PonyFan]

Were you not at the game with Tech last year? No, we didn't beat them, but we hung in there. To suggest that we're "not ready" seems shortsighted and pessimistic.

So, Raider, I pretty much agree with MustangKurt - I don't know that we can win, but I'm hopefully that we make the Raiders sweat a little. And the fact that we're playing the opener can't help but be a benefit -- with any luck, Symons will be all twisted up with nerves at the idea that the TT offense is now his to run. From the little that I've seen (and more that I've read), the guy has some serious talent. So I'm certainly not going to sit here and throw a bunch of "he's no Kingsbury" smack at you. But I hope the crowd unnerves him a little, and that he waits until week 2 to really mesh with the rest of the offense, particularly the receivers. They're a pretty scary bunch, I gather, so our secondary certainly has its work cut out in the season opener.

As for our offense against TT's defense, that's also hard to say. (By the way, I saw Anthony Schlegal wrestle in high school, and if your boy Stratton whipped him, then you do indeed have a beast on your hands. Tell Stratton to take the first game off, so he can watch his new team gel....) While you will have a new-look defense, we should have an offense that scarcely resembles what Tech saw in Dallas last year. Last year, we were adjusting to new coaches and schemes, and we ran an extremely conservative attack. However, Richard Bartel is now playing QB, and he is a different animal from Tate Wallis -- not a shot at Tate, just different players. Bartel is an insanely strong arm, and can throw any pass with a seemingly effortless flick of the wrist. He also will get to see 3-WR and 4-WR sets -- something we rarely (if ever) did last year, and which should help open more lanes for Keylon Kincade.

At the risk of sounding negative, I fear our offensive line played a little over its head last year. I'm hoping Hunt's departure will weaken the pass rush, at least for one week (although I don't remember him doing a whole lot against us last year.) Three OL starters (Harris, Keischnick and Reindl) started last year, and Townsend Hargis played a lot (started some games, I believe.) Left tackle is a toss-up -- Eric Neal played significant time past year, while Martin Guidry was redshirting. Not sure who will start there.

Chris McMurtray will be a lot better than last year's kicker.

See you in Lubbock! (Any recommendations on where to eat/drink?)

Texas Tech 34
SMU 31






[This message has been edited by PonyFan (edited 06-15-2003).]

[TECH_FAN]

you need to visit the depot district in Lubbock,everyone seems to have a good time there.I would also say if you like steak,and live entertainment,you need to try Cagles steak house,about 4 miles west of the loop.

[raider]

Cagle's is the best steak in town. This place is legit. Also after the game if you are not in the mood for steak but more for appetizers/burgers/chickenfri/ and absolutely the coldest beer in town head on down to the Caprock Cafe. It is a bar type of seen that has a cool look to the place inside and outside on the Patio. Food is great in my opinion. Has been voted best place to have a beer/burger many times in Lubbock. Will have football going at all times on the many TV's also. I will probably be at caprock after the game myself with my girlfriend and my gambling sheet. LOL!! It is located on the Intersection of 34th and indiana.



[This message has been edited by raider (edited 06-16-2003).]

[PonyTales]

Hey Raider, Tech Fan, etc - what's Tech's defensive strength? I know Raider likes this Stratton guy, but overall, is the defense best-suited for stuffing the run or stopping the passing game? Just curious.
Thanks

(And thanks for the food suggestions - I'm heading out to Lubbock for the game, and will try to follow your advice.)r

[raider]

Tech's defensive strength will be the scheme they play this year. The scheme is a psuedo 3-4 style attack with a stand up rush end and strong side end. The ability of the unit will be to stop the run and control the box. The down side of this is that we are going to have more big plays scored on us with our corners on an island. The upside more 3 and outs. The defense that we ran last year was more or less designed for a player to a make one on one plays up front which we did not excel at. One other bright spot is I see our defense being on the field less to due to a lot of pressure on the offense from a big play to a big play against us. Either way it puts our O back on the field. I hope that makes sense. LOL!!

The strength of the defense probably will be our safety position and maybe LB's. I really cant tell you anything else about the D because nobody knows what to expect or even who is going to start in some cases.

[This message has been edited by raider (edited 06-16-2003).]

[bhop]

Tech will beat the pants off of us. Anything else would be gravy. I've been around post-DP SMU football for too long to expect anything else. Give Bennett another few recruiting classes like the last one and it might be a different story.

[raider]

The line and the over/under is going to be interesting. I saw somewhere on raiderpower that someone had the game at a 25.5 point TT fav. I would believe that it might go down.

[PonyTales]

Seems a little high, to me. Even if Symons is a stud, I could see the line being lower simply because of the loss of Kingsbury. Remember, the line isn't set based on how much a team would win by, but rather by the oddsmakers trying to guess where the margin should be set to get fans to bet evenly on each side. And I assume there are enough gamblers out there who (perhaps mistakenly) think Tech will nosedive after Kingsbury left that the line would be significantly lower, whether that's deserved or not.

[raider]

<A HREF="http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cfpred.txt" TARGET=_blank>http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cfpred.txt</A>

If this line were standing right now I would have to take the stangs. I think anybody that gambles would take SMU.
1.first game of the year
2.SMU ability to run the football.
3.Smu knows they can compete with tech from last year.