SMU Favored by 9

[ponyfan08]

Early Line

[ponyte]

The Navy loss was the most distasteful in a very long time. It was like watching the previous two decades of teams finding a way to lose. There was plenty of good except for the 3rd quarter. And one scratches their head and wonders why our powerful offense is averaging 21 points over the last two games? We seem better except in putting points on the board.

OK, that's off my chest. Now to the business at hand. This is once again a key win. UH is one of the better programs in the conference. They may have key injuries but their success over the last few years places them in the solid program category. We need to beat them not just to maintain our conference championship goals but also to earn some respect.

And we can do this. Our D is still solid and our O has shown the ability to execute. Our special teams have been a tad shaky but that too should improve.

[BUS]

Mistakes.
That sums up the performance at Navy. Bad snaps, not holding the ball while going down and the fatal interception. We should have need so far out front that the last pass, should have been a run.

Please keep in mind that we are learning to win - and win weekly. KP is what 19 or 20 years old and McJunkin is young too. They know what they did and will get better in time.

We need to play without mistakes to beat anyone. We are not that good... in fact look at some of the ranked teams and what happens with just a few mistakes.

Go Mustangs

[Tailgate#33]

Mistakes.
That sums up the performance at Navy. Bad snaps, not holding the ball while going down and the fatal interception. We should have need so far out front that the last pass, should have been a run.

Please keep in mind that we are learning to win - and win weekly. KP is what 19 or 20 years old and McJunkin is young too. They know what they did and will get better in time.

We need to play without mistakes to beat anyone. We are not that good... in fact look at some of the ranked teams and what happens with just a few mistakes.

Go Mustangs

Well said Bus.

[Nacho]

if sterling is out we are not solid.
uofh could be a very close game.
would be a great win for us.

get navy off the schedule! there is absolutely no reason to play them. guaranteed loss.

[ponyboy]

We played well at Navy, I thought. Nothing to hang our heads about. This team is continuing to get better.

[fivemon]

get navy off the schedule! there is absolutely no reason to play them. guaranteed loss.

Navy looked very beatable...we just lack depth and experience, should have a good chance next year

[Harry0569]

I have a feeling we come in ready to roll against U of H. Being HC weekend, I expect a lot of people to show up (me being one of them!). I think we come out guns a blazin and light up Houston's D.

[couch 'em]

if sterling is out we are not solid.

I hope we are loading up on JUCOs for next year in the secondary. The difference without Sterling is night and day. When Navy is exploiting your secondary you're in trouble. We are going to have to outscore people, and we just aren't doing it yet. There is so much offensive potential but we aren't taking advantage.

get navy off the schedule! there is absolutely no reason to play them. guaranteed loss.

When we are ready to crush them every year, it's nice publicity to play Navy. But right now, it gets us nothing to play them. We have to practice against option football which doesn't help us the rest of the year, we have to get cut blocked all game, etc. And it isn't even a sure win.

I want to play good competition but I'm not sure playing against Navy really translates to other games the way Tech does.

[Nacho]

trade navy for nmsu or some such school. a win is a win. the big boys load up on such schools in nonconf yearly. they are half-way to bowl eligibility before conf starts.
navy is a very difficult team to play for the reasons you stated. we get nothing out of it.
beating navy is a ho hum win but a loss is not good.

[ponyboy]

Yes, let's drop them the year before we get good enough to beat them regularly.

[Moose]

Loss against Navy comes down to one play: 3rd and 3 in our first posession of the second half after Navy scored. 14-7 SMU at the time. Line is averaging 7 yards a carry and we throw on 3rd and 3. All receivers were well covered and we were out of options. This resulted in Navy scoring and a complete momentum shift. The rest was catch up. At the half, they made adjustments and we were told to keep on doing what we were doing. Why we cant make adjustments once the half is underway is beyond me.

[sbsmith]

Yes, let's drop them the year before we get good enough to beat them regularly.

We play them next season at home and then there will be a 3 season layoff, hopefully they get dropped then. I don't see any reason to play them, we should either aim high and schedule some BCS conference team or really low and schedule a non-AQ dreg or FCS team that could easily be beaten.

[Nacho]

go for the dregs. when we reach top 10 status we care worry about quality opponents.

[ponyte]

Enough about Navy.

9 seems a bit high at this point. I know UH has not looked stellar the last couple of games and Keenum's injury is major.

This will be a team looking to win. UH has owned us for several years now. They don't have players on their team that remembers losing to SMU. That mental plus is an advantage as they will believe that SMU is a very winnable game for them.

We have something to prove. And conference has been the #1 goal stated consistently by our players and coaches. Now's the time to prove it.