What really concerns me

[Cat]

Is the fact that this team seems to get worse and worse each year. I honestly don't feel that we have improved once since I have been following SMU. I think the best team I have seen was in 1998, when we went 5-7, followed by the team in 1997 that went 6-6, then progressively worse in 99,00,01,02, and now 03. Does anyone else feel like this? It is one thing to take time to get better, but it is ridiculous to continue to get worse. Maybe I am missing something, but that is how it seems.

[PonySnob]

I feel that we seem to be moving backwards each year as well. This is the 14th season post since football season resumed and yet we still have a team that can win only 2-3 games per year.

[Arkpony]

I, and I'm sure many others, share your concern. I was in Don Meredith's class at SMU, and have seen a good many first class teams from my alma mater since and thus I STILL have great difficulty realizing that we have one of the worst teams in the country. Each year I think we will show improvement and we don't. The first half against Ok. State was one of the worst showings I have ever seen by an SMU team. I keep thinking, if I can see the problem, why can't the coaches? A case in point: our punter takes an unusualy long time to get the ball off. He seem to pause once he catches the ball before he begins taking a step. It causes me to wince each time the ball is snapped on punts because of the potential for a black, which of course happens with frequency. Cannot the coaches SEE this???

ANyway, onward and upward. I still will be there on the 4th rooting for my ponies.

[ponyte]

Often it is difficult to really gauge progress as we have improved our OOC schedule over the last few years. There are no Division 1-AA teams on our schedule and stronger BCS teams are now on our schedule. We have not seen the fruits of more realistic recruiting rules just recently implemented by our beloved administration.

We, as an institution, made some very significant decisions after the Death Penalty to continually punish our athletes. We were like crazed Iranians running around whipping blood from our backs during a religious holiday. It will take time to correct these decisions. We are improving the level of competition and improving our recruiting. The results of these improvements will not be apparent for at least another year and more than likely two years. We are starting at a significant disadvantage due to our non-commitment to SMU football. We must now be patient.

[NavyCrimson]

u can bet one thing for sure:

if we get into c-usa or whatever they name it (if a name change does occur) & the bcs' future is short-lived or it's opened up for more schools, our recruiting and wins will DEFINITELY IMPROVE & we'll be back where we used to be! ON TOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gostangs]

Ponyte - you get post of the day for the Iranian reference above! Great mental visual of all of us in the stands at the OSU game whipping our own backs with flogging sticks - or perhaps one we might all be more familiar with - "thank you sir, may I have another".

That said - patience I have - what else am I going to do - become a toadie? just not an option. I will keep coming back till we get it right - and I am determined to think that is on the way - and the reason I think that is because recruiting is getting better, and that will eventaully turn the tide.

[Hoop Fan]

Ponyte is on the money. The one thing I would quibble with is we don't necessarily have time to change methodically. Now, if the CUSA rumors are true, we may have bought a few years to do it absolutely the right way. If behind the scenes Turner has found us a home, I can become alot more patient real fast.

[McAndless]

I'm so sick of hearing about needing to prepare better and wait til we get Bennett's recruits in. Why don't we coach THIS week and win a game THIS week, because last time I checked we are worse than I have ever seen and only getting worse. I'm not going to get into why we are bad and what should be done to correct it, but I will say our current players deserve far better than this B.S. they're currently receiving. This program was inches from respectability with Cavan and it was little things that prevented the success, so I agreed it was time to go another direction in attempts to close that small gap. Now, however, we have completely blown that gap widely open and it ain't closing until the ship changes captains.
It's comparable to a house. Cavan came in and put a foundation with walls and bricks and the interior was ok, but it needed a new contractor to restore it to the house it should be. Now, however, Bennett came in riding full speed on his bulldozer and can't decide if he wants a one-story or two-story. All we needed was furniture and windows and now we have a complete pile of bricks and toilets in the front yard.

We really need to stop being naive and face it...we have a cluster**** on our hands.

[PK]

Excuse me, but exactly how does having a worse win/loss record from the previous year every year turn into "This program was inches from respectability with Cavan and it was little things that prevented the success"???

[McAndless]

PK,
The Cavan era had the best defenseS in the WAC under Schumann, brought in good recruits, started seasons slow due to inconsistent QB play but always finished somewhat stronger, and a failure to capitalize against TCU in '97 led to an inability to close the deal. But save a few personnel decisions, bad breaks, etc. those teams WERE INCHES FROM RESPECTABILITY.
There might have been an inability to finish the deal, and that's why he was let go, but we didn't need to close the inches by dropping back a mile. I'm not getting into it with naive posters on here.

[PK]

Well let's play some WAC games and see the results before we get carried away with the fond memories of Cavan.

[Hoop Fan]

Why do we have only 10 seniors right now? Is that Bennetts fault? How do we have an offensive line that gets driven back 5 yards off the line of scrimmage immediately? How did we have a dearth of dbacks in the program until Bennetts first recruiting classes? No we were not inches away. Shumann had some good bend but dont break gameplans and we hung in there once in a while against better teams. But we had that last year with Bennett against Texas Tech. So what? The program is turning over right now, and its painful but we have to stick to the plan.

[McAndless]

I don't want to sound like a Bennett basher, nor am I pro-Cavan, I'm simply stating my frustration for what seems to be apparent reversal in fortunes for this program. I want Bennett to succeed, and I firmly believe he will if he is given the proper amount of time, I just fear he won't get it unless some hope starts accompanying this current misery.
I will admit Cavan's last few years of recruiting were less than ideal, and Bennett does have to pay for that, but I just want to see a game plan that is executable in all three phases of the game.