PonyFans.com

Admittedly Underrated - No. 80 to No. 89

No argument here if you think some of these teams should be higher

There's one very important distinction in the CFN preseason rankings: these are based on how good the teams are going into the season and NOT how they're going to finish. Some teams have easier schedules than others, some get tougher road games and some will need a little bit of time to jell meaning they might be better than their final record might indicate. Going into the year, these are how good the teams appear to be from No. 1 through 119. The predicted finishes don't take into account possible bowl games or conference championships.

83. SMU
The ranking is too low because ... of Justin Willis. The sophomore quarterback is one of Conference USA's more accurate passers with all the skill and talent to be the franchise player to carry the program to a big season. Helping out is a good, experienced offensive line that should pave the way to a nice season for the running game. The defense has a nice group of linebackers led by All-America candidate Reggie Carrington, and the special teams should be among the league's best.
The ranking is too high because ... the defensive line could be a problem early on after losing two stars in Justin Rogers and Adrian Haywood, and there won't be nearly enough of a pass rush early on. The secondary is just average enough to get picked apart by the better quarterbacks when they get a little time to work. Offensively, Willis will have to make his receivers look far better than they are.
Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Linebacker
Relative Weaknesses: Wide Receiver, Defensive Line

Houston #81, Tulsa #82, Memphis #85, NTSU #113, Marshall #89, UCF #90, ECU #91, UTEP #97, Rice #103, Tulane #105, UAB #106, Arkansas St. #108

not a ringing endorsement of CUSA West but a lot more accurate with regard to the true strengths of these teams ie they ain't very good. Somebody has to win though. Mediocre talent that is closer to the Sun belt than they are to the MWC.

Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:Houston #81, Tulsa #82, Memphis #85, NTSU #113, Marshall #89, UCF #90, ECU #91, UTEP #97, Rice #103, Tulane #105, UAB #106, Arkansas St. #108

Wow...average ranking of 93.6 for SMU's CUSA West opponents.

Plus, 4 other opponents with Memphis at 85, UCF at 90, NTSU at 113 and Ark St at 108.

Average ranking of these 9 opponents is 96. This should be a reason for optimism among SMU fans and a reason to expect 7+ wins. As I've said before on this board, 6-6 and a low tier bowl is not improvement, especially with this schedule. The bar should be set at 7 wins this year with 8 wins a real possibility.

ReedFrawg wrote:

Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:Houston #81, Tulsa #82, Memphis #85, NTSU #113, Marshall #89, UCF #90, ECU #91, UTEP #97, Rice #103, Tulane #105, UAB #106, Arkansas St. #108

Wow...average ranking of 93.6 for SMU's CUSA West opponents.

Plus, 4 other opponents with Memphis at 85, UCF at 90, NTSU at 113 and Ark St at 108.

Average ranking of these 9 opponents is 96. This should be a reason for optimism among SMU fans and a reason to expect 7+ wins. As I've said before on this board, 6-6 and a low tier bowl is not improvement, especially with this schedule. The bar should be set at 7 wins this year with 8 wins a real possibility.

See, even the froggie knows what's up.

ReedFrawg wrote:Average ranking of these 9 opponents is 96. This should be a reason for optimism among SMU fans and a reason to expect 7+ wins. As I've said before on this board, 6-6 and a low tier bowl is not improvement, especially with this schedule. The bar should be set at 7 wins this year with 8 wins a real possibility.

The harsh part of this Schedule is that we have Tulsa and Houston as away games. Those games should be close talent wise, so HFA is going to really play a role there. Tulsa on the other hand has both SMU and Houston at home. Also, So Miss and Memphis on the road will be a lot tougher than UAB and Marshall at home. Basically, even if Tulsa and SMU were exactly the same, Tulsa should be able to take the West.

That leaves us in a quandry: We squandered a cupcake schedule last season and have to make up for that now. The way I see it we'll need to "steal" two road games to get to a bowl. I take nothing for granted but Arkansas St is winnable. But Who else? If it comes down to the last game again, will the Ponies come up with the W in Memphis? Will we not be denied? I see Memphis or Tulsa as our best bet for the second road win. If nothing else, I think we'll split the Tulsa/Houston games.

-CoS

According to that poll, the mighty sun Belt averages a ranking of 109 among its member teams. That conference race is the football equivalent of a slap fight.

CUSA, by comparison, limps in at an average of 90 for its member teams, weighted down by Rice and Tulane, but bolstered by Southern Miss, Houston, SMU and Tulsa.

Give the Sun Belt Rice and Tulane and it would help both conferences averages.

Cadillac wrote:

ReedFrawg wrote:Average ranking of these 9 opponents is 96. This should be a reason for optimism among SMU fans and a reason to expect 7+ wins. As I've said before on this board, 6-6 and a low tier bowl is not improvement, especially with this schedule. The bar should be set at 7 wins this year with 8 wins a real possibility.

The harsh part of this Schedule is that we have Tulsa and Houston as away games. Those games should be close talent wise, so HFA is going to really play a role there. Tulsa on the other hand has both SMU and Houston at home. Also, So Miss and Memphis on the road will be a lot tougher than UAB and Marshall at home. Basically, even if Tulsa and SMU were exactly the same, Tulsa should be able to take the West.

That leaves us in a quandry: We squandered a cupcake schedule last season and have to make up for that now. The way I see it we'll need to "steal" two road games to get to a bowl. I take nothing for granted but Arkansas St is winnable. But Who else? If it comes down to the last game again, will the Ponies come up with the W in Memphis? Will we not be denied? I see Memphis or Tulsa as our best bet for the second road win. If nothing else, I think we'll split the Tulsa/Houston games.

-CoS

Good points....I didn't really look at the home/road split. Beating Tech sure we be a huge step in the right direction. I really think you have a better shot at Tech (1st game, at home) than TCU this year because TCU should have plenty of motivation based on '05. I think I might drive over on Labor Day and wear (mustang) red - I would love to see TCU and SMU beat Baylor and Tech over the course of the same weekend.

ReedFrawg wrote: I really think you have a better shot at Tech (1st game, at home) than TCU this year because TCU should have plenty of motivation based on '05.

Lol, I think we'll have a better shot at Tech than TCU because... TCU is a much better team than Tech this year. I have TCU as our toughest game of the year this season. Any given Saturday and all that, but still.

-CoS

MustangIcon wrote:See, even the froggie knows what's up.

The pony is up!

MustangIcon wrote:

ReedFrawg wrote:

Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:Houston #81, Tulsa #82, Memphis #85, NTSU #113, Marshall #89, UCF #90, ECU #91, UTEP #97, Rice #103, Tulane #105, UAB #106, Arkansas St. #108

Wow...average ranking of 93.6 for SMU's CUSA West opponents.

Plus, 4 other opponents with Memphis at 85, UCF at 90, NTSU at 113 and Ark St at 108.

Average ranking of these 9 opponents is 96. This should be a reason for optimism among SMU fans and a reason to expect 7+ wins. As I've said before on this board, 6-6 and a low tier bowl is not improvement, especially with this schedule. The bar should be set at 7 wins this year with 8 wins a real possibility.

See, even the froggie knows what's up.

Careful, Gomer Pyle will say you are conspiring...

LonghornFan68 wrote:According to that poll, the mighty sun Belt averages a ranking of 109 among its member teams. That conference race is the football equivalent of a slap fight.

CUSA, by comparison, limps in at an average of 90 for its member teams, weighted down by Rice and Tulane, but bolstered by Southern Miss, Houston, SMU and Tulsa.

Give the Sun Belt Rice and Tulane and it would help both conferences averages.

Yeah, Rice sure sucked last year with their non-conference losses to:
- at UCLA (loss by 10pts, a team that should have beaten ND)
- Texas (Top10)
- at Florida State (Top10)

And then they REALLY sucked when:
- they went 6-2 in conference (losing by 1pt to Houston 31-30, and by 2 TDs 38-24 at Tulane),

And they SUPER sucked when:
- they won SIX GAMES IN A ROW

And finally, they SUPER DUPER sucked when:
- they [deleted] SMU on the goal line.

Yeah, they suck.

PhirePhilBennett wrote:And finally, they SUPER DUPER sucked when:
- they [deleted] SMU on the goal line.

Twice.

Mustangs35SMU wrote:

PhirePhilBennett wrote:And finally, they SUPER DUPER sucked when:
- they [deleted] SMU on the goal line.

Twice.

Boy they must REALLY suck.

ThadFilms wrote:

Mustangs35SMU wrote:

PhirePhilBennett wrote:And finally, they SUPER DUPER sucked when:
- they [deleted] SMU on the goal line.

Twice.

Boy they must REALLY suck.

I know. Hopefully they will leave CUSA and bring down the SunBelt.

As you recall, every time we've moved to a newer, but even easier conference (SWC to Super WAC, Super WAC to WAC lite, WAC lite to CUSA lite), we've still maintained about a 3-5 to a 4-4 conference record, so it won't hurt us a bit.

LonghornFan68 wrote:Give the Sun Belt Rice and Tulane and it would help both conferences averages.

Anybody who paid any attention whatsoever to Rice's season last year would not say that "everything went right." Among other misfortunes, our QB was injured almost half the season! Also, our OL that is supposedly among the worst in the conference has 3 returning all-conference players, more than any other team.

Luckily for us the games are played on the field, not in scout.cfn.com's office.