Great Win

[sam]

I was so proud of the guys yesterday.Bartel you are my hero,thanks for everything.And I don't want to forget Cody,John, Keylon,Lute,Adami, Sterling, DD Johnson and Vic. As well as they played bennett still almost lost this game for us I cannot believe that he is as bad a game coach as he shows.It has been my contention all along that we have the talent but we refuse to show it i.e. Stansbury and Bartel DD Johnson.We could be a very good team if bennett would play more players in spot situations.DD Lee should be on the field somewhere sometime and what is bennett's fanatic attachment to Moodley and that kicker and punter.You can can tell me that there is not someone out of the 100+ players that can run a correct pursuit angle and tackle above the ankle.We have now missed 3 extra points and not attempted a field goal past the 20 yard line and that missed extra point could have cost us the game even the ones he made looked bad. The average on the punts could not have been much over 30 yards yesterday.Bennett's mystique about being able to recognize talent should really come into question.I say great game MUSTANGS beat Rice I only hope bennett doesn't lose it for you.

[MustangMom]

I agree partly!! I am excited for the team AND for a great coaching staff as well!! I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THE MUSTANGS - GREAT PLAY - SUPER WIN!!!!! L.A. Tech did not go away - they played a great game, but we were better.

Two great defensive stands and great blocking, running and passing. Go Mustangs, it all cam together today.

I happen to think that Coach Bennett is a great coach - and I am excited for him too!

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Go Mustangs!!
-MustangMom

[This message has been edited by MustangMom (edited 10-20-2002).]

[sam]

I think we have had this conversation Mom and I will respect your opinion but I will disagree you.bennett has not done one thing at SMU that would allow anybody to claim he is a great coach although he has done much to claim that he is not.I understand from from your handle that you must have a son that plays at SMU so I understand your loyalty.I have no ties to the team but I am a diehard fan of the school and the football team.I also probably know a little more about the game from the coaching aspect than yourself and I see the mistakes he constantly makes that good coaches don't. Thanks

[PK]

OK sam, I am ready to argue with you. Let me state at the start that I do not doubt your love of, or loyalty to SMU football nor do I have any problem with you having your opinion.

First of all, the fact that the “5 with Phil” bit on MM.com was updated on the 17th does not by any means mean that the interview with Bennett was a week later than the game. The webmaster of that site, Ted Gangi, produces the radio broadcast of the game and has probably many other responsibilities in life beyond the MM site. If you frequent the site you will have noticed that things controlled by the webmaster don’t get done very often or necessarily quickly. So I wouldn’t be too quick to decide that Bennett was slow in acknowledging his error.

Unlike you, I personally have no coaching experience, but even I could tell that the previous HC was not a good game coach…most of the time he had no idea what his coordinators were doing and it showed. As for last week’s game, I didn’t see a whole lot that looked like poor coaching so much as poor execution. Our safety position is an obvious weakness right now, but I think you are making a large leap of faith to think that we are very deep in that position. As for the missed extra point, it appeared to me that it was partially blocked and it was 15 yards longer than the normal extra point. Don’t recall off the top of my head what our punting average was, but do remember that it was more than the Tech punter’s average...perhaps the weather had an affect on both of them.

Let me get this straight, we win the game, but had bad coaching. Kansas State lost their game...how was their game coaching? I don’t suppose the play of the other team had anything to do with the closeness of the game. I still think that, if anything, it was poor execution that led to errors that helped the other team. Actually, I was surprised (pleasantly) that Bartel was able to have the time he did to make the multiple reads for receivers that he did. The O-line did a great job considering the Tech D-line looked huge.

Speaking of coaching, this is Bennett’s first chance to be a head coach and I’m sure there is a learning curve as the jobs of coordinators are more limited. He probably is stumbling a bit, but I still think he needs at this time our support and not accusations of incompetence. BTW, you never have finished laying out your coaching credentials. What did you coach...college? High school? Middle school? Elementary school? Pop Warner teams? Were you a HC, OC, DC...what?

Thanks for listening/reading and GO PONIES!!!!!

[SmooPower]

SMU punted 5 times, average 33.0 yds. La Tech punted 3 times, average 25.3 yds.

[MustangMom]

PK - couldn't have said this any better! I agree with you totally!

GO MUSTANGS - BEAT RICE!

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Go Mustangs!!
-MustangMom

[fbdad]

Sam has sufficient accurate input to speak with some authority on the topic of this team.Sams observation of safety play and kicking game are based on fact.The safeties have not performed all year. Actual losses can be attributed to bad execution on the part of our safeties.We almost lost this past Saturday to the combined play of Moodley and Harris. The question of depth at safety can't be answered until the bench warmers get game exposure. The only people to play at either FS or SS since the second game have been Moodley, Harris and Harper.Each one of them has given up one or more TD's. Personnel on the bench who can and have played these positions as part of the number one defense in the WAC are Price, Godfrey and Rushbrook.Price has seen no game time this year. Godfrey and Rushbrook have seen some special team time.If you are not considered as either first or second string, then you get no reps in practice in your position.Even second string only get perhaps a third the reps first string get.First stringers are Harris at SS and Moodley at FS.Second stringer at SS is unknown unless Harper is now backing up both SS and FS since he was sent in to replace Moodley at FS.None of these people have performed consistently all season.Why aren't others considered??? The place kicker performance speaks for itself. Every extra point is questionable.Its as though he wants to see how close he can get to bar on each kick. A majority of high school kickers I have seen are considerably better.This guy was a walk on for almost two seasons and couldn't make the team when we had probably some of the worst kicking in the WAC. The extended extra point was not blocked. It just exceeded the kickers max range of thirty yards. You don't have to be an ex-coach to observe whats going on on the field .It does help in forming an opinion as to a coaches ability during games to coordinate strategy, not necessarily dictate it.

[PK]

fbdad...I can't answer most of your questions since I am not on the inside. I must say that I am almost sure that I saw the trajectory of the football change as it went over the line of scrimage on that field goal attempt, but that would not have happened anyway had it not had such a low trajectory to begin with. It did have a good line on it as it hit the post dead on. We have two place kickers right now...one is doing kickoffs and the other field goals and PAT's. I haven't seen much of either in practice, but obviously McMurtray has the stronger leg accurracy may be a problem...I don't know. In regards to sam's earlier statements, we only have one punter and he is a true freshman. Have they tried other folks...I don't know and probably you and sam don't either. This goes for most of the other positions as well. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that the reason first string gets the most reps would be that in trying to establish new schemes, you want the people most likely to use them to get the most practice at it. I seriously doubt that Bennett makes the decisions on starters ect. without a lot of input from his other coaches. I know every kid wants to play and why not? You have to make most of your decisions based on practice because you can't use your 60 minute of play on Saturday as your try out period. I would agree that at some point though, if someone is not playing to their potential you have to make a change. I would be surprised if Moodley is not under intense scrutiny right now.

I think the team made a watershed improvement this week and although there are still some problem areas to deal with. I still say we need to support the whole team including the coaching staff at this point and give them all some time to make it work.

[fbdad]

I believe Rushbrook is considered the backup punter. I've seen some of his punts and they are decent again game conditions seem to change punters performance. I don't believe we should be hitting on our present punter. He's kicked extremely well in several of the games. A problem encountered was a breakdown in protection.He was having to rush his punts. The coaches made some changes this past week to rectify the problem.Don't know why he only averaged 33 yds, probably mental not adjusting to new protection. His kicking game will be good against Rice.The same thing happened to Jonas in the La Tech game. He had little if any blocking provided on run backs. He was visibly annoyed to say the least on the sidelines.Expect some changes in special team assignments. The issue of whether other players have had a shot at the safety positions is self evident.You only see Moodley,Harris and Harper.Maybe the bench sitters are "gamers" like Bartel.I've seen all them play and they show more motivation and spirit than any of the starting safeties.They also know where the ball is at,how to tackle,breakup passes and blitz QB's.They are also better atheletes than the starters. Time to give them a shot. No reason to risk the rest of the season to poor safety play.I support the players and coaches as much as anyone else on this board but I will not hesitate to make what I consider constructive comments on team performance or lack of.We can't sit back on a squeaky win over La Tech and think the rest are in the bag. Rice didn't look good against UTEP but that doesn't mean that they won't be up to get even with us. Nevada gave SJS a regular butt kicking so no easy walk over for us.Whether public opinion had anything to do with Bartels playing,we'll never know so maybe enough comments as to the safety issue may influence somebody's decision.

[sam]

PK,I am not going to argue with you that is not my purpose the things that I have pointed out are not opinions but simple facts if you want to argue fine dispute the facts.I think we have already had this discussion last week but if you want to re-hash it OK.You defended bennett's position of walking off the field when I said that it was basic coaching not to.He now admits it was the wrong thing to do.I said that there has to be someone among the 100+ players that could play D-Line and LB and D-Backs you said there was not,this week he plays Stansbury on the D-Line and he gets two sacks and now I see DD Johnson playing more LB.You said bennett was STUCK with two freshman QB's, he plays Bartel and we win.The point being you never know till you try.I would like to see him play Rushbrook or Godfrey at safety Special teams need alot of work.
Now for you comment about the K State game,yes I do think it was badly coached as for as the special teams go.And you know, I now think I understand bennett more after watching that game,it is plain to see that Snyder does not place much importance on the kicking game,if he did K State would have won.We will lose another game because of the kicking game,that erks me.
I coached one year in middle school,4 years in HS, and eight years of college ball.I coached on the defensive side and all special teams so that is what I watch. I am now an Investor.

[This message has been edited by sam (edited 10-22-2002).]

[PK]

sam...thanks for the bio. I really don't want to argue either. I'm just saying that I think it is too early in Bennett's career as a Head Coach to be jumping too [deleted] him. I want nothing more than for the Mustangs to get back to a winning tradition and I think that's what Bennett and the team wants too. The team has had some good games and some horrible ones. Some of the problems are probably due to coaching errors and some are due to player's errors. I have to believe that the coaches are putting the people out there they truly think need to be there. Bartel did a great job last Saturday and hopefully he will continue to do so, but can any of us say for sure he would have done as well two or three games ago? I watched some of the early practices back in August and Wallis definitely looked better with his passing than did Bartel, but then Bartel was still trying to catch up with his knowledge of the offensive system which could have been part of the problem.

Just have some patience and keep up the support...we will be winning again soon.

BTW, did you play football at SMU before you went into coaching? Just curious.

[This message has been edited by PK (edited 10-23-2002).]

[PerunaPunch]

I have 0 football coaching experience, but it seems to me that it takes awhile to determine who is best suited for what role.

To me, the situation seems analogous to hiring staff for a new company, which I have done a number of times (no, I’m not Jerry Jones). Think about it, You meet with people, you look at resumes. You pick them for your ‘team’. Some people that look good on paper, but for whatever reason, don’t work out. On the other hand, some people you hire just because you need a body for a task, and they end up being your stars. That’s one of the reasons why there’s such a high turnover in new companies; some people work out, others don't.

Bennett inherited something of a mess. Cavan moved personnel all over the field and used them in different positions. It takes time to learn new positions. We have a young team, which compounds the issue when you consider that high schools typically use their star players where they can make the most impact – not necessarily where they are personally best suited. That's why good high school QBs often get recruited as 'athletes'. Take Don Stansbury for instance. Young guy with a lot of talent. Possibly an impact player. How do you use him? I’d sure as hell be hesitant to try a 225 lb. freshman at starting DE!! But maybe that's where he fits.

And that’s how it goes. These young guys are coming into the program, learning roles, schemes and assignments. They’re hitting the weights and getting stronger. It’s a dynamic process that takes time to determine who ‘your people’ are going to be.

I don’t think it’s fair to bash the coach on where he started. We can only evaluate the program on how it progresses. The problem with Cavan is that the program regressed over his tenure. What we need to see from this coaching staff is progress over the course of the season and from one year to the next.

[PerunaPunch]

And we really can't blame anyone (e.g. Sam) for being impatient, because Lord knows I'm ready to put my UT friends back in their place!