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East Coast Mustang wrote:JasonB- like your optimism but this class has a lot fewer quality offers than previous classes. How do you explain that away?

It is like that across the board. Houston has the best rated class in our conference for next year (for schools sticking around), and even they don't have a lot of quality offers.

The institution of the playoff system has clearly established a big 5 from a conference standpoint. The AAC is clearly the next best conference, but high level recruits are staying within the big 5.

The uncertainty of conference realignment over the past 5 years caused a lot of players who were wanted by lower level BCS schools to commit to a Houston or SMU because 1) they knew there was a shot at a BCS game, 2) they thought those schools might eventually make it to a major conference, and 3) the lower tier conference members like Baylor and Duke never had a shot winning their conferences.

None of those is a reality now, and it has changed the game.

Or, conversely, the folks at Rivals, Scout, and ESPN have stopped paying much attention to the recruits going to schools outside of the power 5 and don't really bother to follow up and find out what offers they hold.

Rebel10 wrote:ESPN just gives a bunch of rhetoric which I have found to be off base at times. But since you tend to like rhetoric and write a lot of verbiage then I can see why you like that. Our class is bad when it comes to offers no matter how you spin it. And a 5 win season shows it. Next year if we do not beat UNT handily it will be embarrassing since they lose 13 players. if Jones has recruited properly we destroy them. But you were the one who was a giddy as a little girl over Seals so you have no credibility in anything but writing of bunch of verbiage.

Fine, myself, the coaching staff, and every writer on PonyFans, Rivals, and Scout is discredited because every single one of us looked at Seals in practice over the Spring and Fall and thought he was a beast. Talk to any of them and they will tell you he looked fantastic.

Our players are more highly regarded than UNT, and we have better talent. Absolutely we should beat the tar out of them and if we don't the coaching staff should be held accountable. Just as we all feel the coaching staff should be accountable for the team under performing this season.

JasonB wrote:
Our players are more highly regarded than UNT, and we have better talent. Absolutely we should beat the tar out of them and if we don't the coaching staff should be held accountable. Just as we all feel the coaching staff should be accountable for the team under performing this season.

I will save your comment for after the UNT game just as I saved that 9-3 messed up prediction you made last year. The head coach should bare most of the accountability if we do not beat the tar out of them.

JasonB wrote:

East Coast Mustang wrote:JasonB- like your optimism but this class has a lot fewer quality offers than previous classes. How do you explain that away?

It is like that across the board. Houston has the best rated class in our conference for next year (for schools sticking around), and even they don't have a lot of quality offers.

The institution of the playoff system has clearly established a big 5 from a conference standpoint. The AAC is clearly the next best conference, but high level recruits are staying within the big 5.

The uncertainty of conference realignment over the past 5 years caused a lot of players who were wanted by lower level BCS schools to commit to a Houston or SMU because 1) they knew there was a shot at a BCS game, 2) they thought those schools might eventually make it to a major conference, and 3) the lower tier conference members like Baylor and Duke never had a shot winning their conferences.

None of those is a reality now, and it has changed the game.

Or, conversely, the folks at Rivals, Scout, and ESPN have stopped paying much attention to the recruits going to schools outside of the power 5 and don't really bother to follow up and find out what offers they hold.

ECM, JasonB is off base as usual but is good at pontificating a bunch of mess. The writers at the individual sites follow up with recruits on offers so stop spreading the lies that they don't. No school in the AAC has half of it's recruits with no FBS offers and I checked them a while back. Remember, JasonB writes a lot but his writing is full of deflective junk. We already know he is very capable of being a good liar (like he did on EJ) anyway so this comes as no surprise. By the way ECM, USF has the best recruiting class in the AAC. USF recruits have a nice list of offers as well.

I feel better about this class then most on this board. But, it really doesn't matter. It will come down to how the recruits play college football. Of course, It is the coaches responsibility to get the players they need to win games. So, the real bottom line is - this coaching staff must win. If SMU goes 1-11 as someone on this board predicted, you can bet the coaching staff is gone. In my opinion, if SMU isn't 6-6 or better you will see a new head coach. I want much more. I want 10 wins or better. But, 6-6 and a bowl game is what I think will be the limits for the CofC. By the way, I have no ties to anyone or anything connected to SMU other than a diploma and a seat at Ford. (I do have a football background).

Stallion wrote:Jason really likes ESPN because they have ridiculously over inflated their grades.

ESPN really does over inflated their system. ESPN did not even have a star system when June got here and that was only a few years back. They started giving stars in order to get more people to subscribe to ESPN. ESPN then probably realized that if you give more stars that you can get more subscribers so they have given out higher ratings to more players whether they deserve it or not. It's mostly an ESPN marketing ploy imo. That is why I stopped subscribing to ESPN because it is just not very good.

[quote="jpe747"] In my opinion, if SMU isn't 6-6 or better you will see a new head coach. [/quote

I think it will be an even more divided fan base at 6-6 because that would be mediocrity in a weak conference but June can say he went to a bowl. I think the fan base and Hart want more than a 6-6 team after 7 years. So 6-6 might not be enough for him to hang on to his job but it might be.

Rebel10 wrote: The writers at the individual sites follow up with recruits on offers

Correct in fact they do interviews with the commits all along the way to keep everyone updated. ESPN would be the least at up dates on SMU commits because they do not even have a writer for the SMU ESPN site and sometimes rely on info that is generally out there. Again, no one on one interviews with SMU commits on ESPN to keep you up to date.

ponyboy wrote:Stallion has said consistently to look at offers as your ultimate criteria. It's not perfect, but it beats the star systems out there. Based on what we know about offers, the class doesn't appear strong.

I tend to agree with you Ponyboy.

Now let's beat UConn at Moody.

I feel like the insanity level on this board is multiplying. Are the boards on rivals/scout more informative? I'm reaching my breaking point of wasting time on this board reading that we are getting exactly the recruits we need.

Thanks.

It is a different world. Most of the knowledgeable made the jump already. Also people share info they never would on an open site

i'm sold. which is the better option?

Never been on the scout board, always heard rivals was better

I had both at one point and rivals seemed far superior. I have just read in the past 6 months that scout has gotten way better. Will probably stick with rivals. Thanks couch em.