ESPN Non-AQ post-spring Power Rankings - no SMU

by **skyscraper** » Tue May 10, 2011 3:51 pm

Boise is 1. TCU is 2.

Among the C-USA schools listed:

4. Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane return 16 starters off one of the best offenses in the country. Though there is a new coach and new offensive coordinator in place, there is opportunity to pick up where they left off last season because of the continuity in hiring Bill Blankenship as the head man.

5. Houston: With Case Keenum back, the Cougars jump back into the rankings. This team was lost without him last year. Now that he has returned, expect the offense to be high-powered again. If the defense improves, Houston could make some noise.

8. UCF: Just because the Knights ended the season ranked in the top 25 doesn't mean they will start the season there. UCF has question marks, though the return of quarterback Jeff Godfrey makes the Knights the favorite to repeat as C-USA East champs.

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/ ... rankings-2

by **PonyPlayer4** » Tue May 10, 2011 3:58 pm

This is surprising to me, especially since Andrea has given us some good press before.

by **ponylb** » Tue May 10, 2011 3:59 pm

WE get to play all 3 of the CUSA teams in this top 10. This will be a good test year for the progress SMU has made.

by **HB Pony Dad** » Tue May 10, 2011 4:53 pm

We don't want the Ponies to read their press and end up with results like a certain unmentionable BB team from Los Angeles!

by **soccermom** » Tue May 10, 2011 6:56 pm

I think this could work out great for us!!!!! Out of sight, out of mind..........hopefully we will be the "sleeper" and sneak up on some teams who think that all they read is true!!!!
KICK 'EM MUSTANGS!!!!!!!!!!

by **couch 'em** » Tue May 10, 2011 7:24 pm

The way we ended the season vs Army we don't deserve to be. Also, Sterling Moore is gone, without him we didn't show ANY defense. No proven D, no proven O, no preseason mention.

by **Pony_Law** » Tue May 10, 2011 9:57 pm

any team that returns 18 starters, a complete offensive line, and the starting QB should be a team that gets buzz for the next season. It just goes to show that minor conference schools get a passover in analysis and they just revert to what they know, (keenum and Houston is good, UCF was good last year, and tulsa scored a lot of points).

I'm all for flying under the radar because I think this team will do better with less external pressure. When I look at this team on paper I see 10 wins but we will have to wait and we actually win 10 to get the attention.

by **SMU89** » Tue May 10, 2011 10:17 pm

All this will change aftter Sept 4.

by **PonyKai** » Tue May 10, 2011 11:35 pm

couch 'em wrote:The way we ended the season vs Army we don't deserve to be.

What he said.

by **Arkpony** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:11 pm

I'm with Couch 'em on this. Our offense ended the season poorly (3 touchdowns in the last 2 games!!) THAT kind of production will lead us to another 6-6 year and no progress. I am seriously concerned about Padron and the offense.

by **Pony_Law** » Wed May 11, 2011 2:10 pm

well we scored 5 offensive touchdowns against ECU before the last two games and our QB jacked up his ankle which might explain the struggles in the subsequent games. Remember last year was basically Padron's first year and he threw 31 TD passes, I think if you are worried about the offense you are just a natural worrier and you won't stop worring until the season is over.

by **Mexmustang** » Wed May 11, 2011 5:54 pm

Is that ankle still in doubt?

by **couch 'em** » Wed May 11, 2011 6:15 pm

Pony_Law wrote:well we scored 5 offensive touchdowns against ECU before the last two games and our QB jacked up his ankle which might explain the struggles in the subsequent games. Remember last year was basically Padron's first year and he threw 31 TD passes, I think if you are worried about the offense you are just a natural worrier and you won't stop worring until the season is over.

Padron had pretty good numbers, but you still can't watch the game and not feel like something isn't clicking somewhere with the passing game. We are doing good enough to be a little-over-.500 team, yes. But watch our games and then watch some old Hawaii footage and you can see the difference. We aren't executing the offense fully, or we aren't running the whole offense. Either is a problem.

I hope it gets better, and I believe Padron will be much improved, but you can't pretend there aren't problems. Now, you have an offense with problems and turning over most of the WR corps. It's a questionmark.

by **One Trick Pony** » Thu May 12, 2011 8:24 am

Arkpony wrote:I'm with Couch 'em on this. Our offense ended the season poorly (3 touchdowns in the last 2 games!!) THAT kind of production will lead us to another 6-6 year and no progress. I am seriously concerned about Padron and the offense.

saw him at practice doing the same happy feet moves. If you do the same thing and exspect different results ...

Also noticed some very high snaps from center.

I have concerns also until proven wrong, hopefully we don't know squat and are blind. untill then I must give 100 % support. Go Stangs!