THE STATE OF SMU FOOTBALL

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

As yall can see I am new to posting on this Board. I have used the Board consistently over the past 3-4 years to keep up with SMU Football while I was living away from Dallas and have consistently gotten laughs listening to all the back and forths between jtstang, MM65, Stallion, etc. Well, now I am back to Big D and armed with season tickets so I thought I would start posting when something strikes me...

This is a long post, so bear with me.

I graduated SMU in '01. Loved my time there. My freshman and sophomore seasons I walked on and gave playing ball a shot. But you definitely won't find my name in any record books...unless they have a special section in the Media Guide for scout team tackling dummies.

You guys who post regularly on this Board are clearly more involved and have more inside information on the team and have been to more games during the Bennett era than I do or have, but the people who are ready to get rid of Phil Bennett need to think twice.

Granted, when Bennett first got to SMU, I too was convinced we would see a quick turnaround and that SMU would have had more success than they have had up to this point in Bennett's tenure. But I think we need to look at this situation realistically.

The negative / losing attitude that has pervaded our program for the last few decades is finally starting to lift I believe. I am convinced that it is a LONG process to overcome a losing tradition and mentality. Bennett is finally breaking free of the cobwebs that were left there since Cavan's tenure ended. We are getting progressively stronger recruiting classes from top to bottom each year. Bennett is beginning to establish a recruiting network within Texas, and that takes time. Not only are we actually getting a few top 100 guys each year, but even the last guy signed has legitimate value as well. This is the key to success and it takes YEARS to allow these players to oversome a losing mentality.

It seems like success and wins should be strictly a result of the talent on the field and X's and O's...but the intangibles are so important as well, and those intangibles take YEARS to develop. That is why recruiting players from high schools that have winning teams is so important. We all get caught up in physical stats, 40 times, vertical leaps, etc. I think whether a player comes from a winning tradition in high school is such an important recruiting characteristic that often gets overlooked. We need these young players coming in to be used to winning and hating how it feels to lose.

I know that we all feel like we have given Bennett enough time, but I have come to the conclusion that this is a 10-12 year restoration project we are talking about. Last year's 5 wins was one of the major steps forward we desperately needed.

I think Bennett might have jumped the gun a bit when he told fans to "expect" a bowl game. That might have been a reach and it might have been a slight desperation move on Bennett's part to appeal to Orsini. But Bennett might know that a bowl game is all that could save his job so he put hsi cards on the table. The North Texas game and the UTEP game are very dissapointing and Bennett shoudl be held accountbale for those, no doubt. It would be pretty crazy to be sitting here talking about our 5-1 Mustangs.

The atmosphere around the team is so much better than it was under the Cavan. Unless we know we can significantly upgrade at the head coaching position with a young coach who can create some buzz around the program (i.e. Matt Doherty in basketball) I think it is in our best interests to stay the course two or three more years and fully emerge from this losing mentality that has pervaded our program for so long.

I might be cutting Bennett too much slack, but I think he has the ship moving in the right direction. It is just a very long trip back to a belief and expectation of winning.

But, this could all be a moot point as I am sure Orsini wants a fresh start to begin his AD legacy.

Anyways, I have always thought this Board was great and I have always admired the fans who are so deeply committd to SMU athletics.

[PhirePhilBennett]

Clarity is in order:

Bennett's classes have been getting progressively WORSE, not better.
- He will have to sign more JuCos in the coming years to make up for his Fresh - RS Soph classes.
- His best years are this and next, then we go back down

Cavan signed more Top100s than Bennett.

[SMU_is_bowling]

Phire, can you back that up with some facts?

[PhirePhilBennett]

See any of Stallions recruiting analysis over the past 5 years...

Or, go to Rivals.com and see our recruiting rankings for each of the past 5 years.

[SMU_is_bowling]

While Rivals.com is more informed than I am for sure, it looks like Willis and Sanders are pretty solid. Granted we will loose some defensive guys who have played alot the last 2-3 years, but they came in as freshman and sophmores and had to adjust, just as those freshman and sophomores who are going to apparently need to be replaced by JuCo's will need time to adjust. It is possible we stumble(always is), but I would not put the onus on what Rivals.com says.

[PhirePhilBennett]

2002 - Cavan / Bennett's first class - #69 tied with Ark (Darrin Johnson, Justin Rogers, Ryan Kennedy of note - The Redshirt SENIORS)
2003 - Bennett's first full class - #62 (Sturdivant, Philliips, these are the primary starters today - Highly ranked Massey, Cleveland, Meeks no longer on the team)
2004 - #76 - (JUCO Romo, JUCO Eckert, Lindley, Hawkins, Lobo, Henderson - this class has a lot of starters)
2005 - #81 - (JUCO Goode, JUCO Theiron, Mapps, Sanders, Handy, Givens)
2006 - #107 - (McCann, Burley)


See a trend?

[Peruna2001]

Where are Willis and Martin?

[abezontar]

If Martin is a true soph. that places him in the frosh 2005 catagory, if Willis is a redshirt frosh that would also place him in the frosh 2005 catagory.

[J.T.supporta]

Martin is not a true soph. He was redshirted 2 years ago making him a REDSHIRT soph.

In my opinion, PBs best recruiting class was the one he brought in last year. Willis, Sanders, Givens, Handy, Mapps...and more talent thats developing.

[abezontar]

So then frosh 2004

[J.T.supporta]

yes, he was apart of the 2004 class. I believe he was on the Freshman All American Team this past year.....

i am not for sure about that.

[Grider]

What's weird about Bennett's classes, from my point of view, is that most of his higher ranked recruits have not panned out. See Massey, Meeks, Phillips, Zach Hall, and a couple of OL's. That could be viewed as he is really bad at retaining talent, or that he's really good at devoloping it.

[The PonyGrad]

That is not a trend but one down year. Last years late surge was too late to do much to help recruiting last season. This season and this year's recruits will tell the tale.

[SMU_is_bowling]

Pony grad, I hope you are right.

And I think moving from 62, to 76, to 81 (19 total spaces) is small over three years in a subjective thing like recruiting analysis, but it will have to play itself out to see if those Rivals.com reports are right or not, in my opinion.

[Grider]

Pony grad, I hope you are right.

And I think moving from 62, to 76, to 81 (19 total spaces) is small over three years in a subjective thing like recruiting analysis, but it will have to play itself out to see if those Rivals.com reports are right or not, in my opinion.

We took a smaller class last year, wasn't our rating per recruit higher than 81?