Great game last night...

[JasonB]

I wish we had won, but a great game, and I just love the competitiveness of the team. They fight in every game. And we are going to be better next season.

For the record, this is what it takes to beat SMU this season:
- A crazy, sold out Liberty Bowl
- A missing stud WR
- Complete domination on special teams - TD Return, two really long field goals, short punts and kickoffs that give you the ball between your 45 and the SMU 45.
- An outstanding QB performance with no INT, a great 3rd down throw, and an absolutely amazing 4th down throw.

If Memphis wins out, they deserve to win the West. Odds are, that Navy game will determine the conference championship.

[Junior]

The kicking issue has been there all year. Just chose to especially suck last night. Our kickers are worthless.

[Casey]

SD has said all year that the kicking game would cost a game if it didn't get shored up.

[LANCEPILOT]

Funny thing about folks bashing the kickers... you must think the kickers have the liberty to kick the ball wherever they wish.
They kick the ball where and how the coach tells them. Keep in mind that the kicker last night is the one that hit the winning field goal at TCU and had 5 touchbacks last week at Houston. You guys have obviously never played the game.

[Junior]

Funny thing about folks bashing the kickers... you must think the kickers have the liberty to kick the ball wherever they wish.
They kick the ball where and how the coach tells them. Keep in mind that the kicker last night is the one that hit the winning field goal at TCU and had 5 touchbacks last week at Houston. You guys have obviously never played the game.

So Sonny’s game plan was give them the ball at midfield? Sounds like you’ve never played, Chief.

[ojaipony]

Funny thing about folks bashing the kickers... you must think the kickers have the liberty to kick the ball wherever they wish.
They kick the ball where and how the coach tells them. Keep in mind that the kicker last night is the one that hit the winning field goal at TCU and had 5 touchbacks last week at Houston. You guys have obviously never played the game.

Correct and apparently he didn't do what he was instructed. SD wore into him on at least one occasion on the sidelines (on camera). I don't think he's someone who openly shames a player for the heck of it. Clearly he was really really pissed and that kicker may have had to walk home to Dallas.

[SMU_Alum11]

Oh so that was Sonny giving him angry praises on the sideline and him saying it was atrocious was him really saying it was good, right?

[Charleston Pony]

Family should avoid these message boards just as players with thin skins should.

[SMU#92]

Funny thing about folks bashing the kickers... you must think the kickers have the liberty to kick the ball wherever they wish.
They kick the ball where and how the coach tells them. Keep in mind that the kicker last night is the one that hit the winning field goal at TCU and had 5 touchbacks last week at Houston. You guys have obviously never played the game.

I think the reason everyone is bashing is that they are all keenly aware of the fact kickers do not have the liberty to kick the ball wherever they wish. I'm not here to bash, but if you really believe he kicked it "where and how the coach told him," then there's probably nothing I (or any of us) can say that would make much sense to you. Even still, I'm going to give it a shot.

There was clearly a plan. Part of that plan involved pooching the ball in order to ensure fair catches from the 2nd or 3rd-level Memphis returners. Their returners are extremely dangerous, as all of us can now attest to, and our kick coverage has not been good all year. This is obviously a recipe for disaster. This strategy was designed to help our kicking team out with that. Some might argue, "but he pooched it every time, and that got us killed." However, the ball was NEVER pooched high enough to force the fair catch. If you don't kick it high, the coverage team doesn't have time to get down the field, so the returner has no reason to fair catch it.

In the young man's defense, I will say that our coverage team did a craptastic job of getting down the field and getting past 1st-level blockers. Even if they had done a good job, I never felt like a ball had the height needed to execute the pooch the way it was intended.

Why didn't we just kick it into the end zone like we did in Houston??? Because there was no wind at all in the Liberty bowl to help the kid out. He had very strong winds to help him in Houston. It makes a huge difference.

The kid had a bad game. I was a 4-year starter for the Mustangs, and I had bad games. We all did. I coached a lot of ballgames, and every kid that I have coached has had a bad game at some point in his career. It's part of it. It's unfortunate for him that his worst game happened in a primetime game with NY6 implications. I really feel bad for the kid. All he can do is learn from it and move on at this point. For his sake, and for the sake of the SMU football community, I truly hope he does.

You probably knew all of that since you obviously played the game.

All of that being said, please don't come on here and try to justify it as if the ball was kicked "how and where" Sonny wanted it. Everyone knows that's just not true, even those of us that "never played the game..."

[Hoofprint]

Funny thing about folks bashing the kickers... you must think the kickers have the liberty to kick the ball wherever they wish.
They kick the ball where and how the coach tells them. Keep in mind that the kicker last night is the one that hit the winning field goal at TCU and had 5 touchbacks last week at Houston. You guys have obviously never played the game.

That is true, but SD also said "we didn't get the ball kicked to where we needed to" ... suggesting that they had different instructions and mis-hit it. That happens, we all have bad days. But if the guy wasn't hitting the ball well, someone who understands kick coverage better than I do can explain how coverage assignments might have been changed.

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