PonyFans.com

The DMN interview with Todd Wills says that this is Bennett's best recruiting class. Is that true, and if so, why?

QUESTION 2: If this is the best he can do in 6 recruiting seasons is it time for him to go?

4 Stars 3 Stars Total

TCU 1 10 =11
SMU 0 3 =3

If Willis says this is Bennett's best class, that says something more to me that a bunch of stars. Obviously, TCU has a great class who will help them right off the bat. Bennett with his redshirt first plan, makes it harder to evaluate until these guys actually make it onto the field. This may be Patterson's best class, too for all I know. If we get better classes each year than the year before sooner or later we'll be better. I may be gumming my food by then, but that tells me the cupboard is not getting emptied, but at least restocked.

Stallion wrote:QUESTION 2: If this is the best he can do in 6 recruiting seasons is it time for him to go?

4 Stars 3 Stars Total

TCU 1 10 =11
SMU 0 3 =3

QUICK! Give us a "stars breakdown" for USC! And Texas! And Florida! And Villanova! And Oregon State! And Middle Tennessee State! And the University of Vermont! And New Mexico State! And Delware -- what about the Blue Hens?????

After all, those are just as relevant as TCU to Sam I Am's question about whether this is Coach Bennett's best class yet. EastStang is right .... as long as they keep getting better, there are more and more bullets in the Ponies' gun.

I think many people miss the point. There is a big difference between "Bennett's best recruiting class" and SMU's recruiting class compared to our competition. We do not need to just improve the recruiting class, but rather we need to out recruit our competition. We are not doing that right now and that makes a huge diference in the scores on Saturdays. It may be that we are not giving enough credit to Bennett's coaching ability because he has improved each year in wins but is doing it while being out recruited.

Improving is tough with the BCS vs. mid major spread but there is no reason why we should not be getting athletes THAT WE WANT who are currently opting for Tulsa, Houston, Rice, TCU, etc. We need to do better. We will not be able to "out recruit" Texas, A&M, OU or probably even Baylor, but we should be the best of CUSA and we are not even close to that.

Stallion wrote:QUESTION 2: If this is the best he can do in 6 recruiting seasons is it time for him to go?

4 Stars 3 Stars Total

TCU 1 10 =11
SMU 0 3 =3

I'll give you this Stallion...at least your addition calculations of stars are better than your percentage calculations.

sorry to report, the Blue Hens are having one of their worst recruiting classes.....

SMU 2007 Slogan: "Aiming for the Top 25 Program-Will Settle for the Mid 80s in Football"

2007 Rivals Rankings
Total Points SMU 85
Average Points SMU 88*

* I'm conceding SMU might very few get De'von Bailey which might put us in about the Top 80.

Stallion wrote:SMU 2007 Slogan: "Aiming for the Top 25 Program-Will Settle for the Mid 80s in Football"

If you are talking about our teams comparing to those in the mid 80's, I am ok with that. I just get the impression you mean the level of recruiting class.

CUSA Recruiting Ranking:

Total Points; SMU tied for 7th and 8th
Average Points: SMU 6th
Total 3 Star+ Recruits: SMU Tied for 8th and 9th

Conclusion: Mediocrity BEFORE you start including all the Division 1A transfers that will play for our opponents and are not counted.

Stallion wrote:.... * I'm conceding SMU might very few get De'von Bailey which might put us in about the Top 80.

Maybe I'm reading this sentence wrong, but .... HUH?

exchange "well" for "few"

Now that I have gotten the answer to my question, I can only project that what you see is what we get. SMU will continue to have more of the same. When new coaches can go to Rice, UH, Tulsa, and UTEP and win immediately, then SMU is just not doing the job. Even at SMU, others have done more with less.

SMU LB wrote: there is no reason why we should not be getting athletes THAT WE WANT .

Yes, there is a reason.

I did a little research, just out of curiosity. Over the last five years for example FSU had a ranking of 6 average. UNC -33; UVA 26; Miami-7 and the ACC champion Wake Forest 73. Or how about the #2 ranked team in the Country- Boise State. They averaged in the 100's. I ran out of time but Ole Mis had some top 20 recruiting finishes, sure did them a whole lot of good. The question is will next year's team be as good or better than this year's team. If the answer is yes, then we are making progress albeit at a glacier pace. But any improvement is important. And if you look at average scores. The schools that we compete with are all under an average score of 3 which makes me feel that we are in the ballpark. In other words, just because we have a lower score doesn't mean we can't win football games.