Bennett Working Again

[Stallion]

the real key is that Phil's defenses have not consistently gotten worse-they got better in 2005. The 2005 team was easily the best defense and among the best in the conference. As the best defensive talent has left the program-something any fan with a shread of honesty will admit, the teams got progressively worse. Just look at who has graduated in 2005 and 2006 to see where the defense has gone. Same Coach-different players. I posted the Final Stats ad compared them to 2006-there has been a free-fall because of lack of talent.

[westexSMU]

I just hope we can beat Baylor next year.

[SMUer]

the real key is that Phil's defenses have not consistently gotten worse-they got better in 2005. The 2005 team was easily the best defense and among the best in the conference. As the best defensive talent has left the program-something any fan with a shread of honesty will admit, the teams got progressively worse. Just look at who has graduated in 2005 and 2006 to see where the defense has gone. Same Coach-different players. I posted the Final Stats ad compared them to 2006-there has been a free-fall because of lack of talent.

5th best total defense in CUSA in 2005.*

*6th, I miss-counted

[SMUer]

the real key is that Phil's defenses have not consistently gotten worse-they got better in 2005. The 2005 team was easily the best defense and among the best in the conference. As the best defensive talent has left the program-something any fan with a shread of honesty will admit, the teams got progressively worse. Just look at who has graduated in 2005 and 2006 to see where the defense has gone. Same Coach-different players. I posted the Final Stats ad compared them to 2006-there has been a free-fall because of lack of talent.

I want to attempt to put this to rest:

Bennett inherited a team that was 1st WAC (22nd Nat.) in Total Defense, 2nd WAC (35th Nat.) in Pass Defense, 3rd WAC (30 Nat.) in Run Defense

TD PD RD
2002 4th (63) 6th (97) 3rd (86)
2003 4th (73) 10th (67) 3rd (69)
2004 9th (113) 10th (103) 7th (104) WAC

2005 6th (70) 4th (89) 2nd (48 )
2006 5th (75) 9th (110) *1st (24)
2007 10th (115) 10th (117) 8th (99) CUSA

*stats Bennett improved based on the 2001 team
**Note in some of the conference rankings I may have accidentally put the passing defense effic. rating, however, the numbers are comparable.

[Stallion]

You ain't putting [deleted] to rest-because you can't read your own stats. Take a look at those numbers again. Strong defenses against the run in 2005-2006. That is how we won ballgames-good defensive players against the run are the players who graduated and the reason why SMU gave up 155 more yards in Total Offense this year, why Opponents averaged 15 more ppg this year and why SMU is 1-11 instead of a .500 year.

[SMUer]

his total defensive stats slide in each and every conference he gets into

[SWC2010]

Bill Parcels bad coach, Wade Phillips great coach.... same players? same team? coaches must be able to adapt to the type of players they have... PB was unable to do that at SMU. he likes to bring pressure and leave the corners to man up... and this last year when he tried to switch to more zone the DB's let the WRs/RBs/TEs get behind them....

POST OF THE DAY

[Stallion]

Show me where SMU upgraded from any of these players this year:

Haywood
Justin Rodgers
Brandon Bonds
DD Lee
Reggie Carrington
Nnanbufie
Jamey Harper
Sturdivant
Muse(before injured Senior Season)
R. Humphrey

Are you [deleted] blind? This is a talent drop off-one that I and several others pointed out BEFORE the season. The only upgade MIGHT be McCann and he was very average

[bigdaddy08091]

Show me where SMU upgraded from any of these players this year:

Haywood
Justin Rodgers
Brandon Bonds
DD Lee
Reggie Carrington
Nnanbufie
Jamey Harper
Sturdivant
Muse(before injured Senior Season)
R. Humphrey

Are you [deleted] blind? This is a talent drop off-one that I and several others pointed out BEFORE the season. The only upgade MIGHT be McCann and he was very average

Boy, how we miss these guys, or someone like them!

[SMUer]

That is one of the strangest retorts I have ever heard..."his defensive stats have plummeted from day one and followed the same trend when he switched to CUSA"..."Oh yeah?, look who Bennett lost: ___ , ___, and ____ . Of course SMU got worse/who have we gotten that's better?" What? I don't understand how naming past defensive standouts that have now graduated proves a point. Graduation is a college football reality and presumably Bennett understood that his teams need to constantly reload and have fresh new talent coming up. If the pantry grew bare after 2005-2006, that's his fault or a sign that recruits lost faith in the program as time went along...

Maybe the 2005 and 2006 seasons were Bennett's pinnacle seasons because it represented the players that he signed at the height of SMU optimism at the beginning of his tenure, with the best JUCO players that SMU has recruited in awhile peppered in, etc...Ok, but his teams still weren't as good as Cavan's in 2005 and weren't as good in two out of three defensive categories in 2006. And then we have a HUGE drop off in 2007...So yeah, Sturdivant was a great player but where was Sturdivant Redux behind him (especially if Bennett has impressive players and an improving defense to point toward)? And in what defensive category did Bennett leave SMU better than when he found it?

[Sasser Rules]

A Coach who coached against Bennett and went up and down the field on his defense seems to understand its athletes not coaching...

Then why the hell are we going over $1 million a year for a coach?
Dump all the cash into recruiting and get someone from Rivals to coach the team.

[expony18]

Show me where SMU upgraded from any of these players this year:

Haywood
Justin Rodgers
Brandon Bonds
DD Lee
Reggie Carrington
Nnanbufie
Jamey Harper
Sturdivant
Muse(before injured Senior Season)
R. Humphrey

Are you [deleted] blind? This is a talent drop off-one that I and several others pointed out BEFORE the season. The only upgade MIGHT be McCann and he was very average

agreeing with Stallion.
Haywood-impact early in his carreer
Justin Rodgers-great career, lack of size was the only reason he was red shirted, turned out to be an amazing player. Great character, leader, and just a good guy.
Brandon Bonds-see haywood
DD Lee-cavan player, slow, lack of mobility, but good leadership, he could tackle, and did what he had to do.
Reggie Carrington-probably the football player with the most potential to touch the field in the last 10 years, never reached that potential (injuries, partying, etc.), but Carrignton was by far the player with most potential to do anything
Nnanbufie-not a safety, not a linebacker, but somewhere in between. you look at the guy in the weight room and you think florida state. could have been amazing, you watch the guy in practice lighting it up and then see him on saturdays lay an egg
Jamey Harper- started as a freshmen, good kid, athletic (QB in HS), smart, had to overcome losing his dad as a freshmen... outstanding person
Sturdivant- should be the face of smu footall
Muse(before injured Senior Season)- injured twice, could have been a big time player....
R. Humphrey- short, but fast as hell. a true cover corner. Kevin Garrett, but more heart, only a little shorter... had he been 6'0 he would be starting in the NFL

these players who were for the most part (exception of Lee and Bufe) were PB guys, are 10X better then what we have now. I like Hudman though, he could be a player

[Palladium Pony]

The biggest problem, among many, was that Bennett utilized a more aggressive man based defense. The defense was leveraged to have the safety make a lot of the run stopping plays. This presented a lot of problems because the safety was also responsible in pass coverage for helping the corners who were often isolated in man. Once the opposing offense figured this out, they adjusted their running schemes to allow for many one-on-one match-ups between the RB and the safety (Navy killed us because of this). As safeties moved closer to the line to support the run, their passing game opened. This defense is great when you have a Terrence Newman, Roy Williams and/or a solid defensive line that can create immediate pressure on the qb… but not with the athletes SMU had. This was most evident last year with Sturdivant able to make plays at safety and a solid defensive line to create pressure. With that said, the biggest pitfall of Bennett’s defense was the lack of confidence. If a mistake was made, the player was berated until little to no confidence was left. Typically you would receive this lashing from an assistant coach, but Bennett was not far behind to pile on top. There was more belittling than coaching in Bennett’s first two years which snowballed into an 0 – 12 season in 2003. This coaching style was most evident with the safeties, which was probably the most important individual position in Bennett’s defense.

Schuman on the other hand, played more of a bend but don’t break zone defense which was perfect for SMU. SMU was undersized on defense, but had the athleticism and speed to make it work. As mentioned above, total defense in 2001 was ranked in the top 25 nationally. The same personal a year later, but under a different scheme, could not hold up.

2002 Defense

Cornerbacks – Jonas Rutledge and Kevin Garrett
Both all-WAC performers who suffered under a man based defense because they received little help from the safety position and defensive line.

Safeties – Rueben Moodley, Rico Harris, Alvin Nnanbufie, Jamie Harper and Joe Sturdivant
A revolving door, all young or relatively new to the position. Not in a position to run Bennett’s defense.
- Primary loss was Shane O’Neil who would have been a great fit for Bennett’s defense.

Linebackers – Vic Viloria, Brian Bischoff and DD Johnson
Vic was one of the best linebackers to play at SMU, another butkus award nominees and a very solid WLB. Had good depth with DD Lee, Justin Williams and Jarrian James. Still, not Teddy Lehman and Co…
- Primary loss was Corey Riley

Defensive Line – Allan Adami, Lute Croy, Khalid Beard, Eric Peterson, Melvin Williams.
Good defensive interior but no depth or size. Additionally, very little pressure was created from the end position. Again, no depth or size.
- Lost Kevin Aldridge, Johnson Patman and Marcus Pratt. Also, Warrie Birdwell and JD Blagg did not play in 2002 for what should have been senior and junior (redshirt) seasons, respectively.

[SMUer]

Well said, thanks.

[SoCal_Pony]

Show me where SMU upgraded from any of these players this year:

Haywood
Justin Rodgers
Brandon Bonds
DD Lee
Reggie Carrington
Nnanbufie
Jamey Harper
Sturdivant
Muse(before injured Senior Season)
R. Humphrey

Are you [deleted] blind? This is a talent drop off-one that I and several others pointed out BEFORE the season. The only upgade MIGHT be McCann and he was very average

To make matters worse, those players never competed for a conference championship, never went bowling, never even had a winning season.

We have to UPGRADE from those players.