It wasn't all bad
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:56 amWe saw something we haven't seen in years. The Defense won the game. The 2 TDs given up were the result of interceptions with long returns. The D had to face to 1st and goal and those lead to SFA's TDS. Otherwise, SMU gave up 9 points and had multiple turnovers. More importantly, the defense made adjustments in the 2nd half that allowed us to get back into the game.
The single most impressive thing was the team's aggressiveness. Last year one guy would hold on for dear life and maybe 2 teammates would come to help finish the tackle. This defense swarmed to the ball and gang tackled. We haven't seen that in perhaps a decade.
Special teams were outstanding. A punt return for a TD. Two very long KO returns (one literally put us in FG range). The special teams accounted for 10 points and did a respectable job limiting SFA.
The running game was an improvement. But more importantly, we did what we were supposed to do. The running game came alive in the 4th quarter. That is when the bigger, stronger team (SMU) wore down SFA. WE have not seen that kind of strength in the 4th quarter in a very long time.
McNeal was a strong, hard runner and that was a major upgrade.
Bo was off and in the offense we run, if the QB is off then the offense is off. Our receivers made some stellar catches. We did suffer from some very catchable balls dropped.
And let us not forget, SFA came to play. Probably the biggest difference was SFA was better prepared for SMU's offense then other teams and the executed very well. The corners and safeties played to take the long ball away and did. The backers took very deep drops and shut down the long/intermediate passes. They were prepared for the short dumps and flew to the ball. Their defensive coaches out coached our offensive coaches.
We need to make some very dramatic improvements or this is going to be another long season. But all is not lost and there are some things that went well.
The single most impressive thing was the team's aggressiveness. Last year one guy would hold on for dear life and maybe 2 teammates would come to help finish the tackle. This defense swarmed to the ball and gang tackled. We haven't seen that in perhaps a decade.
Special teams were outstanding. A punt return for a TD. Two very long KO returns (one literally put us in FG range). The special teams accounted for 10 points and did a respectable job limiting SFA.
The running game was an improvement. But more importantly, we did what we were supposed to do. The running game came alive in the 4th quarter. That is when the bigger, stronger team (SMU) wore down SFA. WE have not seen that kind of strength in the 4th quarter in a very long time.
McNeal was a strong, hard runner and that was a major upgrade.
Bo was off and in the offense we run, if the QB is off then the offense is off. Our receivers made some stellar catches. We did suffer from some very catchable balls dropped.
And let us not forget, SFA came to play. Probably the biggest difference was SFA was better prepared for SMU's offense then other teams and the executed very well. The corners and safeties played to take the long ball away and did. The backers took very deep drops and shut down the long/intermediate passes. They were prepared for the short dumps and flew to the ball. Their defensive coaches out coached our offensive coaches.
We need to make some very dramatic improvements or this is going to be another long season. But all is not lost and there are some things that went well.
