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A couple of observations and thoughts:

WE HAVE A QUARTERBACK...after years of hoping someone would approach GG ability and stability, we have it. The nice thing is that we will have him for 2020 as well. Bue played poorly in 4 games, and we lost three of them. It all starts and ends with him, and he is a winner. Major upgrade from the past years. A-

THIS IS NOT VAN'S DEFENSE...they play high risk/high reward schemes, and it worked well against lesser teams and earlier in the season. As rival coaches were able to break down the patterns, they were able to find the weaknesses and exploit them. Good on them, bad for us. CBs and Safeties need continued talent upgrade, as do LBs. But this side of the ball over performed through the first part of the season, and then hit a talent wall. C+

SPECIAL TEAMS WERE NOT SPECIAL...ugh...Placekickers are a dime a dozen, and we couldn't find one. That is a major problem that needs to be addressed. D

COACHES...coached. They designed schemes that played to the strength of our talent, and tried to cover the weaknesses. Adapting and changing schemes was not their strength...they seemed content to challenge the opposing team to stop what they knew was coming. As the talent of the opponents increased towards the latter part of the schedule, this was telling with the results. B

There were wonderful surprises this year...grit to fight back from deficits; innovative plays that WORKED in critical situations; LEADERSHIP from some of the players; depth at WR; and finally, an actual attempt at marketing this team with the Dallas community at large. While not HUGE increases in attendance, we at least were a happy blip on the radar of the city. Been a while since that happened.

Overall, a solid B.

Rinse and repeat next year...we over performed this year, and it was a joy to watch this team.

Man it is going to be a long time till August...

Until we start averaging 3.5+ stars for our recruits we will lose every game we play unless we give our A effort. The Navy and FAU games proved that. Frankly, the Tulsa game did that as well save for the atrocious kicking from Tulsa.

mustangxc wrote:Until we start averaging 3.5+ stars for our recruits we will lose every game we play unless we give our A effort. The Navy and FAU games proved that. Frankly, the Tulsa game did that as well save for the atrocious kicking from Tulsa.

I doubt we would lose every game, but 8 wins would be good. I think Sonny will get more players though, and we could possibly have another 10 win season.

Insane_Pony_Posse wrote:

mustangxc wrote:Until we start averaging 3.5+ stars for our recruits we will lose every game we play unless we give our A effort. The Navy and FAU games proved that.

Does Navy that has pretty much dominated us for many years "average 3.5+ star recruits" or do they just play with A effort against us every time?

It’s the latter.

We had them beaten at halftime. We just couldn't finish.

We learned that we made tremendous strides and somewhat over achieved. We learned that Dykes really inherited a very diminished roster and little depth from Morris and salvaged the huge holes in both depth and in position personnel with transfers. That Dykes has a total sense of what recruiting and staff requirements are needed to make positive progress. That his first 2 recruiting classes will not be enough to really solidify the program for the future, but serve as a huge positive start. That a .500 season next year might actually be more indicative of a Program's progress than this year's win total might suggest. That next year will be filled with young and somewhat inexperience personnel who will be there for several years rather than a patch work of short term players as the transition continues toward a roster filled with kids who might be available for 5 years. I still believe that a coach needs 5 years to establish his program and now find the balance with recruiting and the transfer portal. Sonny is only in his 2 year and we need to be mindful of the long term and not the short term results that so resurrected everyone's enthusiasm this year.

A .500 record would be a disaster next season with Buechele and Roberson returning. Period.
We have a legit shot at being in the title game next year.

PoconoPony wrote:That a .500 season next year might actually be more indicative of a Program's progress than this year's win total might suggest.

No way to spin a .500 record next season as anything but major regression.

But let’s begin to panic about that now.

If I recall correctly, Sonny said next years team may be better than this years team. And our toughest games are at home.

SMUstang wrote:If I recall correctly, Sonny said next years team may be better than this years team. And our toughest games are at home.

Will have some holes to fill for next year's team to be better than tis year's was but I do like having our tougher opponents at Ford. I would be thrilled if this program could win 10 games in two consecutive seasons.

What did I learn from the 2019 Season?

I think SMU was fortunate not to play Cincy or UCF this season.
I think SMU was fortunate to play TCU and Houston in down years for them.
I think the national recognition that came from defeating 3 (kinda) cupcakes + TCU convinces me that for now, scheduling soft OOC is not a bad thing at all, it's actually the most prudent.
I think everyone should be grateful for Shane Buechele. I think if he had gone to Arky over SMU, he most likely buys the chadster 1 extra year. I also think if any combination of Hicks/Brown/Gibson as our QB and SMU loses 3 or 4 games between TCU/Houston/Tulsa/ECU/Ark St. That would have left us 7-5 or 6-6 and Frisco bowl bound. THANK YOU SHANE BUECHELE.
I think Sonny knows how to play the transfer portal and I love it.
Speaking or transfer portal, I think it further proves my belief that if SMU was P5, it would be in the top half.

Looking to 2020, I think Sonny desperately needs to continue to work his portal magic on a shiny new RB.
I also don't know if SMU wins 10 games. It's almost like they need to go 6-0 on the road and 4-2 at home, that's a tall order.

Finally, I'm very grateful for Sonny Dykes and wish him a long and prosperous life in Highland Park.

10-3 is an A++ in my book. It would be an A++++ if we had not laid such a terrible egg in the bowl game. That was really bad. Now, the defense needs to get mucho bettero really really quick like. And it sure would be good to know who the heir apparent for Shane's job will be after next year. BUT, there's so much to be excited about. NSD and then transfers will be fun to follow and then there's spring ball. Pony up!

There were wonderful surprises this year...grit to fight back from deficits; innovative plays that WORKED in critical situations; LEADERSHIP from some of the players; depth at WR; and finally, an actual attempt at marketing this team with the Dallas community at large. While not HUGE increases in attendance, we at least were a happy blip on the radar of the city. Been a while since that happened.

Overall, a solid B.

Looking forward to 2020, I think we will improve. Thanks peruna81 for your excellent analysis of 2019.