Turn around guys

[Nacho]

Which team had better overall talent?

[Stallion]

certainly with respect to the players actually on the field in the early Cavan years we put more talent on the field than this year-not even close especially on offense where we have 3 walkons and two incredibly poor QBs by Division 1A standards. We have no speed at WR-4.6 at best for starters. We have about 1 maybe 2 offensive lineman that were recruited at all. We've had one awful recruiting year, one average year, one poor year and another poor to awful year by Division 1A standards-few Division 1A transfers or quality JC Transfers during the last 4 recruiting seasons. Many of the best athletes have not even made it on the field. Don't know how you feel that correlates to a talented team.

[carolina stang]

Stallion:

I'm curious. Which specific year did we probably have the most talent on the field? (This is an honest question here-I have no agenda of Rossley vs. Cavan. You follow recruiting every year heavily so would know) And whatever year that was for SMU, how many points would they beat this year's team by?

[Nacho]

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier Stallion but it's such a beautiful day I just had to go for a walk in the 'hood.

Your selection of the '97 team is interesting since the 2 best players on that team Bordano and Luke Johnson--the only 2 who made all-WAC--did not recieve any offers from any other d-1 schools. I would say that the entire team was either 1 or 2 star recruits. Can you name a 3 star recruit on that team? That seems to be your criteria--stars. By that measure even though they finished 6-5 (despite folding to 0-10 TCU) they certainly were not better than this team.

[Charleston Pony]

To combine some of what is being discussed on this thread with the "Dr Phil" thread, there's no question SMU has been in trouble since our return from the death penalty and that the university has not made a commitment to competing at the highest level. I also agree with those who say it will take one heck of a salesman to come in here and turn this wreck around. That's one thing I will say for Bennett...he HAD an infectious enthusiasm and "can do" attitude that was certainly something we needed. I am concerned that I see that enthusiasm fading, which of course is only natural anytime a person commits so much of his life to a project that continues to fail miserably.

It's incredible that we are SO FAR DOWN just two weeks removed from that TCU high. I noticed Bennett's tempered response at this week's press conference when asked if he was looking to bring in more JUCOs to try help this program...when he had to admit that we are pulling from a much more narrow pool than others. He has to be wondering if he, like Cavan before him, committed professional suicide when he took this job.

It's going to take the administration opening it's eyes to the problems that remain...and it's going to take a whole bunch of guys of very high character who have a relentless "can do" attitude to right this ship. I just hope it happens in my lifetime because I never would have imagined we'd still be stuck in the mud 16 yrs later.

[Stallion]

I don't have a 1997 roster and Rivals really wasn't in existence back then but some I can recall that were decent prospects were Jack Brewer, Tony Newsome, Kelsey Adams, Rodnick Phillips, Bill Holder, Joey Slaten, Donald Mitchell, Karon Riley, Albert Johnson, Jason Evans, James McCarthy, Chase Schvrada(3A Player of the Year), Jerry Chavira. I can't say the QBs(Flannigan and Sanders-5A Player of the Year) were highly recruited but either were Romo or Eckert-I can tell you they were far better athletes and QBs as freshmen than these two guys are as Seniors. I can tell you that SMU's offensive linemen were almost across the board better than the ones we got now-neither group were highly recruited. Neither D.D. Lee or Bordano were highly recruited but Bordano was a far better player. I can tell you that Mike Cavan wasn't afraid to put freshman in the ballgame and they played an essential role in the 1997 including at least 4 starters or substantial part time starters during the season including Brewer, Newsome, Sanders and Pahulu. Bennett can't even seem to get REDSHIRT freshman DeMyron Martin in one of the most important games we've had in awhile. We have REDSHIRT freshman gamebreakers like Henderson, Massey, Turner sitting on the bench despite walk-ons at WR. We got Chris Phillips sitting on the bench with 2 guys named Joe playing QB. Its really not even close the 1997 team put much better players on the field-and it should be pointed out most of these guys were recruited when the SWC was still in existence and before Iowa St, Kansas St, Kansas, Arizona, Arizona St, OSU, Tulsa, and every other team in the South decided that Texas was easy pickings after the demise of the SWC. Finally, the 1997 team was the best coached team at SMU since the DP with Dickety as Offensive Coordinator and Schumann at Defensive Coordinator. In one year they went from a punch and judy team to run that could jam it down your throat and stuff the run-something that had not been seen at SMU since the DP.

[Nacho]

Fair enough Stallion. I don't have a problem with that response.

I agree that we have too many potential game-breakers sitting on the sidelines. To be honest I couldn't stand Dickey's offense. Three yards and a cloud of dust didn't do it for me but he won some games with it and continues to do so in the sunbelt. Schumann has been elevated to near genius status in my book. If we had his defense and just about anyone else as o-coordinator we might win a few.

Good discusssion. See you later.