Not as Bad as it Seems

[lwjr]

So our defense being ranked #119 in the country in allowed YPG is really not as bad as it seems?

SMU21TCU10 I have always known you to be pretty reasonable, yes our D is ranked 119 but don't you think that ranking might have a little to do with the total ineptness of our offense?

Yes. That stat definitely reflects the Offense's many 3 and outs and horrible 3rd down conversion ratio (wasn't it like 3/18 this last game? One of those was from a lucky spot too...). But. Still a scary statistic.

No doubt.

[ponyte]

Old saying, the best defense is a good offense. And our offense has been the other teams best offense. Add in a pathetic punting game and our D is in the hole non stop. The LB play, especially in man with mismatches has been the best I've seen by any team in years. The D line is not as disciplined as it can be on the rush. That will improve as they will not face more athletic and more experienced O line in the future after TCU.

The D has gotten better. The O has a long way to go. The O line has to improve in both pass and rush blocking. We have a huge challenge in TCU but an extra week to heal and improve are in our favor. I am not overly optimistic that this will be enough time to get the O clicking.

I know I am in the extreme minority on this page in that I feel we have to give a very young and inexperience O a chance to learn and improve. And that most want to fire everyone in sight and play our 2nd best players as if that will suddenly produce miracles. And there may be some validity to those sentiments.

I just feel that we have the most aggressive schedule since the old SWC and we are in a totally rebuilding year on offense and have to be patient.

[Johnny Utah]

It's worse than it seems. Time to bring in "The Wolf" from Pulp Fiction.

[SMU91]

As a former player I hate losing to our former SWC teams and for sure am not happy with what I'm seeing on the field. But, it is possible if we had played conference USA level teams the first 3 weeks we could be 3-0. If that was the case we'd probably be discussing our chances of winning 10 games or more.

[SMUer]

We can't catch passes and have predictable plays...how the f would we win? Zach Line runs for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns?

[ponyboy]

You can speak sense until you are blue in the face and some will still be unable to grasp it. Thank you ponyte.

[sbsmith]

Old saying, the best defense is a good offense. And our offense has been the other teams best offense. Add in a pathetic punting game and our D is in the hole non stop. The LB play, especially in man with mismatches has been the best I've seen by any team in years. The D line is not as disciplined as it can be on the rush. That will improve as they will not face more athletic and more experienced O line in the future after TCU.

The D has gotten better. The O has a long way to go. The O line has to improve in both pass and rush blocking. We have a huge challenge in TCU but an extra week to heal and improve are in our favor. I am not overly optimistic that this will be enough time to get the O clicking.

I know I am in the extreme minority on this page in that I feel we have to give a very young and inexperience O a chance to learn and improve. And that most want to fire everyone in sight and play our 2nd best players as if that will suddenly produce miracles. And there may be some validity to those sentiments.

I just feel that we have the most aggressive schedule since the old SWC and we are in a totally rebuilding year on offense and have to be patient.

We've been patient, it's year 5 and still the same old bs and next year our schedule is even more aggressive and we'll be losing all of our best players. I know you think you're being rational but this isn't the time to be patient with an underachieving coach. At this point any more patience with June will condemn this program to bottom of the Big East for the foreseeable future.

[SMU91]

Clearly June is a stepping stone coach. After playing in the R&S offense myself I can tell you it is near impossible to beat BCS teams with that offense. This years games against Baylor and AM have proven that again. That was my only beef when hiring JJ was the R&S offense would only get us so far. It's pretty clear that soon we need to be thinking about taking the next step and hire a coach that can get us and keep us in the top 25 or better.
But all this complaining about GG and the players I don't support. They are doing the best with system they have. I promise you this is a very complicated offense and regardless of GG's past experience at Texas and in high school and especially with an inexperienced offense line the smart thing was to keep the offense simple against these superior teams. I expect that with each week they will open up the offense more and more and the offense will look much better as a result.
My last thought on JJ, I appreciate the fact he has gotten us from the cellar to 7-8 wins seasons. For those of us who have been around the program for the last 25 years that's a big step forward and an important step. Getting better than 7-9 wins under JJ maybe naive. My hope is that or new AD sees this and has a plan to replace JJ in the next year or so. Being top 25 is a process and JJ was just the first step in that process. Question is who will be the next step?

[gord]

Clearly June is a stepping stone coach. After playing in the R&S offense myself I can tell you it is near impossible to beat BCS teams with that offense. This years games against Baylor and AM have proven that again. That was my only beef when hiring JJ was the R&S offense would only get us so far. It's pretty clear that soon we need to be thinking about taking the next step and hire a coach that can get us and keep us in the top 25 or better.

BCS teams or REALLY GOOD BCS teams? Hawai'i beat several BCS schools while Jones was there. Really good BCS teams? Then you're talking about a huge difference in talent between a Hawai'i/SMU and a top 25 team and your offense won't make that much of a difference.

[Stallion]

TCU won over 65% of its games against BCS teams over 12 years-that's the goal

[goldenstang]

We haven't beat 65% of teams period since JJ has been here.

[SMU91]

Clearly June is a stepping stone coach. After playing in the R&S offense myself I can tell you it is near impossible to beat BCS teams with that offense. This years games against Baylor and AM have proven that again. That was my only beef when hiring JJ was the R&S offense would only get us so far. It's pretty clear that soon we need to be thinking about taking the next step and hire a coach that can get us and keep us in the top 25 or better.

BCS teams or REALLY GOOD BCS teams? Hawai'i beat several BCS schools while Jones was there. Really good BCS teams? Then you're talking about a huge difference in talent between a Hawai'i/SMU and a top 25 team and your offense won't make that much of a difference.

Hawaii rarely played BCS teams. Maybe one a year if that and they probably weren't ranked. They beat a Alabama team in Hawaii that I think won four games that year.
Consistently beating good or even average BCS teams this offense can't do.

[couch 'em]

As a former player I hate losing to our former SWC teams and for sure am not happy with what I'm seeing on the field. But, it is possible if we had played conference USA level teams the first 3 weeks we could be 3-0. If that was the case we'd probably be discussing our chances of winning 10 games or more.

We couldn't move the ball on SFA nor could we stop them until we hurt their QB and int fest began. No way we start 3-0

[SMU_Alumni11]

TCU won over 65% of its games against BCS teams over 12 years-that's the goal

Also have to filter in 65% wins over quality BCS teams. I didn't count wash st as a BCS win just my opinion

[gord]

Clearly June is a stepping stone coach. After playing in the R&S offense myself I can tell you it is near impossible to beat BCS teams with that offense. This years games against Baylor and AM have proven that again. That was my only beef when hiring JJ was the R&S offense would only get us so far. It's pretty clear that soon we need to be thinking about taking the next step and hire a coach that can get us and keep us in the top 25 or better.

BCS teams or REALLY GOOD BCS teams? Hawai'i beat several BCS schools while Jones was there. Really good BCS teams? Then you're talking about a huge difference in talent between a Hawai'i/SMU and a top 25 team and your offense won't make that much of a difference.

Hawaii rarely played BCS teams. Maybe one a year if that and they probably weren't ranked. They beat a Alabama team in Hawaii that I think won four games that year.
Consistently beating good or even average BCS teams this offense can't do.

This is what you said:

After playing in the R&S offense myself I can tell you it is near impossible to beat BCS teams with that offense.

Hawai'i beat seven of them in a five-year span - not near impossible. Whether or not they were great teams is another story, and I'm not sure what rarely playing them has anything to do with it.

Since you played in the offense, maybe you can shed some light on why you think this offense can't beat good BCS schools and what makes it so different from other 4-wideout offenses that other schools, like Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Mike Leach use.

Please don't confuse the difference between an offensive system and the talent it has. Hawai'i isn't going to consistently beat good BCS teams and neither is SMU (no matter the offense) with sub-par talent. Offensive (and let's not forget, defensive) systems matter less than the talent on the field. Good teams beat less-good teams on a consistent basis. It's that simple.