Tough Scheduling

[EastStang]

Just an observation. The soccer team played a brutal OOC schedule and now is rolling through CUSA like a bulldozer. The football team has played brutal OOC schedules and mediocre OOC schedules and seems to not grow as much from those encounters. Is it the sport? Is it the coach? Is it that we have superior recruits in soccer who pick things up quickly? What is the difference?

[SMU Football Blog]

Just an observation. The soccer team played a brutal OOC schedule and now is rolling through CUSA like a bulldozer. The football team has played brutal OOC schedules and mediocre OOC schedules and seems to not grow as much from those encounters. Is it the sport? Is it the coach? Is it that we have superior recruits in soccer who pick things up quickly? What is the difference?

Yes.

[Phil Fan]

I would guess it's a combination of all of those. From what I gather, the soccer team(s) at SMU traditionally get their share of the top players in the state, and sometimes in the nation. Football has yet to reach that level, obviously. There's something to be said for scheduling tough OOC games, so that your team is battle-tested when the conference games arrive, but in the last couple of years, the Ponies were playing Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, etc., with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. That's a lot to ask -- see the soccer team's games early this season against Indiana, Notre Dame, etc., which ended up pretty lopsided .... lots of youngsters on the field. The other factor that I think plays into the equation (and I don't know this -- I'm guessing) is that while soccer is far more physical than many people realize, it's not a sport that relies on brute strength and physical size and maturity as much as football does. A freshman offensive lineman might have all the talent in the world, but until he has the physical maturity to handle the 22-year-old defensive tackle across the line from him, talent can take him only so far. As the depth continues to grow, and as we begin to see a roster that's two- and three-deep with upperclassmen, I think the tide will turn a little. That's not to suggest that the Ponies will be threatening UT for the top BCS spot just yet, but the improvement will continue.

[PonySnob]

As the depth continues to grow, and as we begin to see a roster that's two- and three-deep with upperclassmen, I think the tide will turn a little. That's not to suggest that the Ponies will be threatening UT for the top BCS spot just yet, but the improvement will continue.

When is this going to happen? Bennett is now in his 4th year, and nothing has really improved with the play of the team.

[Phil Fan]

You don't really look at this team and see no improvement from his first year, do you?
From your posts that I've read, you're smarter than that.

[jtstang]

Jeez, not the "we are young" BS again!! How come the fans are the only part of SMU football getting older?? Why are we still young after 16 years?? Freaking Ponce de Leon should have come to the Hilltop first!

[Pony_Fan]

As the depth continues to grow, and as we begin to see a roster that's two- and three-deep with upperclassmen, I think the tide will turn a little. That's not to suggest that the Ponies will be threatening UT for the top BCS spot just yet, but the improvement will continue.

When is this going to happen? Bennett is now in his 4th year, and nothing has really improved with the play of the team.

The play has improved some, the record is going to stay the same.

[originaloverthehilltop1]

the question is about bcs scheduling. there are progressive steps in building a program to where our play-anybody-anytime soccer program stands. one step is beating somebody, anybody, on a fairly regular basis, which we arent' doing in football. soonafter is contending in our mid range conference consistently, which is a step that should follow the first. it is disappointing we haven't taken the first steps in all this time. but our repeated attempts to "jump" several steps in the process is causing much of the delay. i don't beleive our soccer program got where it is overnight, and it's not the same as building a football program, either. the big money picture, and therefore the competition, makes building football the most difficult task in college competition.
further, i believe our governance and adademic partisans handcuff our athletic departments with policies that make it difficult to compete. (are there just more great adacemically qualified soccer players than in football? in any case, it takes fewer of them to play)

[abezontar]

Aren't there also fewer schools competeing in Mens D-1A soccer? If so there would also be less competition for the top soccer recruits.

[SMU Football Blog]

Aren't there also fewer schools competeing in Mens D-1A soccer? If so there would also be less competition for the top soccer recruits.

Yes. One thing I think helps SMU tremendously is that SMU is the only Div. 1 soccer team in texas.

[PonyFan]

That's true for the guys, but the women also are doing well, despite the presence of top-shelf teams at UT and A&M, decent teams at Rice, Texas Tech and Baylor, and mediocre teams at Houston and TCU.