Give credit where credit is due

[Charleston Pony]

Have to agree the offensive line may be the biggest surprise this year. How to account for such a big turn around from last year. It is the same players as last year - players signed by the last staff. I think it has to be the new coaches.

S&C and OL coach are the difference; we actually have a guy working with them who played OL in both college and in the NFL. Haven't had that since Klemm

[JasonB]

• The offensive line was terrific. Matt Davis was sacked three times, but at least one (maybe two) of those can be attributed to the fact that Davis held the ball for a while, looking for a receiver downfield to get open. Even more impressive is the fact that both Nick Natour and Braylon Hyder got significant time at left guard; coaches often talk about how the offensive line, as much as any position group, needs reps as a unit, so the players get used to the guys on either side of them. To rotate two guys who are brand new to the college game like that and not have an express lane to Davis up the middle of the line was impressive.

• Robert Seals played the best game of his SMU career. One sack, another tackle for loss and several other plays on which he disrupted the TCU blocking enough to force Boykin (or another ball carrier) into a teammate's arms for a tackle. Seals was sensational.

• DE Justin Lawler continues to look better each week, especially when he took an outside route to force TCU QB Trevor Boykin to step up in the pocket, and then spun back to the inside to make the sack.

• Ryheem Malone had more receiving yards (90) last night than he had in his SMU career before the game (he entered the game with seven catches for 44 yards this season, and had five catches for 37 yards last season). There were many who thought Malone's size (5-9, 182) would limit him to a career of screen passes and quick slants; against TCU, he averaged 30.0 yards on three receptions, and on the first one, he simply outjumped the Frog DB to make a first down on a high pass from Davis.

• LB Carlos Carroll had three tackles on kickoff coverage. Two of them were further upfield than the Mustangs would have liked, but he chased and made the plays.

• Becoming a fan of K Chad Hedlund, who not only hit three field goals and four extra points, but also bombed a bunch of kickoffs into the TCU band before the game. More importantly, his kickoffs were deep enough that he caused three touchbacks — no small detail when TCU had KaVontae Turpin back deep.

Great point on Seals. That guy absolutely looks the part in person and at times in practice. Great to see him make an impact in the games for the first time.

[JoeKidd]

O-Line continues to look better...would still like to see more of a push in the run game and take some of the pressure off of Matt and make him do less of the running.

Overall LB and DB play has been very disappointing against Baylor and TCU...although they make many secondary's look bad. My biggest complaint was not making a play on the ball when we are in position...twice on TD's we had position and just didn't make a play on it. If they can improve going into conference then we can win every game and will win most.