Some thoughts on the game and some extra info on A&M...

[JasonB]

First some extra information.... a relative of mine goes to the A&M QB club (or whatever it is called) every week and gave me this info that Fran said there:
- Fran commented that after looking at the films, the win over TCU and game against Baylor were NOT a fluke. He said we had a good football team, especially on defense. He was impressed with our team.
- He told them not to be expecting a blowout. He told them that A&M would most likely NOT cover the spread.
- He tod them that they were scheming specifically on SMU, and not going to use the game to just work on things. They spent the whole week working on the option because he felt it would be effective against us.

So, just wanted to give you that info. An opposing coach thought we were good, and when was the last time A&M actually had to scheme for us? Pre-death penalty, I would think.

Some thoughts on the game:
- Everyone knows about the fumble on the 4, key drops and all that crap, so I won't go there.
- In the first half, despite the mistakes, we played well. We really held up to them athletically. They were not driving the ball consistantly.
- Nnabuife was hurt two plays before the missed tackle, on the last play of the first quarter. I wonder if that was a factor in him not being able to wrap up?
- The biggest play of the game was the INT at the end of the first half. Going into half 17-8 is a close game and all that. Throw a pick (receiver ran a fly, Romo threw a hook, I don't know who was right), right before half that gets turned into a TD, and 24-8 is a totally different game. Horrible missed tackles on the 80 yard play and then fumble on the kick and you could see what was left of morale flow out of the team. We quit a little bit after that HOWEVER, I will say that this was a team that obviously went in expecting to compete and keep it close. Once they made the mistakes to take us out of the game, it was totally demoralizing. I have seen many players on many other teams, both college and pro, get frustrated and quit a bit when that happens in a game they expected to compete in.
- I expected us to try and run the ball. Especially in that heat. But we didn't even try to establish a run game. I also noticed that when lanes opened up, Romo did NOT try to run the ball, he stayed in the pocket to pass. I would be interested to know if we just decided before the game to attack a weakness, or if we were making an effort to prep the passing game for conference play.


I went in this game wanting to see if we could compete in the first half and then hoping the scrubs were put in for the second so that we were ready for conference play. I was happy with how we competed in the first half. Obviously, the punt block issue is still a major concern. And we had some choking going on with the receivers. Martin was scared to run - he hesitated looking to pick for a hole instead of just slamming in there. He choked as well. But all that said, we hung with them for most of the first half, and that on its own was impressive. Two years ago, we would have looked like Rice did against UT. As pissed as I was that our mistakes took us out of the game, that stuff is going to happen to a team not used to playing in a huge, big time atmosphere. And the fact that we held with them in the first half when they had 2 weeks to prepare, were coming off a big loss, and have a loser opponent coming up next is impressive. The fact that our receivers had the ability and quickness to get open is impressive. The fact that our running QB threw balls that should have been caught was impressive. The fact that our kickoff return was dangerous enough to force A&M to squib the entire second half is impressive.

SO, yeah, I am disappointed. I am dissappointed in our mistakes and missed tackles. I am dissappointed that we quit and got blown out. But I also saw some real positives out there. I also saw the improvement from where we were two years ago, or even how we were getting blown out against the SWC. I would much rather see what happened than be saying "Our first team got killed, but even though we were down by 45 at halftime, and they put their second team in, we played really tough in the second half and held them to one touchdown", which is what rice is having to say today.

So, don't get too down. We are going to be okay, and we are going to play really well in conference. Let's all hope that Muse is okay, that there weren't other injuries, and support the team in rebounding against Tulane, which is a game that counts.

[Dement-ed]

Who was the receiver that let the ball skip right between his hands before being picked off in the second half? That catch HAS to be made! That was not the QB's fault.

What happened to Nnabuife? Didn't see him get hurt.

Anyone have an update on Cory Muse?

[Hoop Fan]

thanks, I needed that. I too think its better to do what we did than what Rice did. They were out of it from the first minute and then Texas backed off. We hit the Aggies in the mouth and then they bloodied us but good.

Tulane looks better than we thought.

[mrydel]

Who was the receiver that let the ball skip right between his hands before being picked off in the second half? That catch HAS to be made! That was not the QB's fault.

What happened to Nnabuife? Didn't see him get hurt.

Anyone have an update on Cory Muse?

Bennett said Muse had hyper extended his knee and should be ok.

[Stallion]

there was not a single hole to run through the entire day-Houdini couldn't have escaped the A&M defense.

[PK]

Well our game and the Rice/Texas game just highlights the disparaty the BCS has caused. Yeah I know we are still fighting ourselves on recruiting, JUCO and D-1 transfers, but the BCS has created a situation where it is harder than Hell if not just plain impossible for the rest of the D-1 colleges to recruit at the same talent level as the BCS schools in general.

We played a good first half for the most part and that was good to see, but entirely to many mistakes. The recievers have got to catch those passes that hit them in the hands...period. Special teams have got the talent, but need to perform. Romo's passing is looking pretty good...he was usually on the money, including his long ones, but his receivers weren't helping.

I think we will win 3 or 4 conference games and that with defeating TCU is an improvement over last year.

[Stallion]

No it means that 2 schools Rice and SMU who have been playing under an Ivy League Model have no business playing BCS schools when they don't play on an even playing field. TCU seems to be able to beat OU(2), USC, Okla. State(2), BCS qualifier Utah and others. There's nothing that sets me off more than another yearly apologist for SMU's athletic model now drawing conclusions that are simply an attempt to once again apologize for an misguided athletic department.

[Ponymon]

I missed the first quarter because of my sons SVAA game so I missed the Martin carries. Our offensive line, however, looked completely overmatched. I guess that is why we stopped running the ball after the end of the quarter. If Martin wasn't hitting the hole when he did carry it, who could blame him????? There wasn't one to hit. Looks like we need to get some real BEEF on that line. Obviously, benchpressing alone isn't getting it done. Bennett, reportedly, likes his lineman thinner and quicker. I like mine BIGGER, STRONGER, and able to make a hole for our runners to HIT!

[PK]

That would be good logic if it weren't for the fact that we beat TCU and Tulsa gave OU all they could handle. TCU's #22 ranking was a joke and from what I saw of their game with Utah...Utah isn't going to be close to breaking into the BCS party this year any more so than TCU...and their chance is ziltch. Rice has not in the past and is not now playing under an Ivy League model and I acknowledged that we have been in my post. I stand by my statement, "the BCS has created a situation where it is harder than Hell if not just plain impossible for the rest of the D-1 colleges to recruit at the same talent level as the BCS schools in general." They may get one or two great recruits a year, but they aren't going to be 2 and 3 deep like the UT's of the world.

[Charleston Pony]

I'm with PK in this debate. The top recruits want to play in the spotlight...not compete for championships that will take them to the "sponsor of the year podunk minimum payout played two days before Christmas bowl". TCU has done a great job of positioning themselves to compete with AVERAGE teams from BCS conferences. OU is no champion this year and USC wasn't much when they played them in the Sun Bowl. I seem to recall a very average A$M team humbling the frogs, who had earlier proclaimed A$M was afraid to schedule them, something like 28-9 in the Houston Bowl? Granted, we can do better than we've done with some more changes in the "model", but I don't see us CONSISTENTLY knocking on that BCS door under today's set up.

As frustrating as it is for SMU right now, I do agree with Stallion that if we'd get the obstacles removed and compete as BEST WE CAN within the rules, there's no reason SMU couldn't be competing for CUSA championships and playing on one of those "who cares" bowl games every year. I think I'd rather have that than be a Baylor or Duke football team that hopes for a .500 season once every decade or so.

[MustangSally]

Is the current set up totally screwy? Yes, it's entirely set up to generate more TV money and split it up amongst the 6 conferences that signed in on the deal.

However, TCU can't be used as the BEST example of a non-bcs team. Utah did pretty well last year, and I imagine they'd have kept it up for a while too if their coach hadn't been hired away. Another good example is Louisville, they're awesome in bball AND football. They were at the right place at the right time and had the right mindset, and one year removed from CUSA, people are starting to say they might go undefeated.

[Charleston Pony]

Louisville and Utah have both had significant bball success to compliment what they've been building on the football field. They are also larger, public universities that can draw 40,000+ in football and 10,000+ in hoops. That gets people's (and networks) attention.

[JasonB]

As far as comparing us to Rice is concerned, let me describe it this way...

Rice got smoked as bad as we got smoked at the end of the SWC for the most part, and how we got smoked at OSU last year, or at Tech. Just dominated all over the place. Same thing would have happend to us two years ago.

We got destroyed in the manner of the UT-OU game that was 66-3 a few years back. Was one team 66-3 better than the other? No way. But when you are in a game that you know you should compete in, and have competed in for a quarter and a half, and then make several mistakes that cause you to get out of the game, it can snowball quickly.

There was a huge difference between the SMU-A&M game and the Rice-UT game. HUGE.

[PonyFanSweetie]

I'm curious to know what the people that were at the game thought about the refs and the announcer? It was horrible! I don't think the refs were biased in any way, they were equally bad to both teams. They seriously need to be fired because they have no business officiating college football. Their announcer was almost as bad. It had to be his first game.

Despite the loss, I was glad to see as many SMU fans there that showed up. The aggy fans were actually really nice to us as well.

It's sad to see how little depth we have and how it really hurts our team. It is incredibly frustrating seeing that we do have talent, we have a coach who is doing his best, and we have the fans support, yet we can't be the program we should be because freaking Copeland and Turner can't get it through their heads that you have to actually offer degrees that college athletes can do. It is possible to be a good school academically AND have a good athletic program. Maybe they should go visit Purdue. Hell, they could look at Rice's baseball program. Something has to give. Don't they realize that football should be a serious revenue generating sport?

Sorry to go on my rant but it frustrates me every year and it just seems to get even more frustrating when you see what our team is capable of.