Job One After Todays Beatdown

[Rebel10]

And on top of that it isn't true. I pointed out deficiencies in June's offense and play calling multiple times, as well as Mason's defense. Just because I said you can't fire a guy after one losing season at SMU after 5 bowl games doesn't mean I thought he was a great coach. Maybe if I point that out again and again it will finally sink in.

Although there were some issues on offense (almost all related to the OL), I think most people would agree that we made significant progress on the offensive side of the ball. Next year, we should be at least "AAC Average" at RB, TE, WR and probably QB regardless of who starts. Like this year, our offensive success will depend upon how the OL plays. Based upon last year's OL performance, this year's OL probably performed about as well as could be expected.

On defense, I think that there is a real argument that Morris/Malone failed to accomplish anything. In addition to giving up a staggering number of points, they failed to coach up any players that can be relied upon. If you leave out "new" players w/o any game experience, our current first string defense (based upon PT at the end of the season) probably looks something like this:

LDE Open
NT Gentry
DT Green
RDE Lawler
MIKE Rhone
WILL Mitchell
STAR Cox, RC
LCB Lancaster
SS Wyatt
FS Open
RCB Jeanlys

How many guys on that list start on a "good" team? Only Gentry, Green, and Lawler played anything close to AAC adequate. While there will certainly be changes as RS Freshman and True Freshman (and guys returning from injuries) challenge for jobs, we shouldn't have 8 starting (and 8-11 backup) jobs totally up for grabs.

And Gentry is not that quick coming off the ball.

[Digetydog]

And on top of that it isn't true. I pointed out deficiencies in June's offense and play calling multiple times, as well as Mason's defense. Just because I said you can't fire a guy after one losing season at SMU after 5 bowl games doesn't mean I thought he was a great coach. Maybe if I point that out again and again it will finally sink in.

Although there were some issues on offense (almost all related to the OL), I think most people would agree that we made significant progress on the offensive side of the ball. Next year, we should be at least "AAC Average" at RB, TE, WR and probably QB regardless of who starts. Like this year, our offensive success will depend upon how the OL plays. Based upon last year's OL performance, this year's OL probably performed about as well as could be expected.

On defense, I think that there is a real argument that Morris/Malone failed to accomplish anything. In addition to giving up a staggering number of points, they failed to coach up any players that can be relied upon. If you leave out "new" players w/o any game experience, our current first string defense (based upon PT at the end of the season) probably looks something like this:

LDE Open
NT Gentry
DT Green
RDE Lawler
MIKE Rhone
WILL Mitchell
STAR Cox, RC
LCB Lancaster
SS Wyatt
FS Open
RCB Jeanlys

How many guys on that list start on a "good" team? Only Gentry, Green, and Lawler played anything close to AAC adequate. While there will certainly be changes as RS Freshman and True Freshman (and guys returning from injuries) challenge for jobs, we shouldn't have 8 starting (and 8-11 backup) jobs totally up for grabs.

And Gentry is not that quick coming off the ball.

Bottom line, the 2015 defensive rebuilding was a cleansing process that accomplished nothing. The 2016 team is going to have to start from scratch.

[Rebel10]

Agreed. OL needs help for sure. Going to be tough next year other than UNT and Tulane.

[SMU_Alumni11]

If Georgia can fire a coach that goes 9-3 then we can definitely fire June after the ASU fiasco.

Georgia has money (state money which I feel like should be excluded from athletic budget and their TV money has to be allocated to academics), and sadly we don't. If there is another reason we kept June around then there is no excuse for the admin.

[StallionsModelT]

Not firing June after ASU was a self imposed death penalty. It set the program back 5-10 years.

[Hoop Fan]

that was about as horrible of a showing as possible, no doubt. Not sure why it happened. I didn't see "quitting" per se, more a complete lack of focus. I didn't think we quit/gave up because I did see guys like Shak (who is hurt from last week) and Wood and others still battling in there at the end. Looked like the coaches were all over the guys to keep battling. My take is that when we played well this year, it was almost always due to the Offense controlling time of possession, protecting the ball, and scoring early to give the team some momentum. But we couldn't do any of that or hold onto the ball on Saturday. Not being able to hang onto the ball is more of a sign of lack of focus to me than it is a lack of effort. I don't think Xavier Jones or the QBs or punters lacked effort. We haven't created turnovers on defense all year. The fact that we couldn't force any Memphis turnovers means two things to me 1) Memphis was really focused and motivated on senior day, we weren't, and 2)the rain was a bigger disadvantage for SMU because our inability to make big plays or force mistakes on defense. So it was a complete landslide and team failure, offense, defense and special teams (blocked punts and FG). When your usual strengths (offense and special teams) fail, then your weakness (defense) is massively exposed against a good team. Its unfortunate, because it does overshadow good things that happened this year. We weren't a bad offensive team for the season, but we were in the rain on Saturday.

[footballdad]

And on top of that it isn't true. I pointed out deficiencies in June's offense and play calling multiple times, as well as Mason's defense. Just because I said you can't fire a guy after one losing season at SMU after 5 bowl games doesn't mean I thought he was a great coach. Maybe if I point that out again and again it will finally sink in.

Yep, we shouldn't have fired June. Especially after the ASU mess. And no, you never said anything about June's play calling outlining it in a 3 point commentary and in fact defended Mason's lack of making good adjustments.

But that's okay because you and footballdad will have HCCM on the hotseat sooner than later. Oh well.

HCCM will CHOOSE to leave after 2-3 years. As I've said a million times, Morris was a good hire and SMU is very lucky to have him.

The longer he keeps Malone around, the slower the improvement.

Oh well.

[Rebel10]

Not firing June after ASU was a self imposed death penalty. It set the program back 5-10 years.

At least.

[footballdad]

Richardson is the other safety, by the way.

[SoCal_Pony]

And on top of that it isn't true. I pointed out deficiencies in June's offense and play calling multiple times, as well as Mason's defense. Just because I said you can't fire a guy after one losing season at SMU after 5 bowl games doesn't mean I thought he was a great coach. Maybe if I point that out again and again it will finally sink in.

Yep, we shouldn't have fired June. Especially after the ASU mess. And no, you never said anything about June's play calling outlining it in a 3 point commentary and in fact defended Mason's lack of making good adjustments.

But that's okay because you and footballdad will have HCCM on the hotseat sooner than later. Oh well.

HCCM will CHOOSE to leave after 2-3 years. As I've said a million times, Morris was a good hire and SMU is very lucky to have him.

The longer he keeps Malone around, the slower the improvement.

Oh well.

FD has always been enthusiastic about CM, he simply thinks Malone needs to go. Most of Malone's supporters, myself included, simply state the verdict is out.

Who knows, maybe the slower improvement (if FD is correct) might keep CM around an extra year.

[Rebel10]

I just think everyone should wait until next year before judging Malone.

[footballdad]

Probably true SoCal

I've got nothing personal with Malone, just my impression that he's in over his head. This isn't some revelation, most everyone questioned the experience factor. Just tough to get things turned around quickly when your DC is also 'learning on the job'.

Maybe Morris couldn't find an experienced DC to come on board, who knows? Hands were probably tied by the budget.

Whatever, it is what it is. I guess we're stuck with him for the entirety of Chad's tenure, because the majority seem to think he deserves 3-5 years to prove himself.

I view Malone as our Phil Bennett.....hopefully Chad can come up with Baylor type offensive numbers to give us a chance in the AAC

[Stallion]

You ain't going to be able to judge ANYTHING on defense next year because the entire defensive roster will be turned upside down. Get used to it-we aren't going to be much better defensively next year. The rebuild on defense has not started yet. And at the beginning of 2017 none of the defensive letterman playing in 2015 are going to be starting in 2017. ZERO ZILCH NADA

[footballdad]

You ain't going to be able to judge ANYTHING on defense next year because the entire defensive roster will be turned upside down. Get used to it-we aren't going to be much better defensively next year. The rebuild on defense has not started yet. And at the beginning of 2017 none of the defensive letterman playing in 2015 are going to be starting in 2017. ZERO ZILCH NADA

Yeah, see above, we were typing at the same time. Take a deep breathe.

ZERO ZILCH NADA

[Digetydog]

I just think everyone should wait until next year before judging Malone.

BTW - I am not suggesting that Malone should be fired. He inherited a mess. But, I would like Morris/Hart to see if they could find some money to get Malone some experienced help.