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PB: Bennett praised the Mustangs' front seven and said the situation at linebacker is as good as it's been in his time at SMU.

Kind of controverts concurrent musings on the board.

Now, I have this question ya'll can answer for me. Two years ago, the SMU defense looked decent/competitive in the 1st game vs. TTech. A few games later, the rest of the season on defense was shot, mostly because of injuries which devastated not the secondary, but the linebacking corps. This lead to things like 44-0 at TCU. Can anyone explain this apparent paradox? Was it b/c a DB (or two) were moved to LB?[/b]

That wasn't a few games later, that was the next game. Now granted I don't know how many injuries we had against Tech, or how many we had that week in between, but I don't think it was all due to injuries.

I interviewed Bennett last summer and I quoted him saying then that 2005's LB corps was his best ever at SMU....

well they certainly didn't show it Saturday. The guy just gets excited and says things like this every year. We are not deep or solid at LB-this will next be proven in Lubbock Texas in September. Actually we have no linebacker who has PROVEN that he can excell at this level.

Every coach in America says the same damn stuff every year. It is what it is. I am not going to Vegas on it. Nor am I going to roast Bennett over the coals for it.

Did the linebackers blitz once?

Stallion wrote:well they certainly didn't show it Saturday. The guy just gets excited and says things like this every year. We are not deep or solid at LB-this will next be proven in Lubbock Texas in September. Actually we have no linebacker who has PROVEN that he can excell at this level.

Wilton McCray and Reggie Carrington have shown real ability at this level. Not sure what we have around them, but those two have shown ability.

The secondary is my main concern now. The Leach might go insane in the opener, with his 9-WR sets.

The LB's didn't blitz, but I think that is part of the parameters of the game.

Otto wrote:

Stallion wrote:well they certainly didn't show it Saturday. The guy just gets excited and says things like this every year. We are not deep or solid at LB-this will next be proven in Lubbock Texas in September. Actually we have no linebacker who has PROVEN that he can excell at this level.

Wilton McCray and Reggie Carrington have shown real ability at this level. Not sure what we have around them, but those two have shown ability.

The secondary is my main concern now. The Leach might go insane in the opener, with his 9-WR sets.

Carrington and McCray are players, not worried about them. The rest, however, are all questionmarks. Hiemenz didn't do anything to impress me too much, and the fact that he had to move over to the middle illustrates that we are not deep in the middle. Hurst had some nice hits, but he hasn't made the first team. The second team has walkons.

I think we have two solid starters, but I am very cncerned about depth.

so we're going to bowl game with a guy who has been 2nd string for his entire career and another LB who weighs 205 and plays Matador Defense. Again, none have proven that they can excell at this level. Carrinton has the ability-but hasn't done it yet. Wilton has been run over too many times to count and rarely plugs holes. I would expect tougher play out of a Strong Safety than I've ever seen from McCray. That makes them questionmarks in my mind. but I guess I grade on a different level-a bowl game caliber level.Now what if these guys get hurt?