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We finish with a 3-8 record, with a little offensive flourish at the end of the season that gives hope for next year. I predicted a 2-9 record for the year, and concede that SMU showed some improvement on one side of the line at least.

I'm with you on the guarded optimism. I also figured 2 wins, thought 3 wins were possible and 4 would have been a dream. So they exceeded my expectations. I wish we'd gone 11-0, but that wasn't realistic.

The team grew a little this year, and with that growth came more growing pains, some of which (TCU, Rice, LaTech) were more painful than others. With more maturity, almost every starter back and the addition of more young players (including another strong recruiting class!), the team is finally on the right track.

Thanks for all your hard work this year, players and coaches. Hit the weight room and recruiting trail hard -- see you in the spring!

During this season I became a detractor of coach Bennett. Although I recognize that the team is young, it still bothers me that we make so many dumb mistakes and like evey SMU team I can remeber since my freshman year in 1991, we still seem to be incredibly "snake bitten"... i.e., whatever bad that can happen usually does. It seems like we are cursed. I don't know if that's all beacuse of bad coaching, lesser talent or just ineperience. Maybe it's a combination of the three.

The fact that heading into next season we're still unsettled at the two most critical positions on the field, quarterback and tailback, is also a big cause for concern.

On the other hand, I concede that but for the mistakes and bad "luck", we seem to be competitive (at least, in spurts) with some good teams, which gives me some hope that the team has enough raw talent that maturity and some work in the weightroom may allow the team to improve next year.

Next year will be a crossroads for the program. If we do show improvement, I think Bennett can regain the recruiting momentum he had with his first two crops. If we have another disappointing season, a second poor recuiting class will surely follow, putting us back at square one.

I assume you are referring to this years recruiting class as being poor...it may very well be just that, but I think I will wait until this class signs up before I give it a failing grade. We have until February to recruit...let's see what we get before we grade it.

How can we say that this years recruiting class is/will be poor. 4 out of 5 are big men. Please read my footnote. Coach bennet and the staff are doing well given last season but players DO see growth and want to come help.

Bennet sells SMU and his team is getting better with VERY young players.

I bet this class ranks or grades out about as good as the others. Minus the first Cavan class that Bennett signed.

I agree, BUS. From where I sit, Bennett is addressing some critical needs on this football team. These linemen might not be rated high enough that they can come in and start right away, but they don't need to. Let's see what kind of players they are 3-4 years from now when we need them to contribute. Everyone needs to remember that in the trenches, where every play gets started, we lose only two players. An undersized (overachieving) DT in Adami and an undersized DE (Williams) and will have Mouton coming in as another 300 lb DT and a herd of DEs coming back who will all be as big/bigger than Willaims. On that basis alone, I expect this team to be more competitive next year.

Surely you're not suggesting either of the last two recruiting classes has been "poor." There's a reason other scchools went so hard after guys like DeMyron Martin, etc. There are some real players who are on campus and will be big contributors in the future. In addition to whoever the coaches sign in February, this team is adding:
Kendall Mouton
Reggie Carrington
D.D. Lee
Cory Muse
Chris Phillips
Avery Cleveland (I know, he played a little, but only a little)
Plus all the redshirts.

How many days until spring?

Way to keep fighting, Ponies!

you forgot Vincent Chase, perhaps the most hearlded recruit SMU has signed in years. With Kennedy and Chase at TE, I expect an improved short yardage offense in a two TE set.

PonyFan wrote:Surely you're not suggesting either of the last two recruiting classes has been "poor."

I wasn't suggesting that either of the last two was poor. I'm saying that this next class will likely be subpar, and if we have another bad season year next year, that will continue.

It's true that the recruiting season is not over, but I don't see any state top 100 players on our commitment list, and we're only being considered by about 3 or 4 of the ones that are still left on the board. I don't think anyone on this board would honestly say that they are satisfied withour haul so far.

I understand that a winless season has a lot to do with subpar recruiting... my point was simply that another bad season will result in another bad recruiting year and put the whole team back to square one.

Charleston Pony wrote:you forgot Vincent Chase, perhaps the most hearlded recruit SMU has signed in years. With Kennedy and Chase at TE, I expect an improved short yardage offense in a two TE set.

Remember last year, when Boise came in and ran multiple-TE sets, sometimes lining them up tight (by the line), sometimes splitting them out wide? They had SO MANY variables in that offfense, because of the flexibility those TEs gave them.

After seeing all the wrinkles Coach Burns added to the offense this year, in the team's first year in the system, I have every confidence he can cause some serious mismatches with Kennedy and Chase out there. Should be fun to watch.