Pathetic!!!!

[Arkpony]

Ponyte was right on with the lack of mental toughness. And so is Stallion and Mrydel. We all seem to know what the problems are..and where they all point...to the coaching staff, with PB where the buck stops. How to rix that (realistically seeing as who our AD is) is perplexing. In the meantime we al continue to hope for the bext each game and expect the worse. This is how far we have fallen.

(Been down so long it looks like Up to me)

[PlanoStang]

A complete lack of mental toughness. We put the ball on the ground too much and we don't cover receivers on defense! Mental mistakes killed us again. Too many penalties and no blocking in the redzone. It is like watching a Caven team. We could easily be 5-2 except our players are not mentally tough enough to win. We have decent players and we have decent coaches. What we completely lack is mental toughness in our players.

Your brand of mental toughness only comes with confidence in winning actual games. TCU, and UAB were quality starts to that.

I remember the 89 players saying they expected to go to a bowl game in 3 years just after the DP. They went 5-6 in the SWC in 92. No talk of that after Copeland, and Cavan were hired.

It's called expectations, and with a due date. If I was Bennett, and Copeland at $500,000+ a year. Copeland would probably be scapegoating Bennett around now.

[Stallion]

Yeah and just think Rossley then proceeded to go 4-26-3 for the worst 3 year record in the HISTORY of the university!!!!!!!!! Yes worse than even Copeland and Bennett. But let's not stop there that has got to rank as one of the 99.9% worst 3 year records in the History of NCAA Football-and yet we still get to hear about the great Tom Rossley!!!!!

[jtstang]

Yeah and just think Rossley then proceeded to go 4-26-3 for the worst 3 year record in the HISTORY of the university!!!!!!!!! Yes worse than even Copeland and Bennett. But let's not stop there that has got to rank as one of the 99.9% worst 3 year records in the History of NCAA Football-and yet we still get to hear about the great Tom Rossley!!!!!

Bennett will have a three year record of 5-28 or thereabouts at the end of this season. One more win and multiple more losses puts him on par with Rossley as far as post-DP coaches go. Numbers don't lie, and you COULD make the SWC and original WAC argument to tip the scales in Rossley's favor if you were so inclined.

[EastStang]

I am baffled how Burns offense was able to put up such huge numbers at Cincy against similar teams, yet here it just isn't happening. Cincy let anyone play for them (and they didn't even need to stay eligible), so he could get players who fit into his scheme. He clearly is not desiging a game plan that utilizes our strength. As bad as our offense was prior to Burns, I think our personnel is much more suited to Bennett's earlier offense of hand the ball to the running back 100 times a game. We have a a QB with speed and running ability, a durable back, a speed back, and a solid tight end. But I'm not Rusty Burns.

[huntnfish]

Stallion,

I agree with alot of what you say, but you obviously had some type of personal confrontation with Rossley in the past to always hate on him. And nice job of playing with the numbers and looking at only that 3 year period- therefore you don't have to give him credit for his two 5-6 seasons in 1992 and 1996 (and Cavan won the following year with all of Rossley's players; probably would have went to a bowl game had he started Ramon the whole season). And I am sure your rebuttal will include his losses to Rice- your usual weak response. But here are the facts- distort them however you will.

Rossley had:
much tougher recruiting restrictions
no facilties to showcase
much tougher schedules
supposedly "weaker recruiting classes"
even worse support from the administration- remember Pye?
BUT SMU WAS MORE COMPETITIVE

Yet the program was turning the corner when they went 5-6 in 1996 but Copeland wanted "his guy" in place which was a huge mistake. The Rossley team of 1992 or 1996 (1997 was really his team as well) would have easily beaten this group of Conference USA opponents.

Again, Stallion you make some great points (and I am not saying Rossley is the greatest coach of all time) but for some reason you go on tilt when discussing Rossley.

But we do agree on Copeland.

[Stallion]

No I'm just pointing out that Rossley was not this school's "saviour", he most most definitely was "not just about to turn things around" and the only years he did win he had significant advantages over other SMU teams(1992-largest senior class and most letterman in modern college football history and 1996 he was playing a WAC schedule with SWC recruited players) If Tom Rossley was still here today don't kid yourself we would still be in the exact same mess we are in today because this transcends coaching. I have absolutely nothing against Rossley at all-didn't even call for his firing which BTW just about everyone on this board favored at the time..

[BrianTinBigD]

Rossley just sucked less than Cavan and Bennet.

[huntnfish]

Stallion,

Then we just disagree, b/c I believe SMU would have been a a bowl team had he remained at SMU in 1997, then it is up for debate on how that would have affected the program in the long run. One other thing about Rossley he had some great coaches on staff: Jerry Gray and Tim Lewis (NFL defensive coordinators), Jon Tenuta (GA Tech Def Cord), Turner Gill (former Nebraska great and NFL Coach), George Warhop (NFL offensive line coach) & coach Johnson (Miami WRs coach).

[Corso]

Didn't he also have Dale Lindsay on his staff? (Or was Coach Lindsay gone after coaching for Coach Gregg?) I think he's coaching the Redskins' linebackers now.

[ponyte]

Who cares about Rossley or Caven or Gregg at this point. Roslsey was going no where fast because he had a defense that was about as good as a New Orleans levee. Other teams just poured through it. We have some of the best talent we have had since the 70s (And not as good as the 80s). We are bigger, faster and stronger except between the ears. Mentally our players have not turned the corner. And for the lack of a strong mentally prepared team, we would be competetive up and down our schedule.