It's Always Sonny ... pre-Houston

[PonyPride]

Some notes from SMU head coach Sonny Dykes at Monday's It's Always Sonny on the Hilltop show:

• Took weekend to help try to keep team fresh, which is "critical" at this time of year
• Re: reaching the top 20 in both polls for the third straight season: “that’s the kind of consistency you want in a program … our goal is to end the year in the top 25, which we haven’t done”
• First half of Tulane game was “most complete half of football we have played this year”
• Bryan Massey is getting better and better in the return game; hoping to have some opportunities for Jayleen Record to return some punts — he has a chance to be pretty good
—> Massey has “a really odd combination of skills. He’s really fast, but he’s also really physical — those things don’t typically go together.”
—> Hoping at some point Massey will become a punt returner, too, but at the moment, Jayleen Record has an opportunity to be a good ones
• Said Tulane game was probably Tanner Mordecai’s best game of the season
• RB Ulysses Bentley practiced “fully” Sunday and Monday — didn’t practice much last week, said Thursday he felt good but didn’t quite look 100 percent, so he would have been used in an emergency role … which wasn’t needed. But “he should play this week and be full-speed”
• LT Marcus Bryant had an ankle injury and re-injured it. “We’ll see how the week goes.” Ponies “will get Beau Morris back”
• WR Jordan Kerley also should be back this week — he practiced Sunday and Monday
• Asked about new overtime rule (first attempt: regular OT … second: regular, but team has to go for two … after that: nothing but two-point plays): “It wasn’t by chance that we had a period Sunday dedicated to running and stopping two-point plays”
• After fading down the stretch in years past, how does preparation for the final stretch this year differ? “We’ve been talking since January about what we wanted to do, as far as strength and conditioning, playing as many players as we can … We’re so much healthier right now than we have ever ben at this point in the season. We have more depth, we have better athletes, we’ve got more guys — all those things help. We’re fresher, healthier, in a better state of mind than, certainly, where we were last year at this time.”

On Houston:
• Houston “is one of the best defenses, probably, in college football” and SMU is one of the best offenses. So Saturday will be one of the better defenses in college football against one of the better offenses in college football.
• UH defensive front is No. 1 in college football in “havoc-creating” plays — negative plays, tackles for loss, sacks, etc.
• Houston doesn’t play Cincinnati, Memphis or UCF this year, so SMU is “probably their biggest test the rest of the way”

[SMU_Alum11]

I wish I could go to these events but, whatever, did anyone ask him about the Tech opening?

[Terry Webster]

I wish I could go to these events but, whatever, did anyone ask him about the Tech opening?

If that question was suggested I doubt Rich would go there. Sonny didnt offer anything about it.

[SMU_Alum11]

I wish I could go to these events but, whatever, did anyone ask him about the Tech opening?

If that question was suggested I doubt Rich would go there. Sonny didnt offer anything about it.

Oh gotcha, I thought the audience could ask questions. I should try their Facebook stream next time around.

[Pony ^]

The most shocking thing is Houston not having to play Cincy, Memphis or UCF

[tristatecoog]

Glad to see Bentley back at full speed. He'll be a terrific offset to a havoc creating defense and Tanner stayed in the pocket really well last week. As a Houston native, Bentley will be ready to roll. Will be interesting to compare him with true freshman Alton McCaskill for UH. The SMU running crew outshined Zach Evans at TCU so we'll see.

[ojaipony]

The most shocking thing is Houston not having to play Cincy, Memphis or UCF

Agreed. If we make it to the CCG, we would have surely earned it. Over the best teams in our conference (who will no longer be in our conference sans Memphis, setting us up to be the alpha as we transition to P5).

[Hoss]

Rich would never ask, and if those questions aren't from athletic staff, they're definitely filtered.