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Well I was waiting for it to happen. One of the best starting players on defense confided he has had it. Out of frustration (most certainly), he stated he was about to whip the snot out of the offense if they did not start to carry their end. "Just score 21 f'in pts. and we can win most of our games".

I am surprised it took this long. If I was some of the players I would ask maintenance to remove all the mirrors in the locker room so as not to look at myself. It takes a team to win and to loose but I feel for the D as it seems they have carried more than their load for a long time. Recent and current warriors like Adami, DD, Rogers, Bufi, Karrington would sooner cut off their limbs than loose. Expect the frustration to begin to boil over in practice more often from here on. If not the D will have thrown in the towel.

he's the one that ought to be looking in the mirroe-the defense just gave up more than 700 yards against A&M and couldn't get Tulane off the field all day. Considering the experience on the defense that has to be at least as disappointing as the offense.

Stallion I can assure you he is one who has no trouble looking himself in the mirror. He has out stat'ed everyone. As a student of the game as you are I hope you are not suggesting the defense is at fault for the lack of offensive production. Or the excessive time on the field is totally their fault as well. Like he said" just sore 21 and we will win most of our games" seem logical to anyone who has watched this season or last.

the way I look at it is that SMU's offense may not have scored 21 but SMU's defense didn't hold them to 20 either. SMU's defense is pretty darned experience in about 3/4 of the positions-3-4 year lettermen all over the field. They certainly got outplayed by the Tulane defense. I just think we should expect them to get Tulane off the field more than they did yesterday. The offense is pathetic but we have players all over the field on offense who shouldn't be starting at the Division 1A level. BTW I really thought Justin Rogers continued to show outstanding development. 2 sacks 3 TFL. We need some more like him who can make big plays.

That’s rich…

SMU is giving up 34 points and 435 yards per game this year.

Last year we gave up 38 points and 467 yards per game.

Year prior we gave up 32 points and 390 yards per game.

By these criteria, you cannot find 5 schools with a worse defense than SMU.

I will give your player credit for one thing….using the same criteria for offense, i.e. points scored and yards gained...SMU is the ABSOLUTE WORST offense in college over the past 2+ years.

So since 2003, out of some 119 D1-A schools, SMU has the WORST offense and the #114 ranked defense in all of college football.

Good thing we have our special teams………

Well, if that was Justin Rogers or DD Lee, they do have room to talk. If not, the next time ya'll chat, tell them to remind their defensive cronies that in fact they could've helped their own cause, but next time remember: you can't block a guy when you're looking at him from behind. Especially on a 100+ yd. TD return.

What this really says is Phil's losing control of the team. Wither Mike Dement?

Look at the time of possession. You can't have the defense on the field all day!

look at the game-the SMU defense couldn't get these guys off the field. Perfect example, yes Humphrey did make his Int in the end zone but that was the 17th play of the drive. This happened all day long. The SMU defense was outplayed by the Tulane defense and it wasn't even close. How many 3rd and 4th Downs Tulane convert in their short passing game? ANSWER 9 -that's a big big number.

Of course, Tulane has an offense with a real quarterback! 4th year for Bennett and we still can't get consistency from the quarterback position (or, I will admit, from the offensive line position or should I just say they are offensive?). Time for Phillips, NOW!

FYI,

Consistency is precisely the reason why it's not time for Phillips.

LakeHighlandsPony wrote:Look at the time of possession. You can't have the defense on the field all day!

--
OK, example:


Possession Time............ A&M 31:26 SMU 28:34
Score........................... A&M 66 SMU 8

hpfan wrote: .... Recent and current warriors like Adami, DD, Rogers, Bufi, Karrington would sooner cut off their limbs than loose.

Karrington? And does it take a "loose" defense to "lose" a game? Yes -- and as much as I love our defense, and offense, and special teams, and coaching staff, and .... the "loose" defense is part of the reason we've lost a lot of games. Not the only reason, to be sure, but part of the reason. This is NOT the time for the players to be pointing fingers. Do that, and the team implodes. If they adopt an "us against the world" mentality, they have a chance to do some things. I feel safe guessing that we won't be making Rose Bowl reservations, but there is no team with the possible exception of UAB with which we can not compete. We have to play well to beat anyone on the schedule. But any defensive player who calls out the offense is unaware that sacking Ricard on the late touchdown pass (how open was that guy?) or stuffing the run would have made the game much closer, too.

hpfan wrote: .... Expect the frustration to begin to boil over in practice more often from here on. If not the D will have thrown in the towel.

Win or lose, this team has not quit in the past. And despite your prediction, I don't expect the guys on this year's team to quit, either. They have too much pride and they're too close to being a decent team. They're not there yet, but some of the elements finally are in place.