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Stallion et.al.,

As one who witnessed the birth of Mustang Mania...(remember Statler is old),

How do these two freshman QB's compare to the one who helped start Mania.. Ford to Tolbert where are you?!?

Statler wrote:Stallion et.al.,

As one who witnessed the birth of Mustang Mania...(remember Statler is old),

How do these two freshman QB's compare to the one who helped start Mania.. Ford to Tolbert where are you?!?

Well let's see, I'm not Stallion but I'm pretty sure the QB who helped start Mania was running a run based Offense.

This isn't a run based Offense. I'm also pretty certain Erick Dickerson won't be running the ball 20 times, nor will Craig James carry it in for 3 or 4 TD's a game.

No!

You people really need to prepare for another sh@##$ season.

Ponyte could probably tell you more than me since he was in the same Class as Ford.

Mike Ford was the First Team Super Team QB on Dave Campbell's Texas Football All-Star Team. About 6-4, and unfortunately 250. Actually had a poor season his Senior High School year when he had few returning letterman, but as far as passing he was considered a Blue Chip on a National scale.


Rickey Wesson had graduated the year before and the job was basically his from Day 1 because SMU had no real passing QB alternative since they had run the Wishbone in previous years. He had a major league arm but quite frankly really wasn't as committed to excell as he could have been.

Ford had one of the Greatest Games in SMU History and probably the greatest performance by an SMU QB I ever saw -a game I was lucky enough to witness in Columbus Ohio where he lead SMU to a come from behind tie 35-35. See Story on http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/m-fo ... ts-34.html

Ohio State never had a clue how to stop him. Most incompletions were probably drops as he brought SMU back from about 5 deficits. SMU missed a FG on the last play which would have won it. The previous week SMU on the road had No. 4 Penn St. down in late in the 4th Q but lost something like 28-23.

He could make every throw but also had major conditioning and weight issues. Then he injured his knee I believe in Dickerson and James freshman season. Attempted to come back the next year but close losses to Baylor and UH convinced Meyer to switch to Lance McIllhenny who was a DMN Blue Chipper himself(ie Top 15 players or so in Texas). If there would have been a rating for Option QBs in the Country-McIllhenny might have been No. 1 in the Country for Option QB-definitely in this part of the Country. The change was made because Ford was not mobile enough to run the option which fit Dickerson-James both National Top 100 players. Dickerson of course was the No. 1 Blue Chip RB in the Country in High School and James was the 2nd or 3rd rated RB in Texas.

All these guys were Blue Chip Franchise players on a national scale-the kind that make Coaches look like genuises. Braden and Mitchell were offered by June Jones and that's about it-they wouldn't be considered as a Top 15 QBs in the State of Texas quite frankly based upon offers or recruiting reputation, Jones at Hawaii and SMU "recruited-over" Mitchell and Smith by offering 3 JUCO transfers Craft, Bower and Rausch.

TheBestAvailable wrote:

Statler wrote:Stallion et.al.,

As one who witnessed the birth of Mustang Mania...(remember Statler is old),

How do these two freshman QB's compare to the one who helped start Mania.. Ford to Tolbert where are you?!?

This isn't a run based Offense. I'm also pretty certain Erick Dickerson won't be running the ball 20 times, nor will Craig James carry it in for 3 or 4 TD's a game.

CRAIG JAMES ISNT WALKING THRU THAT DOOR! ERICK DICKERSON ISNT WALKING THRU THAT DOOR!

FWIW: We had a throwing QB in Tony Black (one start against TTU in 1976). Tony was from Miss and in love. He transferred to Miss State after the '76 year. Ford came in '77 and as Stallion put it, it was his for the taking. Ford had a great arm, fantastic touch and could read defenses. That wasn't the case his Fr. year. He made mistakes that hurt as Fr. learning have a tendency to do. His Soph year was a thing of beauty. Then against TCU in the second game of his Jr. year, his knee was blown up by a TCU DL that gave him a late hit. Ford didn't have the strength to complete throws in 1980 and often under threw his receivers. Multiple turnovers (especially against UH) lead to the decision to start a new QB. Mike Fisher had the upper hand starting that week (Fisher started against TX A$M in 1979, got his shoulder separated in the first quarter). McIlhenny won the job.

McIlHenny didn't run an option against TX. The play was designed as a toss all along. The option was to come later. There simply wasn't enough time in the week prior to the Texas game to put in place an option offense. We didn't have an option package prior to the Texas game.

SMU beat TX because the Sr. OL dominated and the talent rich Defense dominated. McIlhenny was not place in a position to make big mistakes (we didn't try to throw much that game. He did a bunch of handing off). The rest of the season was a run oriented offense. The remarkable thing is that the talent assembled to run a throwing offense transitions to a running offense in one game (blocking schemes, receivers downfield blocking, etc.). Option type plays were added for the rest of the season.

The key to McIlhenny's Fr success was that he had great talent, was very posed, and surrounded by talent. The coaches designed an offense that utilized Sr talent (OL) and great backfield talent (Dickerson, James). The offense didn't place McIlhenny in positions to make mistakes (unlike Ford's Fresh yr.). This gave McIlhenny time to develop into the great QB he became.

The key is that McIlhenny's Fr. year didn't place the pressure on him. I don't know if that will be the case this year at SMU. Whoever is our QB will not have Hall of Fame RB talent in the same backfield or an experienced Sr. line in front of them.

Ford had a fabulous arm and really understood defenses. He also had talented receivers (all-American and now convicted Felon Emmanuel Tolbert). Ford made Fr. mistakes his Fr. year and learned from them. That is to be expected. We may have to endure the 1977 type season in order to be better positioned in later seasons.

ponyte wrote:FWIW: We had a throwing QB in Tony Black (one start against TTU in 1976). Tony was from Miss and in love. He transferred to Miss State after the '76 year. Ford came in '77 and as Stallion put it, it was his for the taking. Ford had a great arm, fantastic touch and could read defenses. That wasn't the case his Fr. year. He made mistakes that hurt as Fr. learning have a tendency to do. His Soph year was a thing of beauty. Then against TCU in the second game of his Jr. year, his knee was blown up by a TCU DL that gave him a late hit. Ford didn't have the strength to complete throws in 1980 and often under threw his receivers. Multiple turnovers (especially against UH) lead to the decision to start a new QB. Mike Fisher had the upper hand starting that week (Fisher started against TX A$M in 1979, got his shoulder separated in the first quarter). McIlhenny won the job.

McIlHenny didn't run an option against TX. The play was designed as a toss all along. The option was to come later. There simply wasn't enough time in the week prior to the Texas game to put in place an option offense. We didn't have an option package prior to the Texas game.

SMU beat TX because the Sr. OL dominated and the talent rich Defense dominated. McIlhenny was not place in a position to make big mistakes (we didn't try to throw much that game. He did a bunch of handing off). The rest of the season was a run oriented offense. The remarkable thing is that the talent assembled to run a throwing offense transitions to a running offense in one game (blocking schemes, receivers downfield blocking, etc.). Option type plays were added for the rest of the season.

The key to McIlhenny's Fr success was that he had great talent, was very posed, and surrounded by talent. The coaches designed an offense that utilized Sr talent (OL) and great backfield talent (Dickerson, James). The offense didn't place McIlhenny in positions to make mistakes (unlike Ford's Fresh yr.). This gave McIlhenny time to develop into the great QB he became.

The key is that McIlhenny's Fr. year didn't place the pressure on him. I don't know if that will be the case this year at SMU. Whoever is our QB will not have Hall of Fame RB talent in the same backfield or an experienced Sr. line in front of them.

Ford had a fabulous arm and really understood defenses. He also had talented receivers (all-American and now convicted Felon Emmanuel Tolbert). Ford made Fr. mistakes his Fr. year and learned from them. That is to be expected. We may have to endure the 1977 type season in order to be better positioned in later seasons.

Thanks for the memories, ponyte. Always cool hearing that stuff first hand.