Question about Rice

[RunPeruna]

I haven't been on here a lot since the game Friday night so this might have already been covered, but I was wondering what your guys' thoughts were on this. In the third quarter, Robinson (#24 I think) dropped a sure touchdown. I think the score was 35-20 at the time and that would have made it 35-27. Instead, a couple of plays later, there was a turnover (int I think) and it was returned to the 1 or so, it was soon 42-20 and the wheels just fell off from there. I am not trying to say that Rice wasn't better because I think they clearly were, but my question is; do you think that if that play would have gone our way, that the score would have been more respectable, or was it just a matter of time before it got ugly? This might have been somewhere else, but I didn't see it. If it has been already posted, I apologize. Would love to hear your thoughts!

[Donnell88]

Maybe so but our defence was still dreadful, especially on third down. Where was the pass rush? And it didn't help that we dropped three possible interceptions.

Chase Clement and Jarrett Dillard gave them a clear advantage.
I'm worried about losing to Texas State.

[ponyte]

SMU doesn't have, nor have we had, enough athletes to overcome mistakes. To beat most teams, SMU has to play near perfect. No turnovers, capitalizing on opportunities, reduce penalties and avoid mental mistakes (blown coverages as an example). It has been decades since SMU has fielded a team that could play that well and that disciplined.

So, that said, to beat Rice we need to reduce mistakes and make the most of our opportunities. We did get two special teams turnovers and made the most of these. We did make too many turnovers that Rice made the most of. But overall, we made too many mistakes without the talent to overcome those mistakes.

[Water Pony]

All reasonable observations. How can we strengthen our defense, hopefully in the next four games? Without speed and skills on this unit, are we stuck for the next or two? Offensive will improve with experience, but defense needs as much progress.

[redpony]

Watching how poor our D was I was suprised that JJ didn't play a lot more froshmen on D to get them some experience. I also wanted to see if we had any real 'head-knockers' in this new group. Maybe next week he will replace the some of the non-performers with people who can get really aggressive. Fri. 's D looked like the D jets had a major flameout.

GO PONIES!!!

[perunapower]

I haven't been on here a lot since the game Friday night so this might have already been covered, but I was wondering what your guys' thoughts were on this. In the third quarter, Robinson (#24 I think) dropped a sure touchdown. I think the score was 35-20 at the time and that would have made it 35-27. Instead, a couple of plays later, there was a turnover (int I think) and it was returned to the 1 or so, it was soon 42-20 and the wheels just fell off from there. I am not trying to say that Rice wasn't better because I think they clearly were, but my question is; do you think that if that play would have gone our way, that the score would have been more respectable, or was it just a matter of time before it got ugly? This might have been somewhere else, but I didn't see it. If it has been already posted, I apologize. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Good point. I remember that now. Robinson got essentially hit between the numbers and dropped the ball. The next play he caught it, took a few steps, and the ball was stripped out of his hands. That entire third quarter was just so demoralizing. 4 turnovers in that one quarter alone. That will cripple any team.