Thoughts on PV

[JasonB]

Well, not really much to comment on. But thought I would share some things.

- I'll start by saying I love what they decided to work on with the offense. Going in, I thought they might hammer the run again and fix it. Instead we played the H-Back a lot less and opened it up. Only 67 plays in the game, but only 7 for Eby at that blocking back spot. A much lower percentage of plays used a blocking back than in the other two games and it really made the RPO decision making lean towards pass a lot more.
- With the additional pass plays, I really like how we targeted the WR. The vast majority of targets and catches went to non-outside receivers the last two games; yesterday, more than half of targets and completions were at outside WR. It was great to break that part of the game out, getting the entire offense flushed out ahead of the TCU game and conference season. I still worry that we don't have a dominant receiver just yet, but I'm glad we got the outside guys more involved. Great to see Kerley in particular have a bit of a breakout game, although he needs to be stronger and actually come back and high point on that first deep ball from Preston.
- We also saw Preston pass to his left more than any of the previous games. We need to spread the field.
- In these first games, everyone is loaded up to stop the run. So it is going to be a little annoying that we can't break off the long running plays, and a lot different than what we have seen from the pass-first offenses in seasons past. But in person, Wheaton looks great. I thought he was willing to take the hit, something he didn't do much last year. Great second gear, hits the hole extremely fast, and his plant foot cut was much better than what we saw before. He looks ready to contribute in the rotation. I know that Rooster and LJ are in front of him right now, but he has a phenomenal skill set that is going to come out at some point this season.
- Defense was great, as expected. I thought it was important that against a mobile QB, we were still able to use the DL on its own to stop the run while holding the LBs back to play contain against the QB run. The LBs did a great job.
- In the secondary, Megginson is going to get picked on opposite Rogers. That is something to watch next week. Smoke struggled a little in the beginning, at that side, but got better as the game went along. Hall went in and was terrific. Might see a little more rotation on that side moving forward?
- Notable that Kilgore had one of the highest snap counts in the team yesterday and played well.
- I was watching Isaiah Smith during the game, and I thought he played the run much, much better. Granted, level of competition. But much more physical engagement from him instead of just taking off after the passer. I wonder if we maybe start seeing him take a step forward in the rotation.
- Loved to see all of the rotation all over the place, and all the walkons get time on offense. But the best sight for me was McMorris playing a lot of snaps in the slot. Such a promising freshman year and then a bad injury... it is nice to see someone like that get rewarded for hard work.
- SMU now has the #1 pass rush rating in the country on PFF. Our pressure and sack rates are off the charts.

We outplayed expectations, and we got the shutout. The over/under for the TCU game is way too high and the spread is way too large. Let's go have some fun.

[Roach]

Hard to evaluate anything from that game. That team was seriously overmatched.

[mtrout]

I was a little concerned with our running game. "Wheaton looked great"...really? TSU averaged over 7yds per carry vs PV.

[Pony ^]

not sure we need to be scheduling teams like this TBH

[leopold]

Me niether but I'm willing to forgive it considering the rest of the OOC schedule.

[Charleston Pony]

not sure we need to be scheduling teams like this TBH

Gets back to our attendance issue. Schools with stronger attendance can pay G5 schools $500k-$1 million to visit and not have to play them on the road. We don't have a strong enough gate to schedule single home games with anyone but FCS programs operating on much lower budgets. We were fortunate to get OU to agree to a home/home series although they might try to buy their way out of that return visit when it comes around...especially if our team continues to improve!

[AusTxPony]

I think that the PV game was scheduled because UNT became a conference game and we had to scramble to fill the hole in the schedule. I agree, in future, no more of these. However, it came at a perfect time between our two toughest opponents. Allowed many dings to heal...

[SMULaxer]

Not a perfect level of competition for our football team, but there is a ton of value in bringing an HBCU to SMU for our players, recruits, and the community.

[JasonB]

I was a little concerned with our running game. "Wheaton looked great"...really? TSU averaged over 7yds per carry vs PV.

I'm not sold that we have fixed the running game either. Lots of challenges when our blockers get to the next level, and it limits us to 4 yard gains.

But yes, I thought Wheaton looked good.

Keep in mind, we say JO and Bryant. Williams, Sparks, Hickman, White and Parr started, Parr sat after a couple of drives, and the other starters were out when Preston left.

OL Snaps:
Ritz 28
Waller 21
Johnson 21
Perdue 21
Ervin 21
Bennett 16
Woods 7
Scott 7
Gill 7
Briggle 7

[Roach]

Against that bunch, the running game was less than impressive. That should have been a game in which Johnson, Wheaton and Lavine all should have gone off.

[malonish]

Not a perfect level of competition for our football team, but there is a ton of value in bringing an HBCU to SMU for our players, recruits, and the community.

I enjoyed seeing their band in person.