Observations from Happy Hour

[OldPony]

Please send whatever you guys are sniffing.

[Roach]

Saying that a team with better depth and speed can win some games means someone is sniffing something? "Some" is pretty vague -- there's a lot of wiggle room there. That's not too far out on a limb.

I'd love to see your reaction if someone actually predicted a winning season, or something equally concrete.

[Stallion]

what Old Pony is talking about is that independent, fair analysis of SMU's 2005 season would likely suggest that SMU is a questionmark at QB, questionmark at RB, has no proven outside speed at WR, a young offensive line without any players who have established themselves as dominant lineman, a promising TE situation although the team underutilized the TE last year, little quickness in the defensive line with the best DLM not presently enrolled, just about ZERO proven pass rush, nice depth at LB although no All-Conference caliber players, a proven CB with nice potential but who has made very few BIG PLAYS during his tenure due to a proclivity to drop big interceptions, experience at Safety but no players who have All-Conference credentials even going into their senior years., and overall a Defensive which over many years has failed to put pressure on the QB and has failed to cause turnovers. Before you attack me for pointing out the OBVIOUS check out what the prognosticators say.

[Dooby]

How can there be so many questionmarks, Stallion? Aren't we returning 20 starters? I thought we were the most experienced team in conference USA.

1. "Questionmark" at QB implies an unknown. But we have so much experience!

2. "Questionmark" at RB implies an unknown. But we have so much experience!

3. A YOUNG offensive line? But with 20 returning starters, that shouldn't matter because they are experienced.

Hmmm, maybe this team is young. Maybe last year's team was young. I didn't realize I had made such a convincing case in another thread that I turned Stallion around.

Maybe some people think that when the team is OLDER, it will be BETTER. Adrian Petterson aside, most players aren't 1st team all conference the day they set foot on campus. In the WAC last year, there was not a single underclassman that made All-conference first team. There are 3 underclassment on the C-USA 1st team, but only one position player.

[DiamondM75]

One of the most impressive statements that I heard from Coach Bennett was "Has CUSA helped with recruiting? YES, DEFINATELY" He made this point very clear.

Better things are coming to the hilltop. Maybe not this year, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a train.

[MrMustang1965]

For a more comprehensive rundown of what Coach B. said on Monday, please see my post "Coach Bennett's Comments from Monday's 'Happy Hour'."

[SoCal_Pony]

One of the most impressive statements that I heard from Coach Bennett was "Has CUSA helped with recruiting? YES, DEFINATELY" He made this point very clear.

Better things are coming to the hilltop. Maybe not this year, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a train.

I do not doubt that C-USA membership has and well help in recruiting.

But I also believe last year was Bennett’s worst recruiting year by far since his arrival, so I guess it didn’t help that much in the first season, did it?

[Swamp Gas]

Don't you think that assessment is just a bit premature? The guys haven't even enrolled in school yet. Let's see them play before writing them off, huh?

[SoCal_Pony]

Nobody is writing them off, but you are either naïve or in denial if you think this years class has the quality of the past two.

Look at the offers these guys received. It speaks volumes.

[JasonB]

I don't think there should be too much concern about next year's team. Yeah, there are some questions, but not nearly the number we have had in the past few years. If you look back at my yearly projections, I have always felt that last year and the year before would be horrible, and that this year we would finally take a step forward and battle for a .500 record.

What I really like about next year's team is that for the first time in ages in the spring game, the second team offensive and defensive lines were able to stand up to the starters. That hasn't happened in a long time. Our depth on both sides of the lines is better than it has been in years. We also have a lot of expereince at QB, which hasn't been the case in a long time.

The biggest concern I have is linebacker. If, as has been suggested, our starters are Lee, McCray and Nnabuiffe at LB, we are going to struggle again on defense. Not as much as last year, but it will hold back our ability to progress as a tream. That LB core might be fast, but boy, you are talking about two safties and a small MLB starting. I understand that we are going to have more of a nickel package look by putting Nnabuiffe at one LB, but if that is the case, we HAVE to have a large SAM. Cox is that guy. Or if Carrington plays the middle and Lee slides outside, that could work. But we need some size back there at LB or else we are going to see some of the same problems that we had all of last year.

I still think that we will be better, and that we will push for a .500 record. But playing really small linebackers is really going to hurt our team against TCU, A&M and Baylor to start the season.

[The PonyGrad]

I expect to see fresh linebackers and a run stopping lineup and a pass stopping lineup with more variations thrown in.

I am not worried about the linebackers.

[GrapevineMustang]

I agree, I think the linebackers will be fine. They would have been much better last year if DD Lee's arm hadn't fallen off and if Rico Harris wasn't playing half the season on one knee, and if Carrington hadn't blown out a pectoral muscle in the weightroom. We simply didn't have the bodies last year. Adding Cox (who also will play some DE) and having those three healthy will give the group a vastly different look this year. Wilton McCray, I think, is going to be a stud. A rotation of McCray, Cox, Nnabuife, Harris, Lee and Carrington is the best and deepest group we've had there in eons. And remember, Coach Bennett and Coach Gush have some experience coaching the 3-4 .... if the defensive line gets a little thin, it wouldn't surprise me to see some of that formation, too.

Think we can find a DeMarcus Ware and Marcus Spears somewhere before August?

[Stallion]

the problem is that the LBs big enough to be dominant are not fast enough and the LBs quick enough to be dominant aren't big enough. They are better than we've had in awhile but that ain't saying much. I think they will be stronger in situation substitutions however.

[GrapevineMustang]

Agreed - the substitutions this group allows will be beneficial.
And I'm no Chuck Faucette, but at a quick glance at the Red/Blue game, McCray looks a lot thicker than last year. Just having Cox, Lee and Carrington out there makes the LB crew bigger.

[huntnfish]

on the LBers- McCray is going to be a very good outside linbacker, however it seems we have been missing an awesome MLB for quite sometime and that used to always be the strength of our defense- we have got to find a MLB who can make 12-15 tackles every game