Can't blame this one on the coaches

[mrydel]

Why do people talk about how we did not come out with the same fire for NTSU and JMU as we did against Baylor and TCU without realizing maybe Baylor and TCU did not come out with the intensity they needed against us, thereby explaining our better performances.

[Lebanese4Life]

Motivating your team and ensuring they show up for a 'lesser' team is also part of coaching

[Rebel10]

Rebel10, I'm a passionate JJ hater, but you can't blame this loss solely on inferior talent. Coaching comes into play as well. How do you explain that we hang with TCU and Baylor, with inferior talent, but then end up getting destroyed by an FCS team? Trust me, I love CM and his staff, but this game really makes me doubt Van Malone's ability as a DC.

You do realize that both TCU and Baylor's defense had key players missing when we played them? I said before each game that we need to wait until the ECU game to see what we really have. Just did not know that it would show up at the JMU game.

JJ did leave Davis as an incredible QB on offense. Will give him that. Now Davis like impact player did JJ leave for the defense? None. Where would be without Davis? One player that takes this team on his back almost. JJ left nothing like that on the defensive side. Let's give Coach Malone time to get an impact player on defense before we such to judgement. Remember, Coach Hundley retrieved both T. Reed and JG and that was after the defense had a horrible first year. They were impact players from day 1. Just be patient because as Stallion pointed out we are recruiting defense in this class.

[PonySnob]

Chad did say in his post game press conference that he thought the team came out flat and without intensity in the first half

[Stallion]

I expressed that I wasn't sure we had improved defensively after both the TCU and Baylor game. Last year's offense was among the most incompetent in College football history and put tremendous pressure on the Defense. This team has an offense that is tremendously improved in holding the ball and moving the chains yet still the Defense gave up 723 and 730 to Baylor and TCU. I think its pretty clear we aren't improved on Defense at all. I don't see it

And Rebel10 is correct-also there are no immediate answers from the 2015 Defensive recruiting Class. SMU freshman accounted for 394 yards Total Offense last nite-and what 250 was from true freshman. Nothing on the defensive side. That is being addressed in the 2016 Class

[Lebanese4Life]

Rebel10, I'm a passionate JJ hater, but you can't blame this loss solely on inferior talent. Coaching comes into play as well. How do you explain that we hang with TCU and Baylor, with inferior talent, but then end up getting destroyed by an FCS team? Trust me, I love CM and his staff, but this game really makes me doubt Van Malone's ability as a DC.

You do realize that both TCU and Baylor's defense had key players missing when we played them? I said before each game that we need to wait until the ECU game to see what we really have. Just did not know that it would show up at the JMU game.

JJ did leave Davis as an incredible QB on offense. Will give him that. Now Davis like impact player did JJ leave for the defense? None. Where would be without Davis? One player that takes this team on his back almost. JJ left nothing like that on the defensive side. Let's give Coach Malone time to get an impact player on defense before we such to judgement. Remember, Coach Hundley retrieved both T. Reed and JG and that was after the defense had a horrible first year. They were impact players from day 1. Just be patient because as Stallion pointed out we are recruiting defense in this class.

Agreed that JJ left us with under-recruited players. My point is JMU is an FCS school with FCS talent. Even with JJ recruiting talent (on par with FCS talent or marginally better), we should have been able to hang with them and be competitive. Malone made zero adjustments to contain their QB. The defense was an absolute disgrace. Tackling technique, positioning, and defensive strategy/scheme fall under the responsibility of the coaches, more specifically, Van Malone.

[Stallion]

yeah well LBs are supposed to fill gaps and I don't think I've seen one do it all year

[Pony Boss]

Most likely cause for the L: SMU simply overlooked this opponent.

[Rebel10]

Rebel10, I'm a passionate JJ hater, but you can't blame this loss solely on inferior talent. Coaching comes into play as well. How do you explain that we hang with TCU and Baylor, with inferior talent, but then end up getting destroyed by an FCS team? Trust me, I love CM and his staff, but this game really makes me doubt Van Malone's ability as a DC.

You do realize that both TCU and Baylor's defense had key players missing when we played them? I said before each game that we need to wait until the ECU game to see what we really have. Just did not know that it would show up at the JMU game.

JJ did leave Davis as an incredible QB on offense. Will give him that. Now Davis like impact player did JJ leave for the defense? None. Where would be without Davis? One player that takes this team on his back almost. JJ left nothing like that on the defensive side. Let's give Coach Malone time to get an impact player on defense before we such to judgement. Remember, Coach Hundley retrieved both T. Reed and JG and that was after the defense had a horrible first year. They were impact players from day 1. Just be patient because as Stallion pointed out we are recruiting defense in this class.

Agreed that JJ left us with under-recruited players. My point is JMU is an FCS school with FCS talent. Even with JJ recruiting talent (on par with FCS talent or marginally better), we should have been able to hang with them and be competitive. Malone made zero adjustments to contain their QB. The defense was an absolute disgrace. Tackling technique, positioning, and defensive strategy/scheme fall under the responsibility of the coaches, more specifically, Van Malone.

They did male adjustments by putting a spy on Lee but the spy just did not have the speed and athleticism to contain him. And it was shown that Everett Withers had better players than JJ recruited. so out overall talent is about mid level FCS not upper level FCS. It was only a 3 point loss when they were probably 14 points better than we were so we did hang with them i some aspects.

[peruna81]

i've had a day to unspool from the disappointment of last night, and came away with some thoughts...

1 There is no excuse, from either coaches or players, to be handled like that on the O=line and D-line.
I saw effort, but no visible adjustment in limiting JMU to one dimension in beating us. i would have preferred to see their QB have to beat us with his arm, which was more suspect than simply allowing him to gouge 10 - 15 yard runs.

2 We got beat by a team that executed an offense similar to ours, but more efficiently.

3 Recruiting matters. We WERE outmanned, but that is no excuse. This goes on the coaches. Find a way to win, and find the players in the future to win.

4 HCCM is in his first year as captain of the ship. There will be other days. In each of the first four games, SMU has come out and competed. That alone is different than the past versions in the past years. While the former regime 'penciled in' losses, there is no reason for this staff or team to 'pencil in' victories as well. I got the impression that happened Saturday...and nobody notified JMU that they were penciled in for a loss.

I've read and heard "embarrassing", "disgraceful", and "humiliating" as descriptions for this loss. It sounds a good bit like talk around here after UNT last year. The culture, the climate, the enthusiasm, the coaching staff and the team are light years different than last year. I still choose to believe that this ship is being righted, and will evidence it in the days to come.

[footballdad]

The talent & JJ recruiting excuses are hilarious. If Mason was coaching this defense, which just gave up 700 yards and 275 QB rushing yards in a loss to an FCS team, every single poster on this board would be calling for his head.

Morris is doing a fantastic job with the offense, Malone is doing a worse job than even Mason, by any measure. Stop making excuses just because Morris hired him.

This guy will not last the entire Morris tenure. Probably doesn't last beyond the end of this year if we get shredded by Houston, Cincy, Memphis and Tulsa, which seems likely based on what we've seen so far.

[Rebel10]

The talent & JJ recruiting excuses are hilarious. If Mason was coaching this defense, which just gave up 700 yards and 275 QB rushing yards in a loss to an FCS team, every single poster on this board would be calling for his head.

Morris is doing a fantastic job with the offense, Malone is doing a worse job than even Mason, by any measure. Stop making excuses just because Morris hired him.

This guy will not last the entire Morris tenure. Probably doesn't last beyond the end of this year if we get shredded by Houston, Cincy, Memphis and Tulsa, which seems likely based on what we've seen so far.

People were calling for Mason to be fired in his first year at SMU. So much so that he went to Pittsburgh to learn their 3-4 defense. Hundley then recruited Davis and JG. Of course adding Marquis Frazier helped as well on the D line. But they gave him time to get players to run that defense. We have 3-4 type players trying to run a 4-2-5 defense. Let him recruit 4-2-5 players then judge him.

[footballdad]

Your first excuse to open the thread was overall talent, which was already FCS debunked. Now it's the fit to scheme?

You'll change your tune by the end of the year hopefully. Or would a worse defensive ranking than even last year not be enough?

[03Mustang]

Maybe he's just trying to discuss the situation rather than being a complete [deleted].

[Rebel10]

Your first excuse to open the thread was overall talent, which was already FCS debunked. Now it's the fit to scheme?

You'll change your tune by the end of the year hopefully. Or would a worse defensive ranking than even last year not be enough?

If you read my post I am saying we just don't have the right players to run the 4-2-5 but we will get them. I just was saying that Mason was under heat his first year at SMU just like Malone. That is what I was trying to convey. And yes, we have mostly FCS talent on the team imo.