UTEP's view of TT-SMU

[SMU Football Blog]

http://www.elpasotimes.com/minersmania/ci_6822972

Quintin Demps [UTEP FS] said one thing he saw in Tech's opening 49-9 victory against SMU was how much the Red Raiders were helped by poor Mustang tackling.

"SMU was not being smart," he said. "They were not wrapping up, not doing the basics."

[giacfsp]

We all saw that.
Hopefully, that's been addressed this week, no?

[Duke Blue Blood]

Very insightful! I could have added bad defensive adjustment, bad offensive calls.....I REALLY think we have good athletes. Maybe not to the quality of TT, but better than the average C-USA team. Watch the game again and you will see how we just NEVER adjusted...just plain bad coaching!

DBB

[RHS]

http://www.elpasotimes.com/minersmania/ci_6822972

Quintin Demps [UTEP FS] said one thing he saw in Tech's opening 49-9 victory against SMU was how much the Red Raiders were helped by poor Mustang tackling.

"SMU was not being smart," he said. "They were not wrapping up, not doing the basics."

You got to be kidding me? Did no one actually watch the game? Tech only busted 2 big plays. SMU did a great job of making the tackle as soon as the WR made the catch. The problem was letting the WR make the catch because SMU couldn't pressure Harrell.

We were in a Tech section talking about how SMU had our receivers bottled up by getting the receiver down as soon as he caught the ball.

SMU helped Tech out by giving Harrell all day to throw. That UTEP S is about to eat his words this Saturday. At some point, people will have to start saying Tech is pretty good instead of how everyone we beat is bad or had an off day. There is a reason we have a winning season every year and it isn't because we get lucky 8 or 9 times a year.

Harrell had an awesome high school career at Ennis, but no one thinks he is any good. Matt Stafford struggled at times last year at Georgia. Chase Daniels struggled at times last year at Missouri. But Harrell struggles some in his first year as a starter and people think he sucks. SMU saw how good Harrell can be Monday and you still look for ways to say he sucks, even when it is tearing down your own players. I don't get that.

If SMU tackles the UNT receivers after the catch like they did against Tech, SMU will win. UNT doesn't have the QB to pick apart a D like Harrell did.

Stop feeling sorry for yourselves because you got spanked by a good team. Suck it up and go beat the next guy.

You think Monday's game was embarrassing? I sat in Jones stadium in 2000 and watched Nebraska kill us 56-3, pilling up over 500 yards of O with only one play over 10 yards. The next year we were throwing in the end zone late in the game on fourth down to tie the game on Homecoming in Lincoln. We missed and they added a FG on their final drive to win by 10. Two years later we beat them 70-10 in Lubbock and followed it up with a win in Lincoln to end their homecoming win streak at 36. That is how you handle an embarrassing loss.

In other words you can either cry and be what you've been the last twenty years or you can suck it up and improve and start winning those games.

[PK]

Thanks RHS for the encouragement. I agree that our DBs for the most part were right there when the Tech receivers caught the ball and we delivered good hits on them. I even made the comment at the time that we were punishing their receivers with big hits. That was the case early on at least. I spent most of the time watching our D-line try to move those huge lard butts Tech had on the O-line, so I can't comment on how consistant our DBs were through the whole game.

[perunapower]

Thanks for the encouragement, RHS. I agree. We were all over the Tech receivers. We lost because we could not pressure Graham Harrell, we couldn't catch a d@mn pass (thus we couldn't keep drives going, put up points on the board, and keep the defense off the field), and we shot ourselves in the foot during the third quarter when we managed to get more yards in penalties than offense (because we had two consecutive turnovers).

When you can't pressure a pass-happy offense's QB you are going to lose big, especially when you can't get anything going offensively. That's just the way it is. SMU tackled fairly well, we played pretty decent secondary, and even ran the ball well until we had to try and force the issue and play catch up.

[SWC2010]

SMU tackled fairly well, we played pretty decent secondary, and even ran the ball well until we had to try and force the issue and play catch up.

I don't agree we ran the ball well. When play calling consists of running D'Mart wide & Mapps up the middle something is wrong with the strategy.

[Cadillac]

I don't agree we ran the ball well. When play calling consists of running D'Mart wide & Mapps up the middle something is wrong with the strategy.

And Yet both were effective, especially in the first half before we went unidimensional.

-CoS

[perunapower]

In the first quarter, we ran the ball (not including the sack) 10 times for a total of 39 yards. 3.9 YPC.

In the second quarter, we ran the ball 6 times (with no sacks thankfully) for a total of 34 yards. 5.67 YPC. (That's pretty good.)

In the third quarter, we ran the ball 5 times (not including sacks) for a total of 16 yards. 3.2 YPC. (Not great, admittedly.)

In the fourth quarter, we ran the ball 6 times (not including sacks) for a total of 35 yards. 5.83 YPC. (Again, pretty good.)

Now do tell me what part of the running game was bad?

I'll tell you what part of the offense was bad. The 17, SEVEN-EFFIN-TEEN, incomplete passes. (Only 6 were in the first half.)

[Cadillac]

If you look only at the Running backs it's.

1st Quarter 4.5 ypc
2nd Quarter 6.8 ypc

Sure, Tech's a "soft" Dline, so we SHOULD have run on them well, but on the other hand, DeMyron's Punish them now, benefit later style should lead to better 2nd halves when he's on the field.

So hey, I'd say we ran the ball pretty well when we ran it.

-CoS

[Stallion]

now I understand. The DBs are just supposed to run with the WRs while they catch 50 out of 65 passes. Rah! Rah! DBs. And two big pass plays are two too many in my book. How many did SMU have on Saturday. Two less.

[expony18]

and that is the defense that PB preaches... bend don't break, no big plays...

[Stallion]

that's because he doesn't have the players to play any other way. What did Tech get close to 600 yards? That's a helluva of a lot of bending.

[expony18]

i'm not disagreeing. our dbs played bad, but don't take anything away from harrell or the tech wr's, they played a lot better then our wr's and qb

[Stallion]

Oh no doubt. But I already had a healhy respect for Harrell, Amendola and Crabtree who hadn't yet played his first game but is considered the most talented WR prospect to perhaps ever sign with Tech.