DMN: TEXAS FBS rankings

[indianmustang]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c77b5.html

[SMU 86]

They have Rice and UNT ranking ahead of SMU. Interesting quote from the article:

"The Mean Green beat Ball State, 20-10, on the road, showing radical improvement on both sides of the ball. Riley Dodge gives UNT some options, running or passing. Yes, Ball State started three freshmen in its offensive line. Still, it was a win over an FBS team, which is more than SMU can say.

The Mustangs won by eight points over Stephen F. Austin, which, according to the Sagarin ratings, is the 193rd best team in the country. From here on out, June, it only gets harder."

[ponyte]

With over 2 decades of futility and an unimpressive win, you don't earn respect. That is where we are as of now. Win a couple more in the next few weeks and maybe folks will not completely dismiss SMU.

By the way, the last line I saw has SMU +12. Seems the better folks have less faith in us as the game gets closer.

We have earned the disrespect we receive. Now we have to change that and earn some respect.

[bagice]

With over 2 decades of futility and an unimpressive win, you don't earn respect. That is where we are as of now. Win a couple more in the next few weeks and maybe folks will not completely dismiss SMU.

By the way, the last line I saw has SMU +12. Seems the better folks have less faith in us as the game gets closer.

We have earned the disrespect we receive. Now we have to change that and earn some respect.

Can't argue with those rankings, for ranking purposes beating a cruddy SFA team by 8 points (which included a punt return TD and a gift TD) is worse than a 20 point loss to UAB like Rice had. We showed very little on offense or defense against a very inferior opponent..Thank god they turned it over so much and we had good special teams play.

[mustangklick]

This is why rankings are useless... I admit we played bad, but we still won. I'm pretty proud of that. I hope we win again tomorrow.
Can we move on past the "SFA sucks and we barely beat them" argument?

(and I realize that if we lose tomorrow we will only hear more of the same...)

[ponyte]

A road win against an opponent where we are a 12 point dog will help quite a bit. This game is something we can really build on if we win. And we can win. We have solid special teams and an improved defense. If our O puts together some consistency we have a very real chance.

But we have to play more disciplined (less penalties) and throw less interceptions. We need to continue the no fumble streak. We have to play near perfect and have a strong lead late so we can avoid the 'here we go again' syndrome.

The UAB fan board pretty much considers this an easy win and expects a blowout. I am encouraged by the aggressive style of our defense now. We gang tackle and fly to the ball. Vast improvement over last year’s effort of weak arm tackle attempts and hoping the offensive player would trip on his own shoestrings. Hopefully our defense can play well and contain Webb. Webb didn’t have an Int against Rice but he had more picks than TDs last year. I hope we confuse him and get a few Ints tomorrow.

[SmooBoy]

This list seems pretty fair. We have not won a road game or FBS game in years, and all the other schools have. Love that the aggies are just above Rice and UTEP.

[az1]

This is why rankings are useless... I admit we played bad, but we still won. I'm pretty proud of that. I hope we win again tomorrow.
Can we move on past the "SFA sucks and we barely beat them" argument?

(and I realize that if we lose tomorrow we will only hear more of the same...)

Don't rankings determine who goes to certain bowl games? Like the national championship for instance.

[mustangklick]

BCS rankings do...others are useless. Besides, the BCS national championship game has its own share of controversy due to its inherent bias, etc. We will never again play in that game.
The media just likes to make random, biased, and pointless rankings based on weak statistics and opinions because people like to see numbers next to their team.

[rich59]

I thought the list with rankings was well chosen. This is a critical year for SMU, perhaps the most critical ever. If there is not major improvement, all credibility is lost for Jones, Orsini and the program, recruiting goes in the toilet, and a giant step is taken backwards. Wonder where we would be if Turner Gill had been hired instead of Jones? One thing that worries me is that Orsini went after Paul Johnson reportedly and then after Jones which shows that Orsini has no particular preference for the philosophy of the coaching staff'. Does not make sense to me to have the notion that Johnson can be a fit for SMU and then turn to Jones. What has made Patterson such a success at TCU is that he has taken kids who are not highly sought after but are hard nosed athletes and mixed and matched them on defense to go along with a low risk,(comparatively) ball control offense to build a consistent winner. That is a classic recipe for rebuilding a program. Johnson did the same at Navy. SMU is trying the opposite tack.

[bagice]

The UAB fan board pretty much considers this an easy win and expects a blowout. I am encouraged by the aggressive style of our defense now. We gang tackle and fly to the ball. Vast improvement over last year’s effort of weak arm tackle attempts and hoping the offensive player would trip on his own shoestrings. Hopefully our defense can play well and contain Webb. Webb didn’t have an Int against Rice but he had more picks than TDs last year. I hope we confuse him and get a few Ints tomorrow.

I think it will be a close game and we can suprise them, specially since they seem to believe their hype, they are not a good team and beating a rebuilding Rice team at home by 20 is not what I would call a good measuring stick game.

[couch 'em]

I thought the list with rankings was well chosen. This is a critical year for SMU, perhaps the most critical ever. If there is not major improvement, all credibility is lost for Jones, Orsini and the program, recruiting goes in the toilet, and a giant step is taken backwards. Wonder where we would be if Turner Gill had been hired instead of Jones? One thing that worries me is that Orsini went after Paul Johnson reportedly and then after Jones which shows that Orsini has no particular preference for the philosophy of the coaching staff'. Does not make sense to me to have the notion that Johnson can be a fit for SMU and then turn to Jones. What has made Patterson such a success at TCU is that he has taken kids who are not highly sought after but are hard nosed athletes and mixed and matched them on defense to go along with a low risk,(comparatively) ball control offense to build a consistent winner. That is a classic recipe for rebuilding a program. Johnson did the same at Navy. SMU is trying the opposite tack.

Jones may not have been Orsini's first choice, but he has a history of building programs and the recruiting situation at Hawaii was horrible. He used his system to beat more talented teams. It was a solid hire and, for once, a legit attempt at improving the program.

[couch 'em]

This is why rankings are useless... I admit we played bad, but we still won. I'm pretty proud of that. I hope we win again tomorrow.
Can we move on past the "SFA sucks and we barely beat them" argument?

(and I realize that if we lose tomorrow we will only hear more of the same...)

No, we can't move past it when we are in a thread discussing team rankings that are 100% based on that game.

The ranking for SMU is appropriate.

If the Cowboys has scrimmaged an NFL Europe team and barely beat them, they would be ranked last in the NFL polls. This is the same.

[NastyStang]

The UAB fan board pretty much considers this an easy win and expects a blowout. I am encouraged by the aggressive style of our defense now. We gang tackle and fly to the ball. Vast improvement over last year’s effort of weak arm tackle attempts and hoping the offensive player would trip on his own shoestrings. Hopefully our defense can play well and contain Webb. Webb didn’t have an Int against Rice but he had more picks than TDs last year. I hope we confuse him and get a few Ints tomorrow.

I think it will be a close game and we can suprise them, specially since they seem to believe their hype, they are not a good team and beating a rebuilding Rice team at home by 20 is not what I would call a good measuring stick game.

Couldn't agree more! Reading the UAB paper and the fan boards is hilarious. Yes, Joe Webb is awesome and he will get his but c'mon. He threw 10td's last year?!? And one of his TD throws last week against Rice was lofted up and should have been picked off in the end zone. I think UAB's win can really help us this week. The team and fans believe the hype. Here's hoping they over-think and load the line for Shawnbrey and we go over the top multiple times!

[Stallion]

that's 10 TD passes than Rickey Dobbs of Navy threw against us last year-in fact he didn't throw a pass. That's the point-this game is all about our LBs running a QB down like Webb like Dobbs. Great Test for our LBs. Check back for Grades tommorrow Nite.