Baylor and TCU

[ponyboy]

cold weather will at least slow the Baylor offense down

Factoid: 8 of 9 of Baylor's highest scoring games in last 2 years were in September/October. The 9th was in covered JerryWorld.

That whole causation versus correlation thing confuses me too.

[Sic_em]

Only problem with that gigantic IF, is Baylor, A&M and TCU. They are not our peers, they have left us behind, need to re-focus on reality and achievable goals.

Is the new coach going to come in telling the world that he's going to beat Baylor, TCU & A&M and return SMU back to the top of the football world so everybody needs to get on board and support him? Or, is he going to explain how this is a great opportunity, his goal is to return a winning program to the Hilltop, and his #1 priority is being the best program in the AAC so everybody needs to get on board and support him?

-----------
Not to pick on you, footballdad, but that sounds a lot like some of the defeatist thinking around the Baylor program 1996-2007, pre-Briles. While we were in the same conference with OU, Texas, Tech, and others, but they weren't our peers because we couldn't compete with them on the football field.

Briles came in and started working to erase the low expectations around the BU program. There was quite a bit of skepticism when he came in because while he did turn around UH, won the CUSA Championship and got them to bowl games, there were some holes in the resume. I believe he only won 1 game against "BCS" schools, an upset of Oklahoma State, and had a close call against Alabama. Other than that, BCS schools had typically throttled UH and I don't think he won a bowl game there either.

But he had an offensive system he believed in. He knew how to evaluate and recruit talent that fit that system. Most of that talent was 2 and 3 star recruits, not 4 or 5. Terrance Williams #83 for the Cowboys was a 2 star recruit from W.T. White with one other offer: Colorado State. Tevin Reese was an undersized 2-star WR from Temple with no offers. Bryce Petty was a 3-star Tennessee commit who Lane Kiffin decided he didn't want. On defense, two of our current LBs, MLB Bryce Hager and OLB Taylor Young from DeSoto- both 2 stars.

Briles didn't have much to sell the first couple of years except he did have a new on-campus football practice facility and the promise of early playing time, and a fun system to play in, based on what he had done at UH.

He started by recruiting OL and redshirting them...win in the trenches with 21-22 yr olds, not 18 yr olds. His offense had been productive, so he was starting to be able to attract skill people who could run it. Success didn't happen overnight...Baylor went 4-8 Briles' first year. The second year looked like it was going to be better, then RG3 tore his ACL and BU went 4-8 again. Since then, winning seasons, continued improvement on the field, bowl games, a Heisman, a Big 12 title, a new stadium, continuous improvement in recruiting, have won 2 of the last 3 over OU, 4 of 5 over Texas, 4 in a row over Tech...

The point is, while every turnaround doesn't have to be that exact recipe, there's no reason SMU can't hire someone who can find underrecruited talent (especially in DFW), play a fun brand of football that will get people inside the stadium...hire cops to shut down the tailgates 20 minutes before kickoff if you have to ...and start rebuilding the program.

Last point, there's no reason SMU shouldn't play Baylor, A&M, Tech, and TCU, but no way SMU should be playing 3 or 4 of them in the same season for non-conference. Schedule Rice, North Texas, UTEP, UTSA, Tulsa, a WAC or Sunbelt, but no reason to kill yourself with a brutal non-con. Play one of the former SWC teams, but then try to schedule 3 non-con wins and focus on making a bowl game and improve from there.

Jones had SMU on the brink, but whatever happened in 2012 with ASU and the aftermath killed any momentum he had built up, but no reason SMU can't get back to pre-2012 level and build from there...just my two cents.

[footballdad]

Only problem with that gigantic IF, is Baylor, A&M and TCU. They are not our peers, they have left us behind, need to re-focus on reality and achievable goals.

Is the new coach going to come in telling the world that he's going to beat Baylor, TCU & A&M and return SMU back to the top of the football world so everybody needs to get on board and support him? Or, is he going to explain how this is a great opportunity, his goal is to return a winning program to the Hilltop, and his #1 priority is being the best program in the AAC so everybody needs to get on board and support him?

-----------
Not to pick on you, footballdad, but that sounds a lot like some of the defeatist thinking around the Baylor program 1996-2007, pre-Briles. While we were in the same conference with OU, Texas, Tech, and others, but they weren't our peers because we couldn't compete with them on the football field.

Briles came in and started working to erase the low expectations around the BU program. There was quite a bit of skepticism when he came in because while he did turn around UH, won the CUSA Championship and got them to bowl games, there were some holes in the resume. I believe he only won 1 game against "BCS" schools, an upset of Oklahoma State, and had a close call against Alabama. Other than that, BCS schools had typically throttled UH and I don't think he won a bowl game there either.

But he had an offensive system he believed in. He knew how to evaluate and recruit talent that fit that system. Most of that talent was 2 and 3 star recruits, not 4 or 5. Terrance Williams #83 for the Cowboys was a 2 star recruit from W.T. White with one other offer: Colorado State. Tevin Reese was an undersized 2-star WR from Temple with no offers. Bryce Petty was a 3-star Tennessee commit who Lane Kiffin decided he didn't want. On defense, two of our current LBs, MLB Bryce Hager and OLB Taylor Young from DeSoto- both 2 stars.

Briles didn't have much to sell the first couple of years except he did have a new on-campus football practice facility and the promise of early playing time, and a fun system to play in, based on what he had done at UH.

He started by recruiting OL and redshirting them...win in the trenches with 21-22 yr olds, not 18 yr olds. His offense had been productive, so he was starting to be able to attract skill people who could run it. Success didn't happen overnight...Baylor went 4-8 Briles' first year. The second year looked like it was going to be better, then RG3 tore his ACL and BU went 4-8 again. Since then, winning seasons, continued improvement on the field, bowl games, a Heisman, a Big 12 title, a new stadium, continuous improvement in recruiting, have won 2 of the last 3 over OU, 4 of 5 over Texas, 4 in a row over Tech...

The point is, while every turnaround doesn't have to be that exact recipe, there's no reason SMU can't hire someone who can find underrecruited talent (especially in DFW), play a fun brand of football that will get people inside the stadium...hire cops to shut down the tailgates 20 minutes before kickoff if you have to ...and start rebuilding the program.

Last point, there's no reason SMU shouldn't play Baylor, A&M, Tech, and TCU, but no way SMU should be playing 3 or 4 of them in the same season for non-conference. Schedule Rice, North Texas, UTEP, UTSA, Tulsa, a WAC or Sunbelt, but no reason to kill yourself with a brutal non-con. Play one of the former SWC teams, but then try to schedule 3 non-con wins and focus on making a bowl game and improve from there.

Jones had SMU on the brink, but whatever happened in 2012 with ASU and the aftermath killed any momentum he had built up, but no reason SMU can't get back to pre-2012 level and build from there...just my two cents.

No problem, you've got your 2 cents and I've got mine. Once I read your second sentence that was pretty much it for me... "while we were in the same conference with OU, Texas, Tech & others"....apples and oranges to our situation today, Baylor was already in and just had to work their way up. SMU is stuck in the AAC and locked out of the P5. The entire landscape is very different today.

[Big12Mustang]

Locked out? That is simply stupid.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

I think both Sic em and footballdad make very legitimate points. The AAC is not P-5 and that is simply going to be a challenge for SMU. There are no illusions about that. But I don't think it's an insurmountable challenge. We aren't going to win recruiting battles against A&M, UT, etc. for the foreseeable future, and a big reason (albeit not the only one) is conference affiliation. But that doesn't mean we can't find the right mix of athletes to turn this into a consistently winning program. Also, we are going to have to be smarter about scheduling (along the lines of what sic em says), but I think Hart is already on that. 1 or 2 old SWC foes (who are now Big-12, SEC) is perfect. 3 or 4 is just too much for the level this program is at right now.

Finally, I wouldn't say we are "locked out." SMU is far away from a P-5 berth right now, but I think there is still a path to get there. Its just going to require a level of buy-in from the SMU community that we haven't seen since the early 1980s. And by "SMU community", I'm not talking about Turner, Hart, and the 10 or 12 guys who bankroll the operation. . .I think they are all in. I'm talking about the community as a whole.

[MustangStealth]

Last point, there's no reason SMU shouldn't play Baylor, A&M, Tech, and TCU, but no way SMU should be playing 3 or 4 of them in the same season for non-conference. Schedule Rice, North Texas, UTEP, UTSA, Tulsa, a WAC or Sunbelt, but no reason to kill yourself with a brutal non-con. Play one of the former SWC teams, but then try to schedule 3 non-con wins and focus on making a bowl game and improve from there.

Tulsa is in our conference.

Also, you may want to sit down, as I've got some bad news for you about the WAC.

[Big12Mustang]

Last point, there's no reason SMU shouldn't play Baylor, A&M, Tech, and TCU, but no way SMU should be playing 3 or 4 of them in the same season for non-conference. Schedule Rice, North Texas, UTEP, UTSA, Tulsa, a WAC or Sunbelt, but no reason to kill yourself with a brutal non-con. Play one of the former SWC teams, but then try to schedule 3 non-con wins and focus on making a bowl game and improve from there.

Tulsa is in our conference.

Also, you may want to sit down, as I've got some bad news for you about the WAC.

He means SMU should play Sunbelt, FCS or MAC schools instead of SEC schools at this moment.

[gostangs]

Winning the AAC will at the same time make us competitive with the Big 12 schools. Don't believe me? Ask Baylor how that bowl game went last year. Ask any ECU OOC opponent this year. The top of the AAC will be competitive with all but the top one or two teams in the Big 12 - and maybe even those also. These goals are not two different goals - they are the same.

You start with the basics and, like any other business, you improve everything you can each year as you go along. The list seems insurmountable until you start, and then the list of "to dos" becomes smaller every month and every year.

If along the way some P-5 wants a great school, with great sports in the number 4 TV market in the country - then we will be waiting by the phone. In the mean time, we will have some fun on the Blvd, and then go in and watch a fun offense and a wicked hard hitting D. That's all I want.

[White Helmet]

Also, you may want to sit down, as I've got some bad news for you about the WAC.

Did they go away from the super 16? Please tell me its not true!

[Big12Mustang]

Winning the AAC will at the same time make us competitive with the Big 12 schools. Don't believe me? Ask Baylor how that bowl game went last year. Ask any ECU OOC opponent this year. The top of the AAC will be competitive with all but the top one or two teams in the Big 12 - and maybe even those also. These goals are not two different goals - they are the same.

You start with the basics and, like any other business, you improve everything you can each year as you go along. The list seems insurmountable until you start, and then the list of "to dos" becomes smaller every month and every year.

If along the way some P-5 wants a great school, with great sports in the number 4 TV market in the country - then we will be waiting by the phone. In the mean time, we will have some fun on the Blvd, and then go in and watch a fun offense and a wicked hard hitting D. That's all I want.

Well written. The AAC just needs the bottom feeders to improve and have a strong mid tier. The upper tier is usually good in Football.