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According to the list published on the official WAC site, there were no SMU players listed on the first or second team All-WAC squads. Amazing. That stinks.

Tulsa had 7, Rice had 3 and San Jose State had 3 - teams that fell below SMU in the standings. But no SMU representation anywhere. Amazing.

To be honest and fair, I don't know enough about the other teams' players to recommend one of SMU's above the others. But the fact that they can list close to 50 all-conference players, and not include ONE SMU player stinks.

And there was no anti-SMU-Rice-Tulsa-UTEP feelings because of the move to CUSA. UTEP had 12 players on the first or second teams. So that's 22 players, close to 40 percent of the total amount, that are coming from schools that are leaving.

So much for the assumption that every team must be represented on an
all-conference list.

Here's the link from the WAC conference site:

First Team
Offense
Pos Name School Ht. Wt. Year
WR T.J. Acree Boise State 5-10 178 Sr.
WR *Chad Owens Hawai‘i 5-9 174 Sr.
WR Nichiren Flowers Nevada 6-3 210 Jr.
TE *Garrett Mills Tulsa 6-2 224 Jr.
OL %Daryn Colledge Boise State 6-5 291 Jr.
OL Logan Mankins Fresno State 6-4 320 Sr.
OL Aaron Lips Louisiana Tech 6-5 309 Jr.
OL Derek Warehime Tulsa 6-1 292 Sr.
OL *Harvey Dahl Nevada 6-5 305 Sr.
QB #Timmy Chang Hawai‘i 6-2 194 Sr.
RB *Ryan Moats Louisiana Tech 5-9 201 Jr.
RB *Howard Jackson UTEP 5-9 160 Sr.

Defense
Pos Name School Ht. Wt. Year
DL John Syptak Rice 6-2 240 Jr.
DL %Garrett McIntyre Fresno State 6-3 250 Jr.
DL Tony Ficklin San Jose State 6-2 265 Jr.
DL Chris Barry Nevada 6-3 285 Sr.
DL Chris Mineo UTEP 6-2 275 Jr.
LB %Robert Rodriguez UTEP 6-1 230 Sr.
LB *Andy Avalos Boise State 5-11 220 Sr.
LB Korey Hall Boise State 6-1 231 So.
LB %Byron Santiago Louisiana Tech 6-2 222 Sr.
DB Abraham Elimimian Hawai‘i 5-10 191 Sr.
DB %#Gabe Franklin Boise State 5-10 185 Sr.
DB *James Sanders Fresno State 5-11 205 Jr.
DB Adrian Ward UTEP 5-10 170 Sr.

Specialists
Pos Name School Ht. Wt. Year
PK Tyler Jones Boise State 6-1 198 Sr.
P %Bryce Benekos UTEP 6-5 190 Sr.
ST Ashlan Davis Tulsa 5-8 177 Jr.

*2003 First Team All-WAC Selection
%2003 Second Team All-WAC Selection
#2002 Second Team All-WAC Selection
&2001 Second Team All-WAC Selection

Top Individual Awards

Offensive Player of the Year – Ryan Moats, Jr., RB, Louisiana Tech
Defensive Player of the Year – Robert Rodriguez, Sr., LB, UTEP
Co-Freshmen of the Year – Ryan Wendell, OL, Fresno State and Quintin Demps, FS, UTEP
Coach of the Year – Dan Hawkins, Boise State

Second Team
Offense
WR Jayson Boyd, Jr., UTEP
WR Rufus Skillern, Jr., San Jose State
WR Johnnie Lee Higgins Jr., So., UTEP
TE Jonas Crafts, Sr., UTEP
OL %Samson Satele, So., Hawai‘i
OL Adrian Gonzalez, Sr., Louisiana Tech
OL Klayton Adams, Sr., Boise State
OL Kyle Young, So., Fresno State
OL Scott Mayhew, Sr., Rice
QB Jared Zabransky, So., Boise State
RB Bryson Sumlin, Jr., Fresno State
RB Tyson Thompson, Jr., San Jose State

Defense
DL Chris Van Hoy, Sr., Louisiana Tech
DL Jemelle Cage, Sr., Louisiana Tech
DL Josh Walker, Sr., Tulsa
LB %Michael LeDet, Sr., Tulsa
LB *Nick Bunting, So., Tulsa
LB Thomas Howard, Jr., UTEP
LB Jeremy Engstrom, Fr., Nevada
DB %Jermaine Hope, Sr., Tulsa
DB Richard Marshall, So., Fresno State
DB Corey Brazil, Sr., Louisiana Tech
DB Terry Holley, Sr., Rice

Specialists
PK Reagan Schneider, So., UTEP
P Kyle Stringer, So., Boise State
ST &Chad Owens, Sr., Hawai‘i

Well that just S*CKS THE BIG ONE!!!!
Good riddance to the WAC! It'll be a DEAD conference soon anyway.

Which SMU players coulda/shoulda/woulda been included?

I would think that our best players this year were red-shirt freshmen and sophomores. None of our seniors had great years. None of our junior QB's was better than the ones on the list. Given that, the WAC voters may have given the nod to upper classmen over lower classmen. Just a guess.

DT Allan Adami SR-3L comes to mind.
DB Alvin Nnabuife JR-2L, too.

No way that list is right without Rolando Humphrey, at the least. I'd like to see Adami, but he came on late. And Bobby Chase showed unreal improvement, but without a touchdown catch, it's hard to win that argument.

Humphrey, at the very least, should have made one team or the other.

Chris McMurtray should have had strong consideration.

Our own broadcasting team frequently mentioned that Adami was no having an Adami type season. He made the pre-season first team squad but played himself off it during the season. No clue as to why.

Humphrey, McMurtray and Nnabuife should have made AT LEAST the second team, and Humphrey should have made the first team.

This makes me think that the list was chosen before the season began or maybe even before the season was over. Pre-determined list.

Oops...waitaminute. I'm beginning to sound like MeanGreenGem! CONSPIRACY! SCANDAL! CONTROVERSY!

("Earmuffs!") The WAC can go to h*ll.

stentman wrote:Chris McMurtray should have had strong consideration.

Are you kidding? He was better than last year but nowhere near an all-conference player. The WAC kicking stats:

SCORING (KICK) Team Cl G PATs FGs Pts Pts/G
------------------------------------------------------------
1. Jones,Tyler......... BSU SR 11 65-66 22-25 131 11.9
2. Schneider,Reagan.... UTEP SO 11 48-49 15-20 93 8.5
3. Visintainer,Brett... FS SR 11 51-52 9-12 78 7.1
4. DeVault,Brad........ TU JR 10 33-33 12-16 69 6.9
5. Fine,Damon.......... UN SR 12 44-45 12-18 80 6.7
6. Ayat,Justin......... UH SR 11 41-46 10-14 71 6.5
7. Carr,Jeff........... SJSU SR 11 40-40 8-13 64 5.8
8. Horwedel,Danny...... LTU FR 10 27-28 8-14 51 5.1
9. Landry,Brennan...... RU JR 9 25-28 4-9 37 4.1
10.McMurtray,Chris..... SMU JR 11 21-23 7-8 42 3.8


FIELD GOALS Team Cl G FG FGA Pct. FG/G
--------------------------------------------------------
1. Jones,Tyler......... BSU SR 11 22 25 88.0 2.00
2. Schneider,Reagan.... UTEP SO 11 15 20 75.0 1.36
3. DeVault,Brad........ TU JR 10 12 16 75.0 1.20
4. Fine,Damon.......... UN SR 12 12 18 66.7 1.00
5. Ayat,Justin......... UH SR 11 10 14 71.4 0.91
6. Visintainer,Brett... FS SR 11 9 12 75.0 0.82
7. Horwedel,Danny...... LTU FR 10 8 14 57.1 0.80
8. Carr,Jeff........... SJSU SR 11 8 13 61.5 0.73
9. McMurtray,Chris..... SMU JR 11 7 8 87.5 0.64
10.Landry,Brennan...... RU JR 9 4 9 44.4 0.44

FIELD GOAL PCT Team Cl G FG FGA Long Pct.
-------------------------------------------------------
1. Jones,Tyler......... BSU SR 11 22 25 47 88.0
2. Schneider,Reagan.... UTEP SO 11 15 20 52 75.0
DeVault,Brad........ TU JR 10 12 16 49 75.0
Visintainer,Brett... FS SR 11 9 12 45 75.0
5. Ayat,Justin......... UH SR 11 10 14 56 71.4
6. Fine,Damon.......... UN SR 12 12 18 44 66.7
7. Carr,Jeff........... SJSU SR 11 8 13 45 61.5
8. Horwedel,Danny...... LTU FR 10 8 14 43 57.1
9. Landry,Brennan...... RU JR 9 4 9 39 44.4

PAT KICKING PCT Team Cl G Made Att Pct.
---------------------------------------------------
1. Carr,Jeff........... SJSU SR 11 40 40 100.0
DeVault,Brad........ TU JR 10 33 33 100.0
3. Jones,Tyler......... BSU SR 11 65 66 98.5
4. Visintainer,Brett... FS SR 11 51 52 98.1
5. Schneider,Reagan.... UTEP SO 11 48 49 98.0
6. Fine,Damon.......... UN SR 12 44 45 97.8
7. Horwedel,Danny...... LTU FR 10 27 28 96.4
8. McMurtray,Chris..... SMU JR 11 21 23 91.3
9. Landry,Brennan...... RU JR 9 25 28 89.3
10.Ayat,Justin......... UH SR 11 41 46 89.1


(McMurtray would have been 2nd in FG% if he had enough attempts to qualify)

True, he didn't have as many opportunities to kick as the others did because our offense didn't move the ball, but that's part of the game.

Nnabuife has a much stronger case.

if Humphrey wants to make All-Wac he needs to make some turnovers(ie hold on to the damn interceptions). CB and DBs don't make All Anything without some stats to throw around

Still, there's no excuse for including even ONE SMU player. The conference lists 50 players, and you find a way for one SMU player to sneak in on the second team. Hell, even during our 0-12 season we had an all-conference pick.
Has SMU ever NOT had at least one player on an all-conference team?
This is not a slight against SMU. But a three-win team that ties for 6th place in the conference deserves at least ONE mention. We punted enough this season, Lord knows, to put Mentzel on the team.
It doesn't matter what the media voted - it's a slap in the face from the WAC not to get mentioned even once.

I would agree it is a bit unusual, but if you really think about it we did not have any consistent standout players this year.

Also, It doesn't appear to be punishment for leaving the league because the other teams leaving the league are well represented. We just didn't have any standouts.