Defense leading country in takeaways, INTs..

[austinponie]

YES I KNOW our offense needs work, but:

Takeaways:

http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?y ... =IA&dest=O

Pickies:

http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?y ... =IA&dest=O

Couldn't find defensive touchdowns but I'll bet we lead that, too..

[SMU2007]

when you rack up 19 turnovers in 2 games, the stats look pretty solid

[westexSMU]

I keep telling everybody Coach Mason and his staff are the best defensive coaches in D1, period. They are not the best recruiters, but they can Coach. Bad coaching and quality players is not the answer. Just ask Rivals usual Recruiting Champion Texas if they are satisfied with all their 4 and 5 Star high school players on D.

[Junior]

given that defense is half the team, why are we so deadset that our team overall sucks because the defense is doing a great job. seems very short-sighted in MANY aspects.

[Rebel10]

True Westex but I think mediocre recruiting and decent coaching are just as bad or even worse. Remember Mack Brown has won a national championship with good players. Usually mediocre recruiting and decent coaching can't win a national championship. Also I think UT could probably beat SMU with their bad coaching and all.

[gostangs]

youd like to have both, but if you have to choose, pick recruiting.

[redpony]

And if our D continues to dominate I would not be surprised if we lose Mason at the end of the season. Too many schools need an outstanding D coach and he will be high on their list. JMHO.

[SMU21TCU10]

youd like to have both, but if you have to choose, pick recruiting.

I would pick coaching. Boise State is the best example of that.

[rich59]

"A great coach can take hisn and beat yourn and take yourn and beat hisn." (Bum Phillips) and Bill Snyder at K State is a good example.

[SMUer]

We've been absolutely shredded in pass yards in all but two of our games, 6 turnovers or not. Our DL and LBs deserve solid grades, our secondary, not so much.

[redpony]

which is exactly what worries me about Tulsa.

[sbsmith]

I keep telling everybody Coach Mason and his staff are the best defensive coaches in D1, period. They are not the best recruiters, but they can Coach. Bad coaching and quality players is not the answer. Just ask Rivals usual Recruiting Champion Texas if they are satisfied with all their 4 and 5 Star high school players on D.

Don't have to choose, get quality coaching and players. Mason is a decent DC but there's only so far you can coach up average talent (see our defensive performances against Baylor and A&M).

[whitwiki]

which is exactly what worries me about Tulsa.

Thought they were more of a running team this year...

[sbsmith]

which is exactly what worries me about Tulsa.

Thought they were more of a running team this year...

They are (60-40 run-pass) and only completing 49 percent of their passes with only 6.6 yards per attempt. Overall a very inefficient passing team.

[Navy Mustang]

Tulsa is a run oriented offense. They have 3 RB's in the top ten in the conference for yards gained.

But they have yet to play a really good team in the conference. They have played: UAB, Tulane, UTEP, Marshall and Rice - they only won by small margins in each of those games (except Tulane). The out of conference games have been Iowa St (lost), Nicholls, and Fresno State.

The next 4 games will tell really how good Tulsa is. If they win 2 of the next 4 games then I will consider them a good team. Right now I expect them to lose all 4 of their final games this year.

They play Arkansas, Houston, UCF and then SMU! That is a tough schedule for them. Just my 2cents worth on Tulsa.