O-Line got their butts kicked

[ALEX LIFESON]

Completely dominated in the trenches. 26 rushes for 25 yards. Gave up 5 sacks, Ben was under enormous pressure the whole night and was running for his life. Abysmal performance.

[MV pony]

Way to go #SMU football. You and #Ben Hicks have become the laughing stock of the twitter universe.

[SMU_Alum11]

I'm pretty sure some of those ridiculous turnovers have to show up on ESPN's Not Top 10.... just horrid offensive performance. That OC really should be in the hot seat. He's way too predictable and when your running game sucks you need to focus on the passing game and make the defense respect it.

[mtrout]

Way to go #SMU football. You and #Ben Hicks have become the laughing stock of the twitter universe.

Wtf...

How so? Did we give up 70?

[SMUer]

It's being described by some as the worst football they have ever watched.

[mtrout]

Really? They must not have watched much smu football historically

[CA Mustang]

That OC really should be in the hot seat. He's way too predictable and when your running game sucks you need to focus on the passing game and make the defense respect it.

If you can't run the ball and must pass, then you are predictable already.

Way to go #SMU football. You and #Ben Hicks have become the laughing stock of the twitter universe.

Wtf...

How so? Did we give up 70?

Just a gross exaggeration. A bad game, yes. Historically bad (by any school's standards), no.

[MV pony]

It was a comedy of errors.

[PonyTime]

I watched a game against Baylor in the 90s where the Bears never threw a pass. JJ Joe and Grant Taeff still ran up the score - something like 44-10 in the end.

There might have even been a punt by Anthony Scotti that actually went backwards for negative yardage in that game.

So - no - this was not the "worst" football we have seen. Not even close.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

There might have even been a punt by Anthony Scotti that actually went backwards for negative yardage in that game.

The backwards punt is still one of my most memorable total typical SMU football moments.

[JasonB]

We got our butts kicked on both sides of the trenches. 14 saved us on defense from getting run through the whole game.

It was very eye opening. Vegas must have seen that transformation after the bye, because that is the only reason Memphis would have been favored.

The DL of Memphis did a great job of plugging the middle of the line. There was nothing there. And their LBs won against our tackles consistently. And Memphis had the speed to get outside when we ran wide.
The left side of our offensive line was especially bad. It might have been a mistake to play Pursley over Morris, but I haven't watched tape.

They also did a good job in coverage after getting called for holding and PI early. When Ben did have time back there, he had to throw a lot of balls away because everyone was covered. There were two bad throws back to back that were outs, the last of which was the pick, but to me it looked like our WR didn't get out of their break in time and it was a timing route.

I felt like this wasn't a coaching or a QB thing. Memphis played good D and they dominated our OL. Not much a coordinator can call when that happens. Games like this I think we also miss not having an OL coach to make adjustments or switch personnel as the game moves along.

The other thing that stood out to me was that while I think West, Jones, and Free are nice backs, they don't have the explosiveness of those Memphis backs. We don't really have those "next level" athletes offensively that can take it to the house in a moment's notice. Proche has got nice hands and is a good athlete, but he isn't going to take a 5 yard pass and turn into 80. Roberson has some of that potential I think, but his ankles are always busted.

Still encouraged about where things are headed. We should beat Tulsa - we are a better team. At 6-6, I think we would have a season where we beat all the lower quality teams, played close to the higher quality teams, and beat a ranked team. Not bad for year 1 of a new staff. We only have had one game we weren't competitive in, at UCF, and even that one didn't come close to the blowouts of the last three years.

Defensively, we will miss Wyatt and Mitchell, but we have seen a ton of players step in at corner, and I think J Williams has really played well when given the opportunity this year. Offensively, we lose West but I think we will fill that spot easily. Natour has already been replaced, and I think Morris and Livingston are great options at LT. The arrow is still pointed way up.

[MV pony]

The arrow is always pointed up. It just never goes up.

[Donnell88]

Jason B: Good stuff, as always. Only one game where we weren't competitive (UCF)? I think you've overlooked the North Texas disaster.

[ALEX LIFESON]

We got our butts kicked on both sides of the trenches. 14 saved us on defense from getting run through the whole game.

It was very eye opening. Vegas must have seen that transformation after the bye, because that is the only reason Memphis would have been favored.

The DL of Memphis did a great job of plugging the middle of the line. There was nothing there. And their LBs won against our tackles consistently. And Memphis had the speed to get outside when we ran wide.
The left side of our offensive line was especially bad. It might have been a mistake to play Pursley over Morris, but I haven't watched tape.

They also did a good job in coverage after getting called for holding and PI early. When Ben did have time back there, he had to throw a lot of balls away because everyone was covered. There were two bad throws back to back that were outs, the last of which was the pick, but to me it looked like our WR didn't get out of their break in time and it was a timing route.

I felt like this wasn't a coaching or a QB thing. Memphis played good D and they dominated our OL. Not much a coordinator can call when that happens. Games like this I think we also miss not having an OL coach to make adjustments or switch personnel as the game moves along.

The other thing that stood out to me was that while I think West, Jones, and Free are nice backs, they don't have the explosiveness of those Memphis backs. We don't really have those "next level" athletes offensively that can take it to the house in a moment's notice. Proche has got nice hands and is a good athlete, but he isn't going to take a 5 yard pass and turn into 80. Roberson has some of that potential I think, but his ankles are always busted.

Still encouraged about where things are headed. We should beat Tulsa - we are a better team. At 6-6, I think we would have a season where we beat all the lower quality teams, played close to the higher quality teams, and beat a ranked team. Not bad for year 1 of a new staff. We only have had one game we weren't competitive in, at UCF, and even that one didn't come close to the blowouts of the last three years.

Defensively, we will miss Wyatt and Mitchell, but we have seen a ton of players step in at corner, and I think J Williams has really played well when given the opportunity this year. Offensively, we lose West but I think we will fill that spot easily. Natour has already been replaced, and I think Morris and Livingston are great options at LT. The arrow is still pointed way up.

Chad Pursley played over Morris in the 2nd half, because Morris had his arm in a sling.

[JasonB]

Thanks, didn't see that. I didn't know who started, just saw Pursley out there around the third series or so.