And the line on the Tech vs. SMU game will be...

[couch 'em]

June is 5 wins to 9 losses in openjng games as a college coach, but only one of those wins was against a Div 1A opponent (at least one loss was also)

[sbsmith]

June is 5 wins to 9 losses in openjng games as a college coach, but only one of those wins was against a Div 1A opponent (at least one loss was also)

June is 0-8 vs 1-A teams in openers (5-1 vs 1-AA teams).

1999- 62-7 loss vs. USC
2004- 35-28 loss vs. FAU
2005- 63-17 loss vs. USC
2006- 25-17 loss at Alabama
2008- 56-27 loss at Rice
2010- 35-27 loss at Texas Tech
2011- 46-14 loss at Texas A&M
2012- 59-24 loss at Baylor

[RGV Pony]

So avg of 47-20.

I'll go with 42-28 or 49-21 as a prediction that I hope is wrong.

[ALEX LIFESON]

So avg of 47-20.

I'll go with 42-28 or 49-21 as a prediction that I hope is wrong.

If we are ever going to beat Tech, this has to be the year. If we get steamrolled, it could be a rough season for us.

[RGV Pony]

I don't view it as tech so much as I do sumlin /kks offense. New staff new system sure but I can't help but think of the '' storm'' game where Houston pounded us with their 4th string qb and o and dlines that were decimated by injury

[JoeKidd]

I don't care about the spread, over/under, etc. We win and that is the final word.

[ojaipony]

I'm absolutely convinced that the only way this team beats Tech and has a good year is if we find our swagger. The most important thing these coaches have to do (other than the Xs and Ox of course) is to get this team to play loose and confident (especially Gilbert). Play with a chip on your shoulder - coaches have to be master motivators - find the bulletin board material, develop leaders with swagger like Acker. Let them fire up the team. Play with emotion!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8NC9OnJ2_4

[PK]

Play with emotion!

Hard to do when your coach doesn't show any.

[Mustangsabu]

Play with emotion!

Hard to do when your coach doesn't show any.

The world is full of coaches who show no emotion. Just look at Ivan Lendl at Wimbledon last week.

[JasonB]

June is 5 wins to 9 losses in openjng games as a college coach, but only one of those wins was against a Div 1A opponent (at least one loss was also)

June is 0-8 vs 1-A teams in openers (5-1 vs 1-AA teams).

1999- 62-7 loss vs. USC
2004- 35-28 loss vs. FAU
2005- 63-17 loss vs. USC
2006- 25-17 loss at Alabama
2008- 56-27 loss at Rice
2010- 35-27 loss at Texas Tech
2011- 46-14 loss at Texas A&M
2012- 59-24 loss at Baylor

So, since he has been here, he lost to Rice in 2008 with a really bad football team starting a true frosh QB.

2010, lost away to an 8-5 TT team in the opener, in a game we were definitely picked to lose but kept it closer than expected.

2011, lost away to a 7-6 A&M team from a better conference in a game we were picked to lose.

2012, lost to a 8-5 Baylor team whom we thought we could beat because they graduated RG3, but ended up being better than expected.

We are all frustrated with how poorly the team came out and played the A&M and Baylor games, but the only shocker up there is the FAU game, and that wasn't even with SMU.

If the O/U is anywhere near 60, I would put a lot of money on the over.

[sbsmith]

We are all frustrated with how poorly the team came out and played the A&M and Baylor games, but the only shocker up there is the FAU game, and that wasn't even with SMU.

Those scores speak to a disturbing trend in June's openers versus FBS teams. Maybe it stops this year but it doesn't seem at all likely.

[JasonB]

We are all frustrated with how poorly the team came out and played the A&M and Baylor games, but the only shocker up there is the FAU game, and that wasn't even with SMU.

Those scores speak to a disturbing trend in June's openers versus FBS teams. Maybe it stops this year but it doesn't seem at all likely.

Is it a problem with openers or just a problem of not being good enough?

FBS results:

2009 - drilled by TCU and lost away to an awful Wash St team
2010 - lost close @ tech, beat a bad wash st team, beat handily by TCU
2011 - blown out @ A&M (Padron), beat TCU (Great McD performance), beat Pitt (Great McD)
2012 - blown out by Baylor and A&M, lost in the rain against TCU

I would argue that the openers just happen to be against FBS teams.

In fact, one could argue that our relative success over the last 4 years is due to our players being as good or a little better than the other teams lower than FBS, and our coaching staff being good enough to get the edge needed to win games and make up for very average to poor QB/OL play. Our QB/OL play hasn't been good enough to put us over the top, even at our level, just good enough to allow us to win against level competition. We aren't good enough to win when we make mistakes (mental or turnovers), so we have the Tulane and Rice games from time to time.

We ARE good enough across the board at this point, however, that if we get really good QB and OL performances (see the TCU and Pitt games), we can play against the FBS schools.

When we look at the schedule this season:

Very Good FBS teams:
A&M

Above Average FBS:
TCU
Cincy

Lower FBS:
Tech
UCF

below FBS quality:
Montana St
Rutgers
Memphis
Temple
UCONN
USF
Houston

If we have average to poor OL and QB play, we are going to lose to everything FBS quality and split against the rest.

I expect our OL and QB play to be significantly improved, which is why I have us beating all below FBS teams, losing to the average and very good FBS teams, and then either beating both the lower FBS teams or splitting against them because we have them at home.

[Alaric]

1) passing teams take longer to gel in general (Mike Leach always tried to schedule major patsies the first few game and he still had kinks); 2) JJ's offenses often haven't gelled until the bowl games; and 3) our teams just don't look ready for the first games, maybe no hitting, maybe lack of urgency, i dont know but theyre Often not ready.

Don't get me wrong, there are positives to JJ and Hes absolutely improved the program (remember how seldom we even won CUSA road games before him?) but the lack of a consistent ability to move the ball (and less than 100% on the recruiting trail) is frustrating.

[CalallenStang]

We are all frustrated with how poorly the team came out and played the A&M and Baylor games, but the only shocker up there is the FAU game, and that wasn't even with SMU.

Those scores speak to a disturbing trend in June's openers versus FBS teams. Maybe it stops this year but it doesn't seem at all likely.

Is it a problem with openers or just a problem of not being good enough?

FBS results:

2009 - drilled by TCU and lost away to an awful Wash St team
2010 - lost close @ tech, beat a bad wash st team, beat handily by TCU
2011 - blown out @ A&M (Padron), beat TCU (Great McD performance), beat Pitt (Great McD)
2012 - blown out by Baylor and A&M, lost in the rain against TCU

I would argue that the openers just happen to be against FBS teams.

In fact, one could argue that our relative success over the last 4 years is due to our players being as good or a little better than the other teams lower than FBS, and our coaching staff being good enough to get the edge needed to win games and make up for very average to poor QB/OL play. Our QB/OL play hasn't been good enough to put us over the top, even at our level, just good enough to allow us to win against level competition. We aren't good enough to win when we make mistakes (mental or turnovers), so we have the Tulane and Rice games from time to time.

We ARE good enough across the board at this point, however, that if we get really good QB and OL performances (see the TCU and Pitt games), we can play against the FBS schools.

When we look at the schedule this season:

Very Good FBS teams:
A&M

Above Average FBS:
TCU
Cincy

Lower FBS:
Tech
UCF

below FBS quality:
Montana St
Rutgers
Memphis
Temple
UCONN
USF
Houston

If we have average to poor OL and QB play, we are going to lose to everything FBS quality and split against the rest.

I expect our OL and QB play to be significantly improved, which is why I have us beating all below FBS teams, losing to the average and very good FBS teams, and then either beating both the lower FBS teams or splitting against them because we have them at home.

FBS means Division 1-A, with FCS meaning Division 1-AA

I think you mean BCS AQ, but I'm not certain

[PonySnob]

Don't get me wrong, there are positives to JJ and Hes absolutely improved the program (remember how seldom we even won CUSA road games before him?).

Do we really win on the road in CUSA that much more under JJ? Certainly in the last couple of years we've won a few road games, but there were also losses against Tulane, Rice, Tulsa, USM, UCF, Marshall).