Let's be painfully honest here guys and girls...

[Texasscout96]

That was a HORRIBLE performance.

I know the boys were a long way from home but that is SOO not good enough. Here is what I noticed...

1) On just about every pass 3 of the 5 OLinemen were standing around watching Padron.

2) The defense had to know Marshall would run yet no run blitzes, no attempts by LBs to step up and establish contain and no attempts to strip the ball from their RBs.

3) We got very little pressure on their QB all game. Our DLine would stand straight up and hold at the line.

4) We knew before the game that Bennie Thomas was a backup at CB, yet he had no help at all. Then after they started throwing deep on him, there still was no help for Thomas on his man. C'mon man, he's not Deion Sanders.

5) I thought the Run and Shoot was built on pass first. Where was the passing? One 3 and out in the 3rd quarter consisted of 3 shotgun draw plays to McNeal. The problem?...all three lost 2 yards each.

I am upset at myself after this game because I have been beaming telling everyone how SMU is better and we will never be the old SMU team again. After tonight I have to admit I was wrong. We are not good enough. I hate to say this, but if this is how good our team is, we don't deserve a bowl game. And if we can't beat Tulane, there is a REAL chance we won't make it. Remember a few years ago when we had 6 wins and Rice knocked us out of getting a bid??


We just aren't good enough...

[ponyinNC]

this is why i hates all the cusa championship talk and which bowl game do we want to go to nonsense...our team is too young to look to the big picture and not focus on the game in front of them.

[mrydel]

This is why we are redshirting offensive linemen and recruiting more. Jones knows he is not there yet. Something that bagice cannot comprehend.

[ponyscott]

we are red shirting AND grey shirting boys.....

[Charleston Pony]

This is why we are redshirting offensive linemen and recruiting more. Jones knows he is not there yet. Something that bagice cannot comprehend.

Jones started out this year saying we are 2 more recruiting classes away from being really competitive, but lately he has relaxed that and has been saying only one class away. Let's face it...these guys have overachieved this year and suddenly there are a lot of SMU fans with unrealistice expectations.

I like the way this FR QB is playing with only 4 and a half games under his belt. And...it is easy to forget how many FR & SO are playing on that OL

[Texasscout96]

I sucked myself into General Patton's thought.. " America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser..."

[BUS]

Better is Better. And we are better.

I wanted the team to show maturity but that did not happen.

I am not going to pick apart the alignments and play calling.

The power that be want to go to Hawaii.

Merry Christmas Mustangs, if you beat tulane.

[mrydel]

I wanted to win today but the progress is there. This offense is still in its childhood and is going to be very exciting when going full blast. The defense is a year off of 40 points a game yet has actually been responsible for some wins this year. Early this year when we were all predicting it was pretty well believed that if we could get to 4 or 5 games it would lead to better recruiting. Well we are at 6 and should get 7. We will go to Hawaii barring freakish events (which I do not disallow in my mind), and receive great coverage. I will be able to watch us on HDTV on Christmas Eve and be proud of my ponies. I am unhappy with the loss but life is good. I look forward to seeing a win on Saturday.

[ponyscott]

[quote="mrydel"]I wanted to win today but the progress is there. This offense is still in its childhood and is going to be very exciting when going full blast. The defense is a year off of 40 points a game yet has actually been responsible for some wins this year. Early this year when we were all predicting it was pretty well believed that if we could get to 4 or 5 games it would lead to better recruiting. Well we are at 6 and should get 7. We will go to Hawaii barring freakish events (which I do not disallow in my mind), and receive great coverage. I will be able to watch us on HDTV on Christmas Eve and be proud of my ponies. I am unhappy with the loss but life is good. I look forward to seeing a win on Saturday.[/quote

Way to go Myrdel! Good thoughts..

[larskjenstad]

That was a HORRIBLE performance.

I know the boys were a long way from home but that is SOO not good enough. Here is what I noticed...

1) On just about every pass 3 of the 5 OLinemen were standing around watching Padron.

2) The defense had to know Marshall would run yet no run blitzes, no attempts by LBs to step up and establish contain and no attempts to strip the ball from their RBs.

3) We got very little pressure on their QB all game. Our DLine would stand straight up and hold at the line.

4) We knew before the game that Bennie Thomas was a backup at CB, yet he had no help at all. Then after they started throwing deep on him, there still was no help for Thomas on his man. C'mon man, he's not Deion Sanders.

5) I thought the Run and Shoot was built on pass first. Where was the passing? One 3 and out in the 3rd quarter consisted of 3 shotgun draw plays to McNeal. The problem?...all three lost 2 yards each.

I am upset at myself after this game because I have been beaming telling everyone how SMU is better and we will never be the old SMU team again. After tonight I have to admit I was wrong. We are not good enough. I hate to say this, but if this is how good our team is, we don't deserve a bowl game. And if we can't beat Tulane, there is a REAL chance we won't make it. Remember a few years ago when we had 6 wins and Rice knocked us out of getting a bid??


We just aren't good enough...

I thought we laid a terd here, offensive and defensive schemes seem not to mesh with what Marshall was bringing, we seemed a step slow and were tacklin around the chinstrap instead of below the waist, LB's were not in position and OL seemed to allow Marshall DL to flush out Padrone at will

[RGV Pony]

It did look like Marshall wanted it more. I think their field is fieldturf, but the first quarter I was thinking it looked like a place that had grown the grass long to slow us down. As the game progressed, Marshall got faster...we stayed in our funk.

Part of the growing up/building process is learning to play on the road in a strange venue.

I also think our young LBs needed a game like this to learn how much growing they need to do.

Not having Derius and Sterling hurt as well.

[ponyscott]

They looked bad no doubt, but they will learn from this and by god we really didn't know that we would be at this point for a bowl game anyway.....they are young and will learn to play with the best of them. This is exactly where we needed to be.....do you really think we could compete with the best or the sub best that the other Conferences would bring? ..Nah .......dont make us look bad on National TV .....give us a year!

[San Antonio Mustang]

I watched it on the Internet - bad picture and all. I state this disclaimer because I yield to anyone who was actually at the game. That said, my impression was that we lost today because young Bennie Thomas was beaten on some key plays and the offensive line with their injuries and lack of depth could not open holes and protect Padron. They ran all over us, but every team that has a good running game has run all over us. If Sterling had been there and if the OL was healthy we would have won. If Thomas had more experience we may have won. If we had more depth at OL we may have won. I just think it is the end of the season with too many injuries and not enough depth to win on the road against a good team. We are better than the past. We will beat Tulane and we will play in a bowl. If our opponent is a good running team we will have trouble.

[RGV Pony]

I'm looking forward to the luncheon Monday...specifically, the two Bennie plays I'm wondering why he didn't have safety help. I'm guessing they were looking run on the one play, and/or got caught up in the trickery on the other.

The last TD, on a 3rd and 8, which if we held them to a FG we still were in a position to win, was against McCann, who it seems like lost track of where either his man, or the ball, or both were

[SoCal_Pony]

I just think it is the end of the season with too many injuries and not enough depth to win on the road against a good team.

Agree 100%.

That is why I am always clamoring for JC OL/DL help.