Actually, not that bad a year considering adversity.

[ponyte]

We lost our #2 QB before the season. We lost our #1 QB with 2 1/2 games to go. WE lost our #3 QB during a critical portion of a critical game. We ended the year with our #4 walk on QB. When have we had enough depth at the QB position to withstand so many QB injuries?

We lost our #1 RB in the first game and out for the year by the middle of the season. We had our #2 RB out off and on during the season due to injury. We lost our #3 RB late in the season. Since when have we had enough depth at the RB position to withstand so many injuries?

We lost our best LB with injury for a couple of games. We lost Several receivers/return men during the season. We had more injuries this year that adversely affect our team than I can remember.

Yet, we finished exactly where we were predicted to finish and did so without a healthy team. We were competitive in every conference game. There is no doubt the teams we played this year were as a whole far bigger and more talented than CUSA. Yet, we played well with every team we faced. Even out OOC schedule we had some bright spots. Competitive with TTU and TCU.

Our players fought hard every game. We used to be out of gas and collapse in the last quarter. Now we had some of our best comebacks in the last quarter. We were able to do that because we did have better depth than in the past.

To be sure, a 5-7 season is disappointing and I will miss not seeing SMU in a post season game. We came close to a very good season (we could have been 7-5 or even 8-4 with a few breaks and less injuries).

We do have some good things to look forward to. An experienced O line and D line. Kids with redshirts this year being eligible. A QB with some game and starting experience. Some talented receivers. Some very talented LBs. And hopefully we will do a bit better recruiting this off season. It could have been worse and it was better than it has been.

[PonySnob]

Thanks June! Hard to see any area of the team being improved this year over the sh!tshow that was on the field this year...........

[sbsmith]

I smell another DMN puff piece coming centered around the talking points above.

[Grant Carter]

I thought Houston was a conference game?

[ALEX LIFESON]

Almost every team has injuries, that's where recruiting comes in. When June was hired, is this where we envisioned this program would be after year six? It's a disaster.

[Donnell88]

Thank you ponyte for a very positive post which invariably offends at least 90 % of the people on this board.
I agree that if we had defeated Rutgers in triple overtime or made two field goals against Cincinnati, we would be going to a (minor) bowl game.
But I have four negative observations:
(1) At times, the spread offence drives me nuts. There were seemingly dozens of times that we were 2nd and 2 or 3 yards to go, we throw two incompletions and punt. Kevin Pope proved our running game could be productive at times;
(2) "We do what we do". Which means we must have lead the NCAA in completions of three yards or less;
(3) The three-man pass rush is for wimps. I have never bought into the loser theory that you allow the opposing quarterback 7-8 seconds to find an open receiver;
(4) Special teams play was mediocre at best. Seriously, it seems the vast majority of SMU's drives started within our own 25-yard line.

[SMU 86]

I don't remember to many predicting that we would be a 5 win team. Most predictions thought that we would get to a bowl. JasonB even predicted that we would get to 9 wins.

[Rebel10]

The games SMU won were against teams with a combined record of 10-38. SMU almost lost to an FCS and had to comeback in the last seconds to win that game.

[CalallenStang]

We were competitive in every conference game.

Did you not even watch the Houston game?

[Stallion]

I predicted 5 wins and correctly picked the outcome of all 12 games pregame. However, I didn't realize just how incompetent the bottom of this conference would be. Add Montana St. and we accomplished nothing remarkable. It was probably the easiest year ever to predict the outcomes of the games on our schedule. If the program had been where it should have been in Year 6 the opportunity was there to have the type of season UCF had with a loss to Texas A&M as the only blemish. This was the year SMU could have beaten some Big 12 teams especially Tech and maybe TCU on the road. It was not a particularly difficult schedule especially ducking Louisville

[Lotus]

Not as good as I hoped. Not as bad as the anti-JJ cries. I thought we'd sneak in at 6-6. Not ready for football to be over.

[JoeKidd]

Not as good as I hoped. Not as bad as the anti-JJ cries. I thought we'd sneak in at 6-6. Not ready for football to be over.

I also thought we would get to 7-5 or 6-6 worse case (didn't think GG would go down) and we were oh so close to beating Rutgers and Cincy. Not ready at all for FB season to be over with for our team. Its going to take a couple of weeks for me to clear my head and get fully into the swing of BBall season.

[SoCal_Pony]

One of my biggest JJ complaints.

We caught lightning in a bottle when Padron replaced BLM due to injury. Outside of that moment, for 6 years, if our starting QB goes down we are $CREWED.

Zero development at this critical position by our offensive guru.

Think of the backups for a moment. Think of their playing time. It's been 6 years.

[East Coast Mustang]

I know our AAC schedule hasn't been released yet, but with Baylor (blowout), UNT (toss-up), A&M (blowout), and TCU (probably a loss) on deck for next year, I'd be surprised if we win five games next year. Sad but true. Losing GG, Gottshalk, Holman, Jeremy Johnson, Pope, Rambo, and Acker is going to really, really hurt. Not sure who can step up and adequately replace them

[feelthehorsepower]

I know our AAC schedule hasn't been released yet, but with Baylor (blowout), UNT (toss-up), A&M (blowout), and TCU (probably a loss) on deck for next year, I'd be surprised if we win five games next year. Sad but true. Losing GG, Gottshalk, Holman, Jeremy Johnson, Pope, Rambo, and Acker is going to really, really hurt. Not sure who can step up and adequately replace them

TROLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Already penciling in losses...

Aggy might lose Johnny Football and Kevin Sumlin...
Baylor might lose Briles and his staff...
UNTs guys were seniors this year, they lose a lot of players to graduation
TCU is at our house and they are going to be using the "Air Raid Offense" now...

I wouldn't start giving up just yet...