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It wasn't all bad

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It wasn't all bad

Postby ponyte » Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:56 am

We saw something we haven't seen in years. The Defense won the game. The 2 TDs given up were the result of interceptions with long returns. The D had to face to 1st and goal and those lead to SFA's TDS. Otherwise, SMU gave up 9 points and had multiple turnovers. More importantly, the defense made adjustments in the 2nd half that allowed us to get back into the game.

The single most impressive thing was the team's aggressiveness. Last year one guy would hold on for dear life and maybe 2 teammates would come to help finish the tackle. This defense swarmed to the ball and gang tackled. We haven't seen that in perhaps a decade.

Special teams were outstanding. A punt return for a TD. Two very long KO returns (one literally put us in FG range). The special teams accounted for 10 points and did a respectable job limiting SFA.

The running game was an improvement. But more importantly, we did what we were supposed to do. The running game came alive in the 4th quarter. That is when the bigger, stronger team (SMU) wore down SFA. WE have not seen that kind of strength in the 4th quarter in a very long time.

McNeal was a strong, hard runner and that was a major upgrade.

Bo was off and in the offense we run, if the QB is off then the offense is off. Our receivers made some stellar catches. We did suffer from some very catchable balls dropped.

And let us not forget, SFA came to play. Probably the biggest difference was SFA was better prepared for SMU's offense then other teams and the executed very well. The corners and safeties played to take the long ball away and did. The backers took very deep drops and shut down the long/intermediate passes. They were prepared for the short dumps and flew to the ball. Their defensive coaches out coached our offensive coaches.

We need to make some very dramatic improvements or this is going to be another long season. But all is not lost and there are some things that went well.
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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby HB Pony Dad » Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:40 pm

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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby expony18 » Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:44 pm

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WEST DIVISION CHAMPS 2010
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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby RGV Pony » Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:48 pm

So their defensive coaches outcoached our offensive coaches? Let's see...we have a former national coach of the year w/ all kinds of nfl experience and our o-line ciach has super bowl rings. How'd that happen?
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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby redpony » Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:51 pm

D-line played well. Impressed that we were actually tackling and putting people on the ground. Last year we tried to tackle with our arms as they ran by. DB's still have ??'s.
OL gave BLM sufficient time to pass most of the time. All-in-all better than last year. If the qb situation doesn't improve we will still face another long year.

GO PONIES!!!
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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby Corso » Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:57 pm

You're right, ponyte — without McNeal, we lose that game last night. If Bo Levi had a bad night last year, who was going to run the ball? I don't mean to badmouth our guys from a year ago, but it was obvious McNeal added quite a bit to the offense. I was actually very encouraged to see him run the ball four straight times in the fourth quarter, and still pick up yards. A year ago, we would have thrown the ball all over the place, regardless of the score. Imagine the room McNeal will have when Bo Levi starts hitting his targets ... starting at UAB.
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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby SMU 86 » Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:28 pm

SFA doubled Emmanuel Sanders a good portion of the game and tried to make the other wr's beat them. I wonder will a more talented UAB team take the same approach.
"We will play man to man and we will pick you up at the airport." - Larry Brown

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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby RGV Pony » Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:35 pm

Yeah, a team could go w/ nickel of sorts, double ES and AR, have an lb spy shawnbrey then take their chances w/ a safety/lb combo on beasley. Wilkerson would do ok.
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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby Stallion » Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:36 pm

wikerson impressed early-then nothing.
"With a quarter of a tank of gas, we can get everything we need right here in DFW." -SMU Head Coach Chad Morris

When momentum starts rolling downhill in recruiting-WATCH OUT.
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Re: It wasn't all bad

Postby SMU21TCU10 » Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:44 pm

One suggestion i would like to make is no more fake punts. Lets run a regular play if we are going to go for it on 4th down... the punter got nailed

Then again our longest run last year was on a fake punt
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