Bennetts comments

[Hoop Fan]

He said with some good qb play, we could have won 4 or 5. No way. Maybe if we gave the qb some decent protection first.

He also said its a fine line between winning and losing. This I absolutely agree with. A couple of impact players can turn the tide of close games, and winning the close games turns the tide of an entire season.

[NavyCrimson]

i really agree re/ protection...it was incredible watching the tcu game...it was nonexistent in many areas...hope we recruit some big'ons!

my hat is off to phillips!

[Nacho]

I don't think we are very far away. TCU was the slightly better team, no doubt about it. They had better players overall but not to a huge degree. Hopefully we will get a few wins next year and breakout the following.

[DallasDiehard]

I agree - we're not that far away. Were we the better team? No. But if they're a top-10 team, then we're top-20. I think the game showed more that they were overranked than anything. They've had a great season and should be congratulated for it. I just started to wonder Saturday how much of it was smoke and mirrors.

[Hoop Fan]

TCU didn't look as strong as past years when they had guys like Turntine. They still mauled our offensive line though. And we lose two seniors off of that line. And off the top of my head, I cant think of anyone with experience to plug in. Could next year's Oline be even weaker? I know guys like Boren will be redshirt freshmen, but you can't rely on redshirt freshmen in the trenches.

[LA_Mustang]

JUCO, JUCO, JUCO!!!!!

[Dr Jeske]

Hoop Fan has it right. They weren't as strong as past years, but found a way to win all but one.

Was it just the O-line giving out a little bit in the 2nd half, or did we not adjust to the changes they made in the second half?

If the freshman O-linemen are as good as advertised, then why not play them this year? We played freshman at every other position where warranted. What makes them any different? And if we were saving them for next year, then we should have redshirted more freshman then played.

And Phil is right, there is a fine line between good coaching and bad coaching. 0-12 is bad coaching

[OldPony]

Its hard to get worse than 0-12 unless they start a playoff for the worst team. I did see some bright spots this year though. We definitely need some linemen but I think it is more critical to redshirt linemen than other positions except maybe QB. The line needs time to mature and put on a lot of pounds of muscle. Let's hope that the frosh saw what it takes and go after training in a big way this year. It would be great to find some JUCO linemen but I doubt we have a chance this year. The real key besides some really hard work in the off season is Bennett's recruiting this year. It's hard to sell off an ofer season and he needs all the support we can legally give him. I feel much more positive toward next year. CUSA helps in recruiting (esp if TCU goes to MWC) and a lot of talented guys got some good PT this year. Things are on the rise and with another recruting class like last year, they can get better in a hurry ie improvement next yeat and even more the following. Bennett is still searching for the right mixture of toughness and encouragement to the players but he remains a positive voice for SMU. I would like to see this board become a positive statement for players looking at SMU over the nextg few months- then we can go back to our normally crabby selves.

[Dooby]

Originally posted by Dr Jeske:
If the freshman O-linemen are as good as advertised, then why not play them this year? We played freshman at every other position where warranted. What makes them any different? And if we were saving them for next year, then we should have redshirted more freshman then played.

No, man. You need linemen to be big and ugly. Redshirting the first year gives the trainers a year to get these kids into "linemen shape". You play a lineman as a true freshman and he is gonna get pushed around some. You play him as a redshirt freshman and he is gonna have some added weight and strength. And we did play a true freshman lineman this year anyway-Justin Boren. But he is a special talent.

You really ought to look at the roster and check out the weights of these kids. Our lines are small. But our freshmen are all bigger than the upperclassmen. That is only going to get better. This way we have 4 quality years with these linemen. With experience, this will be the best line in years.

But redshirting the freshmen linemen was the right move. To Bennett's credit, he could have panicked and put some of these kids in, but he didn't-he stuck with the plan. The redshirts that came off came off because of absolute necessity.

[Stallion]

we aren't even close to TCU in talent. Give it a rest! You are same people who claimed we matched up well with Texas Tech. Teams do not get up to play 0-12 teams or any team coached by Tom Rossley. They are cupcakes and just about any team can take 3 Q off and still pull out the victory in the end. We have one and only one class that is comparable in talent.

[Charleston Pony]

Put me down as one who thinks our O-line will be better next year, despite the losses of Harris and Reindl. For the 1st ime in forever, we should have a 2 deep OL with no true frosh. I see Darrin Johnson at LT, Kieshnick at LG, Turner at C, Justin Boren at RG and Urbanus at RT, with Hargis, Neal, Guidry, Eidson, Burley and Peveto as back ups or challenging for playing time. I'm sure I missed someone, but I feel better about our OL depth than I have in a long time.

Same think for the DL, with a tackle rotation of Adami, Jones, Bonds, Berry, Denman and Karrington and Williams, Iremia-Stansbury, Rogers & DeLay as DEs. I'm sure I missed someone from that list, too. For too many years, we've had our starters and had to hold our breaths about anyone going down with injuries. Assuming none of this group drops out ar suffers injuries in the off-season, I see a much more physical team coming back.

We've got 3 senior LBs leaving, but the 3 RS frosh should compete for playing time right away. We lose one DB but have a boatload of fast young guys to pick up the slack there.

I could go on, but I see improvement nearly everywhere I look. We might not have that breakout season we've all been waiting for because we wil still be starting a bunch of 1st year players, but we won't see another winless season.

What will be interesting to watch will be possible position changes this spring. Will Johnnie Fitzgerald get moved to safety? Will Tate Wallis become a LB? Would Ryan Kennedy make a good tackle? He looks to have a frame that could add a bunch of weight and after playing TE, might have the quicker feet you like to see in a tackle.

[JasonB]

Talent wise the Ponies may be better on the O-line.

HOwever, what scares me is a true Junior vs. a true sophomore at center, neither of which have any college experience at the position.

When you have inexperience at the center position, that can cause a lot of problems.

[GoRedGoBlue]

Originally posted by Stallion:
we aren't even close to TCU in talent. Give it a rest! You are same people who claimed we matched up well with Texas Tech. Teams do not get up to play 0-12 teams or any team coached by Tom Rossley. They are cupcakes and just about any team can take 3 Q off and still pull out the victory in the end. We have one and only one class that is comparable in talent.

Our last three classes are above TCU's

[PortlandPonys]

No way were our last 3 classes better than TCU. Last year's class was a little better, but there is no comparison with the other two. The 2001 class (Cavan's last full class)was no where near to TCU. The highest regarded recruits we had that year were Bartel, Charles, and Taylor, none of which were even 3 star recruits

[gostangs]

Plus - as Stallion will be quick to point out - you are leaving out their JUCO's