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So should SMU be intimidated by the "talent" on a Big 12 team like Baylor. I say no-compare the recruiting rankings of the two programs by Rivals over the last 4 years
2002 Baylor 62 SMU 69
2003 SMU 62 Baylor76
2004 SMU 76 Baylor 87
2005 Baylor 59 SMU 81

Undoubtedly Baylor recruiting took a tick upward last year but will any of them be on the field this year? Neither school has recruited well unless you're satisfied with average. I'm the first to tell you that there are many factors such as Division 1A transfers, JUCO transfers and retention of recruits with curiculm that don't show up in recruiting rankings but I don't think any SMU should be particularly in awe of the 'talent" on Baylor's team. If SMU can't play with Baylor at home this year then this ain't a real good sign for Bernnett or the program. As far as I'm concerned this is a "must" win for Bennett. Yes its his 5th year and its put up or shut up time.

I do agree it is time to win this year and Baylor is a must, but I guarantee you Baylor will have better athletes than us. But Bennet's recruits are now mature and it is time to win.

That'ssome solid info, Stallion, and a good summary.....IF we do not hang with or beat baylor, I agree, Phil might want to call Coach O'Leary and start working on his resume!! Long Live Chalmer Woodard.

It all comes down to one thing....the play of our QB. If our QB does not turn the ball over and eliminates the negative plays, i.e. sacks, then we should be able to compete and maybe beat Baylor.

actually it comes down to our defense actually stopping someone and not giving up the big play. the big play has killed SMU the last few years. it seems everytime we blitz we get no pressure on the QB and our secondary is exposed, we need better athletes at the LB position to blitz

In the last three years, SMU's offense has scored 24+ points only 7 times. Bennett is 6-1 on those games.

The Baylor game, IS A MUST WIN for this program!

Sic 'em.

2112 wrote:The Baylor game, IS A MUST WIN for this program!

Have you made your lifeboat reservations yet?

Let us start first with a win in September as a must and build from there.

Line just opened at Baylor -4. Thoughts??

Stallion wrote:Neither school has recruited well unless you're satisfied with average.

We are 6-29 in the Bennett era....that ain't average.

The best thing going for us is we're playing at home and Morriss doesn't run the option.

stein000012 wrote:Line just opened at Baylor -4. Thoughts??

I say take the points in a heart beat. If both teams are the same as last year it is about a toss-up when using Sagarin. I say we will be more improved and there is a lot of reason to think so. If we lose it could easily be 3-8 for SMU.

stein000012 wrote:Line just opened at Baylor -4. Thoughts??

Baylor hasn't won a road game since Clinton was President. Further proof that they won't get the Bush Library.

So SMU outrecruited BU 2 out of the 4 years, 1 year they were only 4 ranking spots apart -- and neither of last year's classes *SHOULD* be on the field.

Baylor has started out very, very slow under GuyMo... 2 years ago under Morriss they lost to UAB at home, and then were stomped 52-14 by UNT on the road. Also, beat Sam Houston something like 24-6 at home -- not exactly a dominant performance.

Last year -- they got slammed at UAB (56-14) and then beat Texas State 24-17. The win against UNT was good -- but it just seems like Guy Morriss is able to get them geeked up for a few games a year, and not keep any momentum.

Both years they beat 1 Big XII team at home ... and did nothing with it. They also lost 2 close Big XII games they should've won (KU and ISU). I know they cite improvement, but were demolished 44-14 to Texas, 35-0 to OU, and 42-17 to Tech. How bad were they losing before? If they played better during the first quarter or until the half, well that's nice -- but SMU would've won 5 or 6 games in 2002 if games were called then (including BU)... yet we laid a goose egg that year.

They had the exact same record these previous 2 seasons as well. It just seems to be the same team and same type of season under Morriss the past 2 years-- recruiting improved one year, but as Stallion pointed out, that won't make an impact one month from now.

Also -- some BU fans seem to think that they will out# SMU fans at this game. Granted, our fan support isn't great. But Tech brought 18,000 fans out of the 34,689 last year. Baylor will probably bring around 1/2 that ... and I would expect around 18,000-20,000 SMU fans (hey that many showed up for SJSU). A large contigency of BU fans? Yes .. Outnumbering SMU? Hardly.

SMU's improvements were very inconsistent last year, but a lot of us will credit that to youth and inexperience -- hopefully the year of growth and exp. will help early in the season ... as in a home opening win for the first time since 2000.

Does anyone know how to join the Young Alumni Association and get the tailgate package BTW? The link on ther website doesn't work.