Tell me what you see?

[Stallion]

generally yes but I think 6-7 is more accurate. Here is the Official AAC Preseason Media Rankings-8 schools had more points than SMU

2017 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
PRESEASON FOOTBALL MEDIA POLL
American Championship
Team Points
USF 26
Houston 2
Memphis 1
Navy 1

East Division
Team Points
1. USF (30)180
2. UCF 126
3. Temple 119
4. Cincinnati 100
5. East Carolina 63
6. UConn 42

West Division
Team Points
1. Memphis (22) 169
2. Houston (6) 137
3. Navy (1) 128
4. Tulsa (1) 102
5. SMU 64
6. Tulane 30

first-place votes in parentheses



http://theamerican.org/news/2017/7/14/F ... 73435.aspx

[HubbaHubba]

There is a talent deficit on defense but the bigger problem is there is a coaching deficit on defense. Our players may be smaller and slower but to be out of position, not know what you assignment is, not wrapping up when you tackle is a coaching problem. More speed can sometimes correct for being out of position but we do not have that luxury. The defense needs to be coached up. What do they do in practice? Do they not watch film of their own performances to correct mistakes? Do they not watch film of the opposing offense? Do they not practice fundamentals? Do they not have a scout team to run the upcoming offense's plays so they know what to do? The defense just looks confused and that is on the coaches.

[mrydel]

I disagree. Fundamentals are fine in the spring or even early fall but during the season you need to be learning schemes for the opposing team. Now that could be a coaching issue, but if a D1 player does not know how to tackle when he takes the field then we have a athlete problem.

[SMUer]

The one consistent scheme is to run or LBs out of the middle of the field. One missed tackle is a TD. That seems like a coaching issue and I’m surprised Morris puts up with that [Gary Patterson].

[smitty329]

Pretty dumb comparisons

UCF was not a total rebuild-check their historic recruiting classes-their current roster is the highest composite talent rating of any school in the AAC. UCF was beating Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl a few years ago

Technically that was the 2013 team and per your expertise anyone remaining from that team would have been a freshman or RS freshman at that time and therefore "Strengthening and conditioning" or getting a great seat to the game - chances are they didn't play in the Fiesta bowl but most likely had opportunities in 2015 when they pulled the zero win season. Are those the players you think make up the talented roster or the ones Frost has pulled in recently that are undefeated?

Pretty dumb comparisons
Shawn Robinson was one of the Top QBs in the nation with about 30 offers including ALL the top programs in the Country (Alabama, Clemson, OU, USC, Mich, Texas, A&M etc-just about every school in the Top 10). So you are going to make a straight faced argument that G5 SMU coming off 2 wins at the time the 2017 Class was being recruited should have out-recruited those P5 schools for Robinson. That's crazy nonsense and any rational person knows it. You want to come off your drug induced high and come back to reality now?

Is it crazy non-sense that a neighbor in arguably the worst P5 conference coming off a 6-7 campaign, landed him over all those programs? (Pause - listen to crickets) I wish we had what they are smoking. Isn't that why our coach is the highest paid outside the P5? Because he has the Texas connections and we expect him to make those marque signings?

Congrats you just proved yourself to know nothing about the topic of College Football-but your not alone-there seems to be hordes of SMU fans that know much about the topic

Huh? Hordes of SMU fans do or don't know much about College Football?

[Stallion]

yeah you didn't make any rational posts disputing my evidence so I'll just let your nonsense sit there. Football teams are made up 4-5 recruiting classes. One bad year doesn't mean a program is devoid of talent. In fact, UCF has the best talent in the league which was why I was saying preseason that most SMU fans were overlooking the strength of the UCF program when predicting SMU's record. The kids UCF was recruiting off their 2014 Fiesta Bowl victory over Baylor are--wait for it-Seniors this year. In fact UCF has finished either 1st or 2nd in recruiting by either total points and/or Average per recruit every year since 2014. Not a total rebuild

[ojaipony]

I predicted 7 wins. 8 was high, 6 was low (and kinda what I was expecting quite honestly). Stallion is correct. I thought MAYBE we could sneak one, but UCF/Navy/Memphis could beat many P5s right now (most of the B12 quite honestly). We played both UCF and Navy tight (imagine if we would have put 2 full halfs together against them both). I think what bothers many of us is just the way the defense played against Memphis. 66 points is absolutely un-freaking-acceptable. Never. Ever. Again. Ever.

Now let's go beat Tulane (a big challenge) and send the seniors out with a win. Then, go win the bowl and we're at 8 wins with a lot of talent coming back on both sides. Do that and most of us will be very pleased with the season with excitement for the next year.

[peruna81]

Talking about "trending" with the upcoming game set me to wondering...

We have often quietly wished that we could find our "Patterson" coach that would stay and build a power. Some folks here were hoping that Morris would be that coach, or at least be the Fran before that coach.

The thing is, TCU began to to compete and BEAT some of the "name" programs on their schedule during the Fran years, and continued that during Patterson's reign. We have failed with:

Navy
UCF
Memphis

...and every other P-5 school that matters. At some point, SMU has to find a way (and a coach) that can beat the teams that are ranked above us. If you want to talk about "trending", I would suggest our trend is simply a flat-line as of now.

Looking forward to the next Ron Meyer...

[Stallion]

Then you should be happy that it took Ron Meyer 5 years to get to a Bowl Game and Morris did it in 3. Significantly he didn't start recruiting a Championship level Class until his 4th recruiting Class (the Pony Express year). Chad Morris only has 2 1/2 Classes in place (since most of the 2017 Class has redshirted). Its Step by Step. If SMU can win Saturday-and especially if SMU won its bowl game then Morris would be recruiting off a 7 or 8 win season for his 4th recruiting class-then you sit back and watch him recruit-and watch the quality of recruits go up as well

[peruna81]

Then you should be happy that it took Ron Meyer 5 years to get to a Bowl Game and Morris did it in 3. Significantly he didn't start recruiting a Championship level Class until his 4th recruiting Class (the Pony Express year). Chad Morris only has 2 1/2 Classes in place (since most of the 2017 Class has redshirted). Its Step by Step. If SMU can win Saturday-and especially if SMU won its bowl game then Morris would be recruiting off a 7 or 8 win season for his 4th recruiting class-then you sit back and watch him recruit-and watch the quality of recruits go up as well

Actually Stallion, I am happy about it.

Morris has worked his tail off...I think he is simply discouraged about a number of failures and set-backs that have occurred this year. There comes a time in every job that you invest yourself in where you want to see not just progress, but a quantum leap. This was that year, and I believe HCCM had a victory against a ranked team as part of his expectations.

I count this year as a success...even with the visible flaws.

[PonySnob]

Pretty dumb comparisons

UCF was not a total rebuild-check their historic recruiting classes-their current roster is the highest composite talent rating of any school in the AAC. UCF was beating Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl a few years ago

Technically that was the 2013 team and per your expertise anyone remaining from that team would have been a freshman or RS freshman at that time and therefore "Strengthening and conditioning" or getting a great seat to the game - chances are they didn't play in the Fiesta bowl but most likely had opportunities in 2015 when they pulled the zero win season. Are those the players you think make up the talented roster or the ones Frost has pulled in recently that are undefeated?

Pretty dumb comparisons
Shawn Robinson was one of the Top QBs in the nation with about 30 offers including ALL the top programs in the Country (Alabama, Clemson, OU, USC, Mich, Texas, A&M etc-just about every school in the Top 10). So you are going to make a straight faced argument that G5 SMU coming off 2 wins at the time the 2017 Class was being recruited should have out-recruited those P5 schools for Robinson. That's crazy nonsense and any rational person knows it. You want to come off your drug induced high and come back to reality now?

Is it crazy non-sense that a neighbor in arguably the worst P5 conference coming off a 6-7 campaign, landed him over all those programs? (Pause - listen to crickets) I wish we had what they are smoking. Isn't that why our coach is the highest paid outside the P5? Because he has the Texas connections and we expect him to make those marque signings?

Congrats you just proved yourself to know nothing about the topic of College Football-but your not alone-there seems to be hordes of SMU fans that know much about the topic

Huh? Hordes of SMU fans do or don't know much about College Football?

We did have a football coach who had forgotten more football than all of us will ever know!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ReedFrawg]

Other than Houston last year, you just can't seem to win any marquee games. You have to win a game or two that you weren't supposed to win at some point. Beating spare teams only gets you so far. I do think Morris is disappointed with the season, the fan support, etc. Hopefully these losses are a blessing in disguise so he hangs around a couple more years.

[mtrout]

I wouldn't be surprised we go 6-6 next year unless we replace Michigan with Garland middle school. Thankfully we retain games against the bottom 4 of the AAC plus have Houston Baptist and NTSU. All we gotta do is wreck 6 teams ranked 100+ and we're good. 2 straight bowls!

It's always next year. Never any surprises. Just us ranked 50-100 indefinately.

[SMU_Alum11]

If we had an average defense that was well coached, we would have beaten Navy and UCF and maybe even Houston. Think about it. I think we would lose Memphis either way so 8-3 and we should beat Tulane making us 9-3. We would be raving and crying since we finally had a 9 win season but lose Morris. I think to Stallions point if CM is still here. His 5th year should be that 9 win season. It’s just sad that we pissed away potentially great season.

[BUS]

Two Cents:
D is the problem. OK, I get the recruiting lag but nobody has talked about the transfers to the D. I am thinking we got like 3 or 4 players in from pretty good places. I am thinking that would really bolster the whatever recruiting year statistics.

Van is good man, he is over his head. There needs to be a change. Personally I hate the scheme he runs. A coach uses the players he has to stop the other team. You cant force players to do what they don't have the talent to do. So, the good coach changes the scheme.

Top 10 in everything we do! Well, the Offense is. How fun to watch. That group has improved quickly (3 years) And I think it gets even better next year.

As a show of desire and commitment, I would relieve VM of his duties after the Tulane game. Have Buddy Wyatt take over for Bowl game. Show all that CM is serious and have new people in place for Jan 1. CM teaches about reality and this is what the team will see. Just like the real world... Get it done or someone else will.