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With the weather a real issue in the game, what are the keys to winning?

Obviously, good defense and a solid offense. Let us assume SMU will have both (as witnessed by two previous games and one half of a game).

1. We will need zero turnovers. We can't leave the ball on the ground. A short field will be premium for either team as the weather may preclude long sustained drives.

2. Excellent special teams. Field position once again is a premium. We need our special teams to step up to another level. Solid coverage and good returns.

3. Execute the short passing game. No dropped passes and no poor passes. A wet ball and windy conditions will decrease the opportunity for stretching the field. So consistent short gain passes become a must to keep drives alive.

4. Character. There will be opportunities for TU to have a short field. And how we respond to turnovers, flukes of nature or poor special team performance will test our team's character. Overcoming those adversities will go a long way to help us win. Also, character shows with consistent performance by a team like a long sustained time consuming drive.

I am interested in other's observations and opinions.

One thing that'll be interesting is how Chris Scelfo (Tulane's coach) approaches this game. Against Miss State he pulled out all the stops, almost playing like he had nothing to lose, not like it was season opener. Tulane was successful on 2 fake punts and unsuccessful on an onside kick. The first fake punt was on a 4th and 3 from the TU 40 and it was a direct snap to the upback in a 0-0 game in the 1st half...not so crazy. The second was when Tulane was down 21-14 midway through the 4th on a 4th and 10 from the Tulane 20 and it was a 30 yard completion from the punter to our new stud WR Preston Brown (9 catches for 117 yards vs MSU).

I don't know if this was a 1 time deal with Scelfo, or if he's treating this whole season like he has nothing to lose.

I think if we score more points than they do, we should have a pretty good chance of winning.

Otherwise, we could lose...

It all depends though, on who's keeping score.

A little early in the day for such deep thought...don't you think?

A friend of mine who came to the 3 SMU wins last season is coming tomorrow. He did not come to any other games and had not been to an SMU game in may years despite being in the Mustang Band a long time ago. He is the key to a win tomorrow. I am buying his lunch and I am very cheap. He is that important to victory.

GoRedGoBlue wrote:I think if we score more points than they do, we should have a pretty good chance of winning.

Otherwise, we could lose...

It all depends though, on who's keeping score.

This is the way I look at all games. It doesn't matter who good the offense or the defense plays. It is not about field position. It is not about execution or time of possession. It is all about scoring more points than the other guy. Sometimes play horribly, get lucky and win. Other times teams play great, screw up once and lose. Of course, I still think that our special teams play is killing us but at the end of the game, the team with the most points always wins.

Of course, if we give 110% then we can never lose(or win since this can only occur in the deluded minds of coaches)

We must replace the defense from last week with players who can actually tackle, and replace the receivers from last week with players who can actually catch, if we are to have a slight chance of winning.

Since Tulane doesn't run the option I think we have an excellent chance to win. If they ran the option I wouldn't give us a snowball's chance.

you obviously did not see the game last week. SMU was blown out with the passing game. The aggies running game was simply a nice complement.

I think that we need to replace the cornerbacks who appeared to avoid as many tackles as possible! We are, obviously, still very weak at cornerback, which I thought was Bennett's specialty!

I saw A$M rush 44 times for 309 yards. That's 7 yards a pop. Not bad for a "complement."

Actually Stallion,

although there were long pass plays they were usually short passes thrown to outside receivers who then broke 2 or 3 tackles to gain big yardage, it wasn't the passing game that beat us, it was the lack of takling the guys once they caught the ball for short gains.

I would say that we were blown out by the tackling game more than anything. At least two of those TDs thrown by McNeal were ten yards passes that the boys didn't tackle on. Doesn't really matter if it is a run or a pass to start the play if we aren't going to tackle the player.

OK the tackling in our secondary which I always thought was a part of pass defense but the game was broken open by 5 count em 5 TD pass including an 80, 68, 47, 32 and 15 yard TDs all which were within 9:00 minutes of elapsed time. Incredible. That's 242 yards in passing TDs alone in NINE MINUTES.

Stallion wrote: That's 242 yards in passing TDs alone in NINE MINUTES.

When was the last time we had a QB pass for that much yardage in a game?