Tulsa

[Billy Joe]

A few years ago Tulsa was a game that SMU could count on as a win. Does anyone with insight know how Tulsa became one of the elite teams in C-USA? What, if anything, has Tulsa done differently than SMU? Now we find ourselves an underdog on our home field.

[PonyPride]

Without question, they have recruited well (thanks, at least in part, to now-Rice coach Todd Graham), and Steve Kragthorpe is viewed as a good coach. Beyond that, I'm not sure -- I've seen them play twice this year, and they do a lot of things sort of well, but there's nothing that I saw that made me think "we're in trouble because of their speed" or "their line is huge" or any other specific area of excellence. They're a good team, to be sure, but beatable, I hope/think.

[Stallion]

I really don't know if they have recruited better than SMU-I just know that Todd Graham got much better players from the Metroplex than Tulsa ever has in the history of the school. They have also sprinkled in a modest number of Division 1A Transfers who have really helped the team from schools like OU, OSU, Arkansas, Colorado, UCLA and Nebraska(via JUCO) off the top of my head. They aren't like UTEP, UH or even TCU but their program has been helped by both Division 1A and JUCO transfers, But trying to be even handed I don't have a real good explanation why Tulsa has achieved more under Kraigthorpe than SMU under Bennett. I think a decent argument might be that they have been better coached. He's gotten more out of his relatively similar talent than Bennett in a shorter period of time. Now Graham seems to be doing the same thing at Rice. I think these next two games are pretty important to Bennett to change that perception. I'm willing to see if he can. But if SMU loses these games can't one make the observation that every program in this Division has by-passed Bennett DURING his tenure here Rice especially if they get to a bowl but even if they finish ahead of us in this key season, and definitely Tulsa, UH and UTEP. These were not strong programs when Bennett took over. UTEP and UH have an undeniable advantage over Bennett on admissions as does Tulsa to a lesser extent with Division 1A Transfers. Tulane is a crippled program-no offseason conditioning program, no weightroom last year and no spring practice so I take them out of the mix.

[MustangIcon]

He's gotten more out of his relatively similar talent than Bennett in a shorter period of time. Now Graham seems to be doing the same thing at Rice. I think these next two games are pretty important to Bennett to change that perception. I'm willing to see if he can. But if SMU loses these games can't one make the observation that every program in this Division has by-passed Bennett DURING his tenure here Rice especially if they get to a bowl but even if they finish ahead of us in this key season, and definitely Tulsa, UH and UTEP.

I am pretty willing to buy into that arguement. Wasn't UH's winless season the season right before ours with Briles taking over at UH in SMU's winless season? Now they are 8-3 and headed for their 3rd bowl apperance in 4 seasons. Rice was a program that has had serious discussions about dropping their football program in the past couple of years. Graham comes in and changes them to a spread offense with players not intended to run it, yet are 5-5 in spite of 3 losses coming to UT, FSU and UCLA. Tulsa has been documented in this thread. To be honest I have never followed UTEP that closely and they were never on my radar until the Price/Palmer era we are in now, but I know they used to be pretty bad, just unsure of specifics if someone might like to further enlighten me.

[smuwins]

I think when it comes to coaching qbs Kragthorpe may be on of the best around. He took James Kilian who was a guy who played 8 man football and made him an all conference qb and has done the same with Smith. Smith does not have a great arm, is not that fast but has a good feel for the game (typical coaches son) and makes plays. We also have to remember that Kragthorpe coached Drew Bledsoe during some of his best years in the NFL. I remember Bledsoe saying that losing Kragthorpe as a coach was worse than losing any receiver he had and we can all see what has happened to him since. They do get a couple of transfers now and then but most of their talent is from around the Tulsa area or from around the Metroplex. Sometimes being in a state like Oklahoma helps them because if you are at OU and want to transfer, you have OSU and Tulsa as your choices if you want to stay close. If you transfer to OSU, you sit out 2 years instead of the 1 you get for going to Tulsa. It is not like Texas where you have about 15 choices.

[Billy Joe]

I don't buy into the argument that Tulsa is able to take advantage of being one of only three Div. 1-A schools in OK. Remember, OK has a lot less players to chose from than Texas. It is my opinion that Tulsa has come into the DFW area and taken several players that SMU offered. It is frusterating to watch our conference foes acheive winning seasons and bowl games when we were all in similar positions. SMU's admissions standards have definately put SMU in a hole. I also believe the other schools have better coaching. I believe Rice's success this season will be Bennett's downfall. Bennett wins out or he is gone.

[Stallion]

one other consideration that I think is relevant IF SMU loses the next two games. ZERO victories over teams rated in the Top 100 in the Sagarin ratings and schedule strength rated 109 in the country. BTW Rice's schedule is rated 48th and they have the same record. I don't think it is asking too much to beat Rice or Tulsa(home) in his 5th season considering his prior record and 0-12 season. I'll wait on the results to make any judgment. After all if Bennett can't meet Stallion's preseason prediction then SMU is setting its sights too low-don't ya think?

[MustangStealth]

This is a lot of my problem with Bennett. Other coaches have turned around programs from similar situations much faster. I understand other schools have looser admissions standards and such, but I have a hard time believing it is easier for Rice to get good athletes than us. In my opinion we are marginally better than we were during Cavan's last few years, but I don't think Bennett has what it takes to make us a consistent winning program.

[Stallion]

I decided to do a little more detailed analysis of Tulsa's Roster. Presently:

1) 23 JUCOs/CC/ Prep/Division 1A or Other Transfers
2) 4 Division 1A Transfers(OU, Ark, Baylor and Nebraska-I note a transfer named Jason Evans from UCLA or Colorado has left the program)
3) These transfers include 6 Offensive Starters, and about 8 other players who play significant minutes'
4) These also include Top RB (Tennial from OU) and Top 2 WRs averaging 40 catches 16.1 ypc and 32 14.0 ypc. Offensive Line has 3 starters and 4 major contributors who are transfers.

[BUS]

And that is the difference Mr. Orsini!

Please help level the field.

[smu diamond m]

This is a lot of my problem with Bennett. Other coaches have turned around programs from similar situations much faster. I understand other schools have looser admissions standards and such, but I have a hard time believing it is easier for Rice to get good athletes than us. In my opinion we are marginally better than we were during Cavan's last few years, but I don't think Bennett has what it takes to make us a consistent winning program.

But Bennett, like every other post-DP coach, has the DP crutch to lean on. "Oh Mr. AD sir, the DP is doing this to SMU! I just can't lose the DP disease!"
I don't think Orsini will take that kind of crap, he knows this is a coaching -- not DP -- issue, and hopefully knows how to solve it.

[ponyfan84]

Again it all comes down to coaching...yea, I have seen teams like Rice and Tulsa who are now turning things around when they were just as bad as us a few years ago. We're recruiting well if we have talent like Willis, Sanders, Martin, Sturdivant, the entire D-Line, McCanns, Mapps, Chase, etc... but these guys aren't being used to their full potential. Someone on this board said we run the most conservative spread offense, and he couldn't be more right. We run out of the shotgun or pistol 9/10 plays, yet we still run right up the gut, we drop back to pass too much, we don't try any trickery. Its just boring! This team is on the brink of having a major turn around, but they aren't going to accomplish that until they try to open up the playbook more (i.e. Arkansas St., Sam Houston St.). Those two games were the most entertaining games I've ever seen SMU play. They were going deep, running tricks, getting big holes. True they were against bad teams, but SMU needs to do that.

I would like to see: no more pistol formation (nothing has and will never work out of that), more PA roll outs and bootlegs (with a guy like Willis who has the speed to run it if nobody is open when rolling out of the pocket, why not run those plays), a FB (on 3rd and short, we don't have the confidence in the O-line to get a 1st out of a shotgun run, so get a FB and pound it in there, or try QB sneaks), and last but def. not least, we need to mix it up. Stop running on 1st down for 1 yard setting up 2nd and 3rd and long. Spread the ball out, try some options out of the shotgun, PA passes out of the shotgun, or hell, even a single back formation. Just open up that playbook and you can use the talent on this team to their full potential! Fans want to see exciting football.

[smuwins]

I agree that it would be great to see some more exciting football but we all have to remember that Willis is a freshman. He has put up great numbers because the coaches have been conservative with the play calling to keep him from making mistakes.
If someone would have told me at the beginning of the year that our freshman qb would have 25 + td passes and be ranked in the top 10 in efficiency, I would have said no way. The conservative playcaling has made Willis much more effective this year. We also have to remember that Willis was looking deep all game against HOU and could never find anybody open. Besides the one wheel route to Martin, there were not many chances to go deep because everyone was covered.