Report Card for Temple Game

[TidePony]

Coaching: A- (Although there were missed or blown assignments during the game, our kids played hard the whole game, and it was a good game plan) But, when Chad let the Ref have it - it was a thing of beauty. Except for 2 minutes, we kept up with a real top 25 team.

Special Teams B (Showing improvement)

Defense: B- (Showing improvement, missed assignments hurt us last night, but had many good 3rd down stops)

Offense: B (Pick six in the same spot - ARGHHHHH! However, showing good improvement).

Crowd: C+ (crowd was too small, but by the end of the game the S -M -U chant was awesome, had a good number of students been there it might of helped us)

Uniform A (Walked in hating it, then received numerous texts from friends who said the uniform translated on tv like a boss, so walked out loving it) I if we go all red or all blue again I hope we go with our classic helmet (it's one of the best in all of football).

Atmosphere: B (Way better than last week)

Overall grade: B

Flame away! I actually had a good time last night and fully believe this outfit is going to provide us with a good bit of excitement in the next few years. We need to whip Tulane.

[malonish]

Flame away!

[jpe747]

I pretty much agree Tide Pony. I was very pleased with the way SMU played. Like last week, a few mistakes made a big difference in the game. BUT overall play on most every SMU player's part kept us in the game to the end. Two weeks in a row of good improvement.

[jimhagle]

Still too many catastrophic break downs in the game.

[NewAgeMustange]

Actually wasn't stocked to see the all red uni's, but after the first quarter I actually enjoyed them. We tried helping out the Young Alumni section, wide open spaces.

[Fresno Mustang]

Had a lot of fun watching us compete against a good team. Really liked that we came back to get back into the game. 9 specials teams points in 30 seconds was awesome. Castille is starting to work into the lineup and be much more of a presence which is great to see. Thats a good Temple defense and their only answer for Sutton was to commit PI every time he was targeted downfield. Sucked to end a competitive game on a pick six but at that point we were just trying to make something happen so Matt was gonna force stuff.

[Rebel10]

Fair assessment.

[RGV Pony]

Appreciate some improvement on D but I have a hard time giving anything above a C- when the offense scores 40 and it's not enough to win. Was the forced punt where the holding call turned into a safety the only stop we had in the 2nd half?

Edit: I'll admit there was at least one other stop in the second half, when we got the ball back following Wests free kick return for TD

[Pony Boss]

I really loved the all red look. They should try all blue for Tulane.

[Stallion]

I'm not going to comment since we played competently against a good team but my grading scale is a lot different than original post. I grade on the Quality FBS scale not the "poor ole SMU scale")

[Charleston Pony]

I would give our guys an A for effort, but beyond that...we are still a pretty bad football team. As for your C+ for crowd and B for atmosphere...really? I know we harp too much on (our lack of) attendance, but every time I watch us on TV I think to myself "we must have the worst fan following of any program in Division I - FBS". I suspect our attendance for our conference games is the lowest in the AAC and I assume we compare unfavorably to the vast majority of G5 schools. I feel bad for our coaches and players because these guys (at least the vast majority) are giving their all and it would really be nice if our students, faculty, staff and alumni were more supportive. Thank you to all of you who still regularly attend our games

[JasonB]

We gave up 60 points to a team who isn't known for their offence and scores around 30 per game. That shouldn't get you a B-.

[Pony Boss]

I would give our guys an A for effort, but beyond that...we are still a pretty bad football team. As for your C+ for crowd and B for atmosphere...really? I know we harp too much on (our lack of) attendance, but every time I watch us on TV I think to myself "we must have the worst fan following of any program in Division I - FBS". I suspect our attendance for our conference games is the lowest in the AAC and I assume we compare unfavorably to the vast majority of G5 schools. I feel bad for our coaches and players because these guys (at least the vast majority) are giving their all and it would really be nice if our students, faculty, staff and alumni were more supportive. Thank you to all of you who still regularly attend our games

This must be a joke. The program is 1-8 and has proven to suck for the better part of 30 years. If you thought that wouldn't erode the fanbase then I don't know what to tell you. I read somewhere that the DP has cost SMU around 20,000 fans on average and millions of dollars of TV money (they assume if no DP was handed down, SMU would be in original Big 12)

[SMUer]

Quarterback over-throws his receivers...we get a B- while giving up more than half a hundred points and +250 in both passing and rushing. Aight.

[smusic 00]

We bad. But relatively speaking, we were good.

The soft bigotry of low expectations. -W43