SMU record 6-6 - prove me wrong

[StallionsModelT]

I fully expect Gilbert to be a much better QB from the start of the season. He played very well against Tulsa and Fresno State.

[ponyinNC]

how can we possibly prove you wrong at this point? alternatively, you can't prove this to be correct right now, either...

"You spelled 'Yore' wrong."

- Junior, in the year 1389.

[sbsmith]

Gilbert was atrocious for the first half of the season. The last four or five games he was very good especially once he figured out he could run a little bit.

In contrast with Piland who was atrocious the last half of the season (starting with him getting KO'ed versus us).

[StallionsModelT]

Cougar,

Dont really know what this higher level smack could be towards SMU. Houston has had our number for several years. It was pretty special to put a beatdown on the Cougars last year. Can't get your feathers ruffled over that. IMO, Houston and SMU need to be the anchors of the new American among the western schools. Hopefully USF and UCF can be the anchors of the new eastern schools with UConn and Cincy adding some strength to the existing schools making for a very competitive conferece with compelling match-ups.

[sbsmith]

6-6 (with this schedule) likely gets JJ an extension

My dad asked an employee in the Athletic Department earlier this year about JJ and his future at SMU. The employee smiled and said something along the lines of JJ is gone after his contract is up.

So the CoC is just going to pay June for a lame duck year? Can't imagine he'll be too motivated to do anything.

[malonish]

Derailment post. Good day.

[mustangxc]

Statistically Piland had a significantly better season than Gilbert:

Passes/Attempts/%
Piland 256-448 57.1
Gilbert 268-506 53.0

TDs
Piland 16
Gilbert 15

Interceptions
Piland 12
Gilbert 15

Sacked
Piland 12
Gilbert 33

Passing Rating
Piland 118.5
Gilbert 105.5

Yards Per Attempt
Piland 6.54
Gilbert 5.79

Better, yes. Significantly better??? Come on Stallion, you know that is a stretch even for you.

[StallionsModelT]

Also, Gilbert was much more of a running threat as the season went on.

[malonish]

A better snapshot would be the stats after game 6.

[Rayburn]

Also, Gilbert was much more of a running threat as the season went on.

Exactly, That extra threat helped to take some of the pressure off him and seemed to boost his confidence.

[ojaipony]

Sunshiner prediction - (9-3)

- The Gilbert of the latter half of last season is the Gilbert we get from game one. Being more acclimated to the offense and his receivers should make Garrett a much better QB from the first snap of the season.

- Shead proves to be an All-Conference caliber runner that represents no drop-off from the departure of Line. He turns out to be the 15-20 carry a game workhorse we need.

- The WR's finally get some consistency. Jeremy Johnson steps up to be our go-to guy and we find some kind of worthwhile combination from the glut of guys we have on campus. Ja'Bryce Taylor and Jeremiah Gaines give the WR corp much-needed size and strength we need to convert in the red zone.

- Our young defensive line is up to the task in a "by committee" approach. Wood, Wright, Barnes, Minor, Reed, McCleneghan, Smith, etc

- Acker, Parks, JR Richardson combine to form a group of veteran corners that allow us to be aggressive in our blitz packages. Scott and Randolph stay healthy and give us a strong safety tandem

Doom and gloom prediction (3-9)

- Gilbert is more like the Gilbert from his previous college years than the glimmer we saw down the stretch of last season.

- Injuries to our OL expose our lack of depth and force us to play either undersized or inexperienced players not ready for the rigors of a more difficult schedule.

- Our DL is simply too young and overmatched. We can't control the line of scrimmage forcing Mason to change his attacking style to compensate for our lack of size and experience up front.

- Our secondary is hit again by the injury bug. We are forced to play Poston, Montes, or other freshmen against great passing teams like Tech, TCU, A&M, Cincinnati, and Houston.

- JJ and the coaching staff mentally "check out". We saw it last season in our no-show performances at Baylor, Tulane, Rice, and UCF.

I completely agree with this. Unfortunately, we enter another season where it could go either way (even more question marks now due to new teams we haven't seen before and young, unproven personnel . . . lack of DE talent/athleticism, LB inexperience, and poor WR play make me err on the side of caution - I AM excited about Minor/Taylor/Gaines but they will still be only fresh out of high school no matter how "studly" they are). I'm generally a sunshiner (but I've seen enough to always err on the side of "we could get blown out against Montana St if we're not careful").

If KK was not Tech's coach, I'd say that's a "W" but this guy has had our number his whole career.

So, to play along, here are my predictions:

TT: L
MS: W
aTm: L
TCU: L
Rutgers: W
Memphis: W
Temple: W
@Cincy: L
@USF:L
@UH:L
UCF:L

That @ USF game will be huge. I don't know enough about them to really gauge how good they are. If we had them at home, I'd say it's a "W" but I think we lose the last 2 with a loss there and no bowl. If we win that one, we'll be playing for a bowl in the UCF game just like we did this year against Tulsa (a better team at home with a bowl on the line and we pull it out). So, say we beat UCF and win big in our (minor) bowl game. Is it a successful year? Yes. Is it the year I hoped for? Not at all. Bottom line is that those last 3 away games will determine our season. (I REALLY want to put a "W" next to TT).

[Junior]

Entire offense minus your All-Conference running back.

And that WR that declared for the supplemental draft.

[Rayburn]

Yeah, I agree with the original assessment as well. I think 6-6 would be a good record for 2013.

[Stallion]

rationalize all you want but for a Run and Shoot QB to have that completion % and yards per attempt is REALLY, REALLY Bad-below the Mendoza Line. 70% is the goal-65% is good-60% is very average-53% is poor in the Run and Shoot. He was running because he didn't know how the hell to run the offense. +21 alone in sacks. Yards per attempt is another red flag that he wasn't able to see his receivers downfield. Passing Rating was No. 111 out 116 QBs in the Country. There are rationalizations as to why he didn't perform better and whether he'll improve but if we are going to dog Piland its fair to compare him to Gilbert's significantly worse stats-look it up in the dictionary.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

In my time following SMU football, I can remember 1 win against an SEC school (Arky in 97) and one win against a Big-12 school (KU 2000). I might be forgetting a win here or there, but the bottom line is that we have almost no history of beating schools from the Big 12 or SEC in the recent past. That includes home games, away games, day games, night games, Caven teams, Bennett teams, June teams, and whatever other distinguishing factor you can think of. I still eagerly await the day when the Ponies prove me wrong, but until then I predict we will lose to TTU, TCU, and A&M (and probably lose decisively in each). If that holds true, then going 6-3 against the rest of the schedule to reach 6-6 will be a very successful season. I'd take that.

Sorry, I should be more optimistic. Too many disappointments over the years I guess.