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This may sound strange but I'm much more concerned about our O than our D. In fact I think our D is going to surprise a lot of people. It's the O that has me concerned, specifically the O-Line and Willis ability to stay in the pocket and find the right reciever. I think it may take the O a few games to get it down. Rice will be a good for us since statistically they were one of the worst Pass defenses in d-1. Can somebody give me encouragement about our O?

Bo Levi.

We scored last year-enough even to go bowling, we'll score more this year. Defense is the issue when you give up 40 ppg.. On defense, we are relying on KEY not just supporting contributions from untested players who have never played a down of Division 1A Football at their positions like Rock Dennis, Deylon McCoy, Justin Smart, Odiari perhaps Victor Jones and others. If all those guys come through we will be in pretty good shape but at this point until they prove otherwise, these factors are known as questionmarks in the football predicting business. That's a lot of unknowns from players you are counting on to be KEY contributors-more than just about any year I can remember

It is my contention that our D was hung out to dry last season. With our play not to lose philosophy we put so much pressure on the D that they simply were worn out in the 4th quarter resulting in so many close loses. We will have more talent this year and with an attacking style of D I don't see those same worn out Ds this year.

based on last year no the O-Line is not looking promising...the Tech game looked like smear the queer

Teams will have all day to throw while we'll have absolutely no time whatsoever. Our line play on both sides of the ball is our biggest obstacle in achieving any kind of turnaround.

We have some nice skill players but it's going to be awfully hard to outscore people with no consistency up front.

PonyPatrol wrote:Teams will have all day to throw while we'll have absolutely no time whatsoever. Our line play on both sides of the ball is our biggest obstacle in achieving any kind of turnaround.

We have some nice skill players but it's going to be awfully hard to outscore people with no consistency up front.

Very true. Look at our history. We have always had skill players to compete with anyone. Check out the OLs and DLs from the Ron Meyer/Bobby Collins era and you will see the difference in the records. Dickerson and James et al at skill positions were the icing on the top. It was the line play that brought a National Championship. Even with Levias, Hixson, Hammond, etc, we were always lacking in size and depth on the line. Somehow I think our defensive outlook this year would change with a couple of Louie Kelchers and maybe a Jerry Ball or two.

Nacho wrote:It is my contention that our D was hung out to dry last season. With our play not to lose philosophy we put so much pressure on the D that they simply were worn out in the 4th quarter resulting in so many close loses. We will have more talent this year and with an attacking style of D I don't see those same worn out Ds this year.

good point. both sides of the ball will improve greatly with the offensive wizard of june jones

If we play the same offense as last year (willis runs for his life all game) with improved defense we'll be OK. Add in actual coaching (fundamentals, game management) and it's going to be good.

I agree Rice might be shaky though, adjusting to the RS. Apparently took a few games at Hawaii every time they switched QB.

Defense was terrible last season. Terrible. Offense kept us in some games. 45 points should have been enough against UTEP. 42 should have been enough against Rice. 34 should have been enough against Tulane. 42 in regulation should have been enough against Memphis. 28 should have been enough against Ark. State. If we had held those teams to the season scoring averages, we would won those games.

The SMU defense held only two teams below their scoring averages: TCU and Tulsa.

Think about that. If SMU held every team to its average, it would have been .500

what are you smoking????????????????????????

jj is doing good recruiting on the dside of the ball, but defense is toughest on freshman.

we will outscore most of our opponents.

jkflamebo wrote: both sides of the ball will improve greatly with the offensive wizard of june jones

That statement makes no sense.

jtstang wrote:

jkflamebo wrote: both sides of the ball will improve greatly with the offensive wizard of june jones

That statement makes no sense.

No. It makes some sense. Increased offensive output can put pressure on the opposing team's offense to score, which makes playcalling more predictive, which can make the defense look better.

It's way too late in the day for me to try to follow that.

jtstang wrote:It's way too late in the day for me to try to follow that.

Why did you get the Rudy thread deleted?