Cybill

[GoRedGoBlue]

Take your prozac...

Bennett: SMU QB status has changed again

UNIVERSITY PARK – On Tuesday, coach Phil Bennett said Jerad Romo would start at quarterback. That changed Wednesday when Bennett said he was not sure who would start Saturday at Marshall. Romo and Tony Eckert have taken most of the reps in practice.

Bennett said a decision would be made today. When asked the reason for the change, he said: "I want to see somebody take charge."

Both quarterbacks should play, but Bennett will have a quick hook if either struggles.

"We're not going to wait for somebody to get going," he said.

[RGV Pony]

"I want to see somebody take charge."

And here that's what I thought spring ball and two-a-days were for.

[Nacho]

At least he is not burning Willis' scholarship.

[SMU Football Blog]

Hmmm....maybe one of the QB's would perform better if they got more than 50% of the snaps. Just throwing that out there.

[GoRedGoBlue]

Hmmm....maybe one of the QB's would perform better if they got more than 50% of the snaps. Just throwing that out there.

We would have been better off redshirting one of the 2 jucos last year and mixing in Phillips for Playing Time...so that next year we at least had some continuity.

If Phillips doesn't get some snaps or reps in practice, then we better really hope Willis is that good.

[Billy Joe]

I am glad there are others who are puzzled over the fact Bennett still does not know who is the starting QB. You are telling me that after last year's performances, summer workouts, spring practice, two a day practices, and a few games into the season, he still does not know who the starting QB is going to be. Bennett is clueless on offense and is not getting the job done. Fire this clown now.

[SMU Football Blog]

I am glad there are others who are puzzled over the fact Bennett still does not know who is the starting QB. You are telling me that after last year's performances, summer workouts, spring practice, two a day practices, and a few games into the season, he still does not know who the starting QB is going to be. Bennett is clueless on offense and is not getting the job done. Fire this clown now.

Very good point. The other schools with this problem have QB's that haven't played. Bennett's had 12 starts and two offseasons with these guys and can't make a decision.

[JasonB]

I am glad there are others who are puzzled over the fact Bennett still does not know who is the starting QB. You are telling me that after last year's performances, summer workouts, spring practice, two a day practices, and a few games into the season, he still does not know who the starting QB is going to be. Bennett is clueless on offense and is not getting the job done. Fire this clown now.

Very good point. The other schools with this problem have QB's that haven't played. Bennett's had 12 starts and two offseasons with these guys and can't make a decision.

Not true, Marshall is going through the same thing.

We are in a situation right now where both QBs are back on their heels. A game like Tulane will do that to you. Romo had stepped up earlier this year and taken charge, but Tulane was a massive set back. I am sure that at this point, Bennett is looking for attitude. He knows what they can do physically. Someone needs to step up, take the bull by the horns, and get pissed about the Tulane game, rather than feeling bad about it, getting scared, and sulking around. Bennett is challenging those guys to get after it in practice, pump the rest of the team up, and move forward. I know that I would want the guy with more fire to play, not someone who is scared of an away game.

My read into this is that Romo had a really passive practice either Tuesday or Wednesday, and maybe Eckert stepped it up a little bit. Bennett wants these guys to challenge each other for leadership and push the whole team forward.

A battle at QB has either very positive or very negative effects. usually, either both step up or both fall back. If both step up, maybe this team can recover. If both fall back, we are in trouble the rest of the season.

[Stallion]

well then how about the 5-way battle for Runningback-meanwhile we are playing walkons at Inside Receiver.

[JasonB]

well then how about the 5-way battle for Runningback-meanwhile we are playing walkons at Inside Receiver.

I completely agree with you here. That receiver runs the short possesion routes, which is what we end up throwing because we can't protect the QB enough. So our least athletic players are getting the most balls thrown their way.

As I have said before, I expect that we will run a lot of formations with a RB lined up in that slot. Martin/Massey in the backfield, with Henderson/Turner in that slot for reverses, WR screens, and short routes.

Unfortunately, it won't completely go away, because when you look at the inside receiver position, you have Sledge and Foster competing there. I suspect the reason that they are there is because they actually catch the ball consistantly when it is thrown their way.

When you design a passing game, you should either decide that 1) you can't consistantly run, so you have to have a possession passing game or 2) you are going to run the ball and so you want a more athletic passing game.

What our coaching staff is caught in is that we have the athletes to do number 2 from a WR perspective. But our o-line isn't good enough to run consistantly. And they can't pass block well enough to get plays open deep (see Tulane). So they want to go with number 1. Which doesn't work because we don't catch the ball consistantly enough to establish possesion with a short passing game (reference A&M game).

Our attitude offensively should be the number 2 option, but reversed. If we play a team who is going to control the line of scrimmage, we need to establish our atheletes in the passing game first, then try to run the ball. In order to make the atheletes use their abilities best in a passing game, you run WR screens, slants, post, fly. Get them on the move. In our passing game, we run outs and curls. When we do run a screen, it is to the possesion receiver, who won't ever break a long run. Which is concept number 1. Which makes us punt completely on the running game because if you have slow possesion receivers getting the ball, it isn't going to take defensive players out of the box.

Our coaches need to be more aggressive and realize that even if that screen is caught, unless it gets 15 yards it doesn't put pressure on a defense to stretch it out. So the running game will never develop. It is more effective to put athletes in the flat to handle the WR screens, because even though you will drop a couple of passes and hurt drives, the ones you do catch and run with will make the defense stretch out. Which will help the running game. Which is what we all want to get going.

So, long winded, but I agree. Our atheletes need to be more involved in the offense, at the expense of possession. We just don't have the players to run a possession passing offense.

[SoCal_Pony]

I am glad there are others who are puzzled over the fact Bennett still does not know who is the starting QB. You are telling me that after last year's performances, summer workouts, spring practice, two a day practices, and a few games into the season, he still does not know who the starting QB is going to be.

Truth is Bennett has not known who his starting QB is since the day he arrived here and if he hangs around another season, he will have the same problems.

My hopes lie with a QB who can not get any playing time under the most opportune circumstances.

Others on this board are convinced a freshman who received no BCS offers is the guy.

Either way, doesn't look promising for next season.

[Stallion]

Bennett's problem is that even mid way through their senior year neither one could be described as anything more than a poor Division 1A starting QB. SMU has been poor at QB for 4 years now. Every team on our schedule has higher quality QBs. But he is the one who evaluated and recruited them so its fair judge him 4 years into his regime.

[jtstang]

SMU has been poor at QB for 4 years now. But he is the one who evaluated and recruited them so its fair judge him 4 years into his regime.

Jeez, you could say that about just about every position on this team. Except maybe TE, but then we don't use the TE in this offense. Oops.

[EastStang]

Any word if Meeks is starting somewhere this year? He got into Bennett's dog house after being a big recruit. What's he doing?

[RGV Pony]

Earlier this year Meeks was #2 on the depth charth at NW St. in Natchitoches, LA.