Grading the 2008 Mustangs w/o The Curve

[Stallion]

Haven't had the time to do a complete report on the Offense because of a Briefing Schedule at work for the last two weeks-going to stick with my reasonable optomistic report for modest improvement especially toward the end of the year on the defense

Grading Key-NCAA Division 1A Standard

10-All American
9-Elite
8-All CUSA
7-Quality
6-Solid
5- Average
4-Mediocre
3-Questionmark
2-Marginal
1-Division 1AA caliber


Receivers-5(deduction of 1/2 point because of serious lack of depth);They will rack up big numbers-All Run and Shoot teams do-other than Sanders and Robinson they won't be very effective in making big plays. Opponents will be blanketing Sanders all season but if healthy he'll get 100 receptions. I'll go with 60 receptions for Robinsion. Others will put up reception numbers but very little YAC("Yards After Catch.") and generally defenses should have little problem in keeping "everything in front of them"

Sanders 8
Robinson 6
The Rest 2

Offensive Line-5 (deduction of 1/2 because of serious lack of mature depth). They will be overwhelmed facing better competition-I'm a fan of Enright-probably a tad better than last year if they remain healty. If Chase keeps his weight up I think he'll be a pleansantly competent and may even get a shot to improve in the Pros as a Free Agent.


QB-3(no deduction because of depth-the Top 3 are all 3's too)


RB-5 (explanation-I've always been a big fan of Martin's potential-but I haven't yet seen the quick step he will need to be effective in this type of finesse offense-too much dancing and not enough scooting- takes several steps to get to full speed which is not conducive in this offense. I hope to see improvement here- I believe he has the potential to do so-just hasn't proven to be much more than an average back). No deduction for depth. Actually I think I'll bump them up a 1/2 point because of solid 3rd string alternative in Butler, solid blocking potential, catching ability with both Martin & McKinney which is what they are designed to do in this offense.

DEs-6-I think this is a good position for SMU with the potential of great improvement-I'll go ahead and give then a 1/2 point bump for good depth

DT-5 Elizee is a 6-could improve to a 7. Handy is underweight and never really proven to be much more than an average player at best. Not too much quality depth or outstanding talent but I'm not going to deduct because numbers suggest that we can come up with some competent backups. Like to see Thomas come through here.

OLBs-4-Bonilla and Jackson are parts-a lot of high school All-District types here-instead of outstanding athletic talents. Herron hopefully can become a starter potentially greatly improving our athletic talent. Could be fanrastic even as a role player in Blitz package. No deduction because all the backups made their High School All-District teams too

MLB-6 bumped it up from a 5 because we have two alternative options that have different styles and strength. Good complementary players that could be best against the run in a 3-4 type defense-interested to see that option.

FS-4 (see OLBs). Although I think Banjo is really a prototype SS maybe he can take the job here since he has decent speed-significantly better speed than the starter at a position where speed is a premium.

SS-5 Dennis small for the position but decent speed. Until he proves it on the field it would be hard to give him a higher ranking.

CB-6 and could be a 7 by season's end-I'd also give this group a half point bump because I believe they have significant depth and will see plenty of action in Nickel defenses.

Punter-10. To SMU fans-this is what a 10 looks like-a dominant national talent at his position. Forget about Punting Average-true greatness is his punting hang time and ability to hit the Coffin Corner on about 20 occassions last year

FINAL PREDICTION: 3-9- I would like to bump that up to 4-8 but SMU's schedule has a unique "every other year" problem. This year we get the tough teams at home (TCU, Tulsa, UH, Southern Miss, Memphis)and the easier teams on the Road(Rice, UTEP, Tulane) plus UCF and Navy which should be tougher on the Road. Great formula for a strong team but a potential disaster for a young team. Also we are still in the cycle with USM, UCF and Memphis and those programs are generally stronger than the other half of CUSA East.

Fridays Game:
Rice 35 SMU 27

[westexSMU]

SMU 35 RICE 27

[ozfan]

Haven't had the time to do a complete report on the Offense because of a Briefing Schedule at work for the last two weeks-going to stick with my reasonable optomistic report for modest improvement especially toward the end of the year on the defense

Grading Key-NCAA Division 1A Standard

10-All American
9-Elite
8-All CUSA
7-Quality
6-Solid
5- Average
4-Mediocre
3-Questionmark
2-Marginal
1-Division 1AA caliber


Receivers-5(deduction of 1/2 point because of serious lack of depth);They will rack up big numbers-All Run and Shoot teams do-other than Sanders and Robinson they won't be very effective in making big plays. Opponents will be blanketing Sanders all season but if healthy he'll get 100 receptions. I'll go with 60 receptions for Robinsion. Others will put up reception numbers but very little YAC("Yards After Catch.") and generally defenses should have little problem in keeping "everything in front of them"

Sanders 8
Robinson 6
The Rest 2

Offensive Line-5 (deduction of 1/2 because of serious lack of mature depth). They will be overwhelmed facing better competition-I'm a fan of Enright-probably a tad better than last year if they remain healty. If Chase keeps his weight up I think he'll be a pleansantly competent and may even get a shot to improve in the Pros as a Free Agent.


QB-3(no deduction because of depth-the Top 3 are all 3's too)


RB-5 (explanation-I've always been a big fan of Martin's potential-but I haven't yet seen the quick step he will need to be effective in this type of finesse offense-too much dancing and not enough scooting- takes several steps to get to full speed which is not conducive in this offense. I hope to see improvement here- I believe he has the potential to do so-just hasn't proven to be much more than an average back). No deduction for depth. Actually I think I'll bump them up a 1/2 point because of solid 3rd string alternative in Butler, solid blocking potential, catching ability with both Martin & McKinney which is what they are designed to do in this offense.

DEs-6-I think this is a good position for SMU with the potential of great improvement-I'll go ahead and give then a 1/2 point bump for good depth

DT-5 Elizee is a 6-could improve to a 7. Handy is underweight and never really proven to be much more than an average player at best. Not too much quality depth or outstanding talent but I'm not going to deduct because numbers suggest that we can come up with some competent backups. Like to see Thomas come through here.

OLBs-4-Bonilla and Jackson are parts-a lo0t of high school All-District types here-instead of outstanding athletic talents. Herron hopefully can become a starter potentially greatly improving our athletic talent. No deduction because all the backups made their High School All-District teams

MLB-6 bumped it up from a 5 because we have two alternative options that have different styles and strength. Good complementary players that could be best against the run in a 3-4 type defense-interested to see that option.

FS-4 (see OLBs). Although I think Banjo is really a prototype SS maybe he can take the job here since he has decent speed-significantly better than the starter

SS-5 Dennis small for the position but decent speed. Until he proves it on the field it would be hard to give him a higher ranking.

CB-6 and could be a 7 by season's end-I'd also give this group a half point bump because I believe they have significant depth and will see plenty of action in Nickel defenses.

Punter-10. To SMU fans-this is what a 10 looks like-a dominant national talent at his position. Forget about Punting Average-true greatness is his punting hang time and ability to hit the Coffin Corner on about 20 occassions last year

FINAL PREDICTION: 3-9- I would like to bump that up to 4-8 but SMU's schedule has a unique "every other year" problem. This year we get the tough teams at home (TCU, Tulsa, UH, Southern Miss, Memphis)and the easier teams on the Road(Rice, UTEP, Tulane) plus UCF and Navy which should be tough on the Road. Great formula for a strong team but a potential disaster for a young team. Also we are still in the cycle with USM, UCF and Memphis and those programs are generally stronger than the other half of CUSA East.

Fridays Game:
Rice 35 SMU 27

I see your have put some thought into this.... Just hope the LB's suprise you.

PS Standby for the blasts coming your way.

[SMUtrojanFAN]

You were more generous than I thought you'd be.

[Alaric]

You were more generous than I thought you'd be.

It's because he's starting to rethink his "coaching doesn't matter" mantra and wants to get on the bandwagon before it's too late

[Stallion]

Never ever said said Coaching doesn't matter-I said SMU has not (hopefully past tense) been competitive with its natural and traditional rivals because SMU was not on an even competitive playing field with its opponents. I said it 20 years ago. Its now the official party line of Orsini, Jones, Doherty, Dr. Turner, and every Coach who has coached here. I can also promise you my rankings would be significantly lower w/o players now on campus who had in the past previously not been admitted.

[originaloverthehilltop1]

would like to see the same analysis for rice.

[03Mustang]

Stallion, nice work. It's hard to disagree with anything in your assessment at this point. I'd like to see you reassess it in game 6 and see what you think has changed.

[pony warrior]

Stallion...hard to argue with your analysis but would like to see you re-do it on Saturday after the game.

[George S. Patton]

I enjoyed reading it.

[Dooby]

If I were to quibble, I think I would say that you rate the WR's 1 point too low. I might drop the RB's down 1, too; this was a bad running team last season and the offense won't make it any better.

I know why you give QB's a 3, but would have preferred a narative, but then you can just cut and paste most of what you said about WR's.

I wish after this season (when we will have played every CUSA team at home and on the road), we could shuffle the deck on the home and road and cross divisional opponents.

[jtstang]

I think "the rest" of the recievers will probably surprise everyone a little, including Stallion. It's just the nature of the run and shhot. That's why they play the games.

I am very concerned still about the defense.

[jimhagle]

This group of receivers is as deep and talented[and dangerous] as we have ever had aound here.

[03Mustang]

This group of receivers is as deep and talented[and dangerous] as we have ever had aound here.

Then add that to the reasons why we've sucked for 20 years now. These guys might be good, but I don't see how you can call a bunch of freshmen and unproven underclassmen (all but Sanders) "deep".

[PonyPatrol]

As the season grows closer, I'm growing slightly less concerned about the D. I think we have the athletes this year to finish in the middle of the pack of CUSA - in particular, superior depth of athletes on every unit. Second string guys like Odiari, McElroy, Yenga, Thompson, Herron, Bailey, etc. really give us a chance to stay fresh and utilize some different weapons. Plus Mason's new system seems to have them very excited. I don't think last year's unit ever got over the loss of Carrington.

HOWEVER, if the o-line doesn't hold up, this offense could generate a huge number of turnovers, i.e. interceptions. Unlike some people on this board, I don't see any evidence as to why this year's line should be any better than last year's. Don't underestimate experience at this position.