It is troubling

[Nacho]

The dream world lives. The spin continues. Vertigo reigns. We are not bad, except for the juniors and seniors who should be run out of town. We are young. Our coaches are not bad. They don't have anything to work with. Our coaches don't block and tackle. These players have no business on a d-1 field. How can we do anything but run? We can't do anything except that which is predictable. If they know we are going to run how can we pass? If they know we are going to pass how can we run? It goes on and on like this. A slightly different version is used for basketball. The end result is the same.

The thinking is that the players are no good. The coaches are fine. If we had good players these coaches who BTW are great would be undefeated. I think that's how the thinking goes. Sometimes I get caught up in the spin myself. I start believing that Baylor, UTEP, Nevada and SJSU are better than us. As soon as I see an SMU game I realize how foolish that is. We are outcoached every week. Every week. Badly outcoached. Outcoached so badly that it's not funny. It's not even close. Other teams do things like mix up the plays--they actually and you will find this hard to believe, but they actually pass and run in a way that the other team can't predict. They run screens, draws, end arounds and fake punts/FGs. All kinds of things. Some teams even throw on 1st and 2nd downs. Unbelievable but I have seen it with my own eyes.

Here's the reality. We are 0-6. Coaching has a great deal to do with it. SMU would rather live in a spin word than in reality. Fine with me. Just don't expect me to buy that Bennett knows exactly what he is doing. He clearly doesn't. In 2 years he will be a D-coordinator someplace. We will back to square one. That my friend is reality.

It's hard to spin an 0-12 season but I feel confident that some of you guys are up to it. Good luck.

Start work on that Tulsa and Rice spin now. Should be good.

[SMUstang]

I feel exactly the same way you do about it Nacho. This is the poorest display of game day preparation and coaching that I have ever seen. Tom Rossely was a much better game day coach than Bennett. I'll grant you that Bennett is a good recruiter. So is Mack Brown, but he can't match Bob Stoops for game day preparation and coaching.

[KnuckleStang]

It's a lot easier to blame the head coach, than it is to address the real problem (oh god, I sound like stallion). Blaming the coach is also a kind of "spin." You might say Bennett shouldn't give the ball to KK again on 4th down. I say somebody didn't block. Hell, it was only a foot.

<small>[ 10-12-2003, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: KnuckleStang ]</small>

[Hilltopper]

Good point. And didn't we turn it over on downs twice?

I've disagreed with Stallion before and undoubtedly will again at some point, but he and mrydel nailed it on this thread. Our juniors and seniors aren't bad, and no, they shouldn't be run out of town. But ever coach hopes to replace his outgoing seniors with better players who also are superior athletes. I gather the crop who's sitting out this year is exactly that.

[PK]

Originally posted by SMUstang:
I'll grant you that Bennett is a good recruiter. So is Mack Brown, but he can't match Bob Stoops for game day preparation and coaching.

How can you guys sit there and say Mack Brown isn't a good game day coach...he is doing exactly what all you easy chair coaches out there have been screaming for Bennett to do. He started a redshirt freshman QB because he can run and pass too. He mixed up the play calls with passes on first down and other "unexpected" plays.

It looked to me that the real problem is that OU has better players who execute their plays while Texas has good players who were not executing their plays. I don't think Stoops did anything different than what he always does. I didn't see any trick plays or anything like that, OU just took it to Texas and ran smash mouth right over them...period.

[Nacho]

Our players are lousy and our coaches are great. Sorry that I was deluded. Now I get it. Thanks.

[PK]

I particularly enjoyed watching that little OU player, #29 (I think) run right up the middle through holes his O-line made big enough for a "Mack" (pardon the pun) truck to run through. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Texas get crushed!!! Coudn't have happened to a better team.

[PerunaPunch]

I think our biggest challenge now is keeping up some level of support and positive momentum. It's a Catch 22. Losing streak = abandonment by fans = fewer butts in seats = unimpressed recruits = mediocre recruiting = a longer losing streak.

We need to support our guys because regardless of their times in the 40, they're working their tails off. We've also got to support this program (coaches included), because quite frankly, we're not going to find a better coach than Bennett's group (SMU in its present condition ain't exactly a plum job). Whatever we can do as fans, alumni, doners, etc., we need to do it NOW to support this team while it's down. I think right now the program has it's best chance of turning it around. Talent-wise we have the makings od a nice young team, but we need probably two more (consecutive) good recruiting classes to jumpstart the program for good.

And a couple more transfers and/or JUCOs would help speed things up.