hey blow-hards

[soccermom]

you are right-----a win over marshall will help me start getting over it, but to really get over it I want to see intensity and hunger from coaches and players for the next 2 games and post season!!! We need to start KICKING our opponents and not just rolling over!!

[smuuth]

Although June does seem to not substitute and would rather play an injured starter at say 90% than a backup that might give needed rest, you have to defer to his and his coaches and their many years of experience and to doing the right thing to help SMU win and by doing it in an ethical way. The buck stops with the AD who's job is on the line if June doesn't perform who's job is on the line if a coach/coaches don't perform who's job is on the line if his players don't perform who's scholarship is on the line if he doesn't perform. Wins make everything fine again.

[ponyscott]

Quit comparing this team to the 1-11 team from three years ago....the talent is much better and yes the depth is not as good as we like, and the defense isn't as bad as some say here because of the injuries, but we are an attack defense and we got caught too many times last night on UTEP screens for good yardage and where are the LB'rs spying on the QB? their QB had room to run when he escaped the pass ruhs too many times....when you have an attack at all cost defense you can burned sometimes, but the defense didn't seem to adjust as quickly as it should have.

But the offense is just terrible. So what that Padron had some stats....who cares when he throws those same old 2-3 yard passes that go no where?.He still looks right at the WR he is going to and if you all noticed last night because of that fact, there were always db's and LB's right around Beasley waiting for the pass from Padron...there HAS to be open guys out there. He still doesnt check off like he should and look at more options.He just goes to the 'hot' reciever. The other coaches have seen all of this JJ system before now and are prepared every game and we don't seem to adjust on offense. Why not some WR slants again, 5 wides out like in Hawaii, a few end arounds, wildcat formation with Jeremy Johnson, bring in JJ for a change of pace at QB as advertised, QB planned runs, etc? When those useless short relief passes aren't working and the draw to the RB is still being stopped, change it up and throw in some plays and formations that the other coaches haven't prepared for?

Nacho all on here don't have to be football coaches to see there is a problem with preparation and execution on both sides of the ball the last 4 games. We DO have talent and the coaches don't need to be replaced, just need to adjust to the other teams tendencies and not be so damn rigid.
UTEP came out with a better game plan and did use end arounds, etc and appeared to really WANT to be Bowl eligible last night, and it showed much more so on their offense plans last night.

[RGV Pony]

spot on, Scott

[PonyLove]

We're really lucky to have so many experts in one place.

[78pony]

Ponyscott nailed it.

I am surprised that what worked so well at Tulane wasn't repeated last night. Sitting Kyle down for a play or few, maybe even a series, couldn't have hurt. If JJ found a hot hand, then there you go. If not, hopefully you got Kyle's attention and/or allowed him to take a look from the sidelines and compose himself.

When you are ailing and lacking confidence I think misdirection plays, a reverse, QB rollouts and quick fire passes might have a chance to get you going. At least you're letting the players know that you have enough confidence in them to try something out of your comfort zone.

I bet D coordinators for Marshall and ECU will be licking their chops as we have become so, if not predictable, lacking in imagination. They should feel good that we won't try to step out of the (our) box.

[Dement-ed]

PonyLove is absolutely right.

Hawaii wanted Coach Jones run out on a rail after his second year there, too, but remember their reaction when he left?

[RGV Pony]

PonyLove is absolutely right.

Hawaii wanted Coach Jones run out on a rail after his second year there, too, but remember their reaction when he left?

aside from the OP on the "JJ should retire" thread, exactly who are you calling out (calling soft etc) that "[wants] Coach Jones run out on a rail"?

[Dement-ed]

Everyone who is suggesting that Coach Jones somehow has lost his ability to coach offense or lead a team. There have been several over the last 24 hours.

[San Antonio Mustang]

I thought I saw some new plays this week. There were several time when there were sideline plays to AR which he caught and they moved the chains. I had not seen AR used this way. I figured Jones was setting up the defensive back and would run a play that looked like Al was going to fo out of bounds, but instead turn it up field. But, when they started pressing AR he started dropping the ball. I don't have much of a complaint about the play calling, but execution is terrible. As I said in another post our only dependable receiver is Cole and they have him running short routes and then making yards after the catch. UTEP shut that down by letting him make the catch and then having a couple of guys to tackle him. As Ponyscott said that means there had to be others open that Padron did not see. I also noticed June sent Bealey long on one play. Hadn't noticed that before. Unfortunately Padron overthrew him just as he had done with AR earlier. As to substitutions, I just don't have any idea how good the others are or what injuries they may have. Maybe June is being stubborn or maybe he is using sound judgment. What I do believe is no one wants this team to win more than June. He knows that winning will make recruiting quality players much easier and he needs more quality to get the depth and for that matter the starters he needs.

[ThadFilms]

I was thinking the same thing. I'm not ready to jump off the cliff or anywhere near.... we're fine. We're growing and we are having those growing pains. It's a nice change to wake up and be despondent over a loss in a game where I thought we were the better team... over being despondent over a loss wherein we lost a game for our 8th or so loss of a season and we were so close to stealing a win.

Grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory used to be a moral victory for us.

[Big Hoss]

Look, if we were flat outmanned at every position against all these other teams, then I'd say yeah, cut JJ some slack. But we have as much talent on our team as UTEP, even with injuries, so it flat out pisses me off when we lose to them. We also could have hung in with Houston, a team that in my opinion is more talented than we are, but we didn't give them a game. Do I think JJ should be fired, or that the game has passed him by? F No. But we are allowed to question his coaching, otherwise, why even have this board?

If we had played Navy, Houston, UTEP, and Texas Tech as tough as we played against TCU, we likely would have at least 2 more wins. BUT, we didn't. As much as it pisses me off to agree with that jack@ss coach in Ft Worth, maybe TCU is our Super Bowl, because we certainly can't seem to muster up the stones to play that tough against teams with far less talent.

And yes, I realize we had Sterling Moore in the TCU game and didn't in the others, but even the rest of our team played better.

[78pony]

I'm with Big Hoss. We as ticket buying, Mustang Club supporting fans do have the right to question. And, I think many of the questions being posed are legit. I want JJ here and feel he is a great man and terrific coach. But, I suspect Bear Bryant made a few bad calls in his day and the Bama faithful probably had similar concerns at times over the years.

[SMU 86]

Our first 2 recruiting classes hurt us pretty badly. We got a few decent players out of them but not nearly enough. 2010 and 2011 classes are going to be good and will help in 2 or 3 years. We just have to be patient and lower our expectations over the next couple of years.

[Big Hoss]

Our first 2 recruiting classes hurt us pretty badly. We got a few decent players out of them but not nearly enough. 2010 and 2011 classes are going to be good and will help in 2 or 3 years. We just have to be patient and lower our expectations over the next couple of years.

True. We also need to improve our retention of who we sign. Too many guys that signed a letter of intent have not made it on to the team for various reasons.