That's a solid solid win!

[George S. Patton]

Won't get into too much bc it has been covered in other threads. But we beat a team that had better athletes, a 3-year starting qb, good rb and pretty physical group.

This team met the challenge. That's about as good as we've seen in about 3-4 years. Now they have to build on it against a very well coached Navy team.

[ponyte]

Agree. Was it a perfect win? No. Is there areas to improve? Absolutely. Did this team do something it hasn't done in a long time by making the plays when they need to and holding on to win? Yes.

Is this a turning point for SMU? I don't think so as we still have a way to go. Was it a strong accomplishment to build upon and did our kids learn something about how to win? You bet.

Very solid win against a good team. And no obvious injuries which is a plus as well.

[jimhagle]

I agree-a good win and now with Darius Johnson due back next week things might get real interesting the rest of the way.

[Charleston Pony]

future is looking good. Let's not forget this OL is still young and we have some quality guys taking RS years. Offense will get better and defense is clearly a surprise...but will get better as more depth is recruited.

Now if we could just get some of our "fans" to come out of hiding...

[ponyscott]

Agreed.....and Darius back will add another element for sure but we will not have that many opportunities to score on the offensive side. Navy will control the clock like no other team we have faced this year, so when we have the ball we have to be extremely efficient to be able to score on the limited amount of times we have the ball.

As far as the comment about ECU having better athletes....they probably do as a whole but the level of athletes we have now is very impressive from the high-light reel receiving corps to the swarming defensive secondary who have a real chance to catch the ints and then have the speed to run it back and with real specialty playmakers like Hunt, we have many athletes on this roster that can really make the special plays now. AND these guys are so young with so much more upside potential.

[Stallion]

ECU had the better athletes I think that showed even last nite-SMU made the bigger plays which were huge turns of momentum-for example the 10 point FG block, the 96 yard TD pass, the interception+53 yard return and the goal line stand.

[ponyscott]

ECU had the better athletes I think that showed even last nite-SMU made the bigger plays which were huge turns of momentum-for example the 10 point FG block, the 96 yard TD pass and the goal line stand.

Agreed they have the larger number of athletes but those plays we made were from good athletes on our side making good on the opportunities ....

[The PonyGrad]

ECU had the better athletes I think that showed even last nite-SMU made the bigger plays which were huge turns of momentum-for example the 10 point FG block, the 96 yard TD pass, the interception+53 yard return and the goal line stand.

I was impressed by our defensive line up against the oh so superior and overly large ECU linemen. The goal line stands proved that we were not outmanned.

[az1]

Agreed, solid win for SMU.

[rich59]

I would not argue with someone who says that ECU had better athletes than SMU. Having a home field advantage probably helped and my hat is off to JJ and his staff for the improvement in defense. Reminds me a little bit of what is happening with the Denver Broncos. With less turnovers by the offense we should have one more win. To me, the big game as far as progress at SMU is concerned is coming up. No one can convince me that Navy has better people than SMU. They are well coached, well disciplined and very experienced in "what they do" If we go out there and get blown out like Rice did or like we did last year, I am going to be very disappointed and concerned about our progress. If it is a close loss or a win, I will say we are really improving. Navy should not have the speed we have on offense and the overall size we have. Their offense is difficult to defend and if we are not disciplined on defense we will be in trouble.

[peruna81]

This SMU team needs most everything to go it's way for there to be a victory..ie no INTs, defense playing smash-mouth, and special teams being 'special'...a great win Saturday, but all it did was show how far we have come from last year...Navy will show us how far we still have to go.

[rich59]

Absolutely agree!

[ponyte]

The one thing that kills a ball control offense like Navy's is a lot of points by the opponent. If we get ahead and put a lot of points on the board, Navy is toast.

Now I know we haven't done that so it will be up to the defense again to win the game.

But if JJ gets his offense rolling (and as one poster put it, Navy probably doesn't have the athletes we have seen with other teams this year),then maybe we can put Navy away with a lot of points fast.

Again, we need to improve 3rd down conversions so that we have more opportunities to put points on the board.

Defense will be the key to victory on both sides of the ball. We beat their defense early and often and it is over.

[Hoop Fan]

who would be favored in a game between ECU and Navy? Maybe i am wrong, but I'm not so sure that wouldn't be a tossup on a neutral field. Really, my big hope is that with Navy making back to back cross country road trips to Texas and smashing rice, perhaps they will be a little flat next week. We might help them get up for the game with all of the hoopla though.

[Pony!Poni!Pone'!]

The one thing that kills a ball control offense like Navy's is a lot of points by the opponent. If we get ahead and put a lot of points on the board, Navy is toast.

.

you're right. I think if we have a first half offensively like what we saw vs UAB or Wash St, we'll have just that.

What's the skinny on Navy's D?