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Insane_Pony_Posse wrote:

Rebel10 wrote:May have to give this some time

yes...just a year or 2 or 3 away

Just a coach or 2 or 3 away

Vitale wrote:It would be interesting to see how the o-line and receivers, etc., could gel if SMU started with Cupcake U, rather than NTSU (so weird to call that a good team but it is), TCU, Michigan, etc.

Always with the "competition too tough" excuse. If we schedule FCS and lose, then we need to find an easier FCS. If we lose to them, then we need to find a D-II. Or NAIA.

At some point it's on us to start playing big boy football.

i'm giving it another 30 years.

Charleston Pony wrote:It's not like Morris was bringing in the top class in the AAC every year he was here, so I wouldn't say his recruits were "overrated" but yes...Sonny and his staff need to recruit over most positions and bring in bigger, stronger, faster guys for this program to compete against Top 25 and above average football teams. It's amazing how much easier it is to "execute" your schemes when you have bigger, stronger and faster guys than your opponent.

CM's recruiting classes were rated somewhere around 5th or 6th in the AAC. Not sure where the idea came about that he had top recruiting classes.

When's the last time we didn't say "give it some time"? 1984?

Same story, different year

PoconoPony wrote:

Charleston Pony wrote:It's not like Morris was bringing in the top class in the AAC every year he was here, so I wouldn't say his recruits were "overrated" but yes...Sonny and his staff need to recruit over most positions and bring in bigger, stronger, faster guys for this program to compete against Top 25 and above average football teams. It's amazing how much easier it is to "execute" your schemes when you have bigger, stronger and faster guys than your opponent.

CM's recruiting classes were rated somewhere around 5th or 6th in the AAC. Not sure where the idea came about that he had top recruiting classes.

1) they were rated much higher than June's last classes
2) they were rated higher when you evaluated by offer rather than star rating
3) he always started off strong which gave an early higher rating, and then as he lost recruits and backfilled the class at the end the rating dropped off. But folks remember the early part of the recruiting season, just as they will remember the early part of this class with Dykes.

All of that said, the following players on the roster were CM recruits who had a good rating (3 stars) and good offers (multiple P5 offers):
Wyatt, Ndukwe, McLaurin, Gary, Biggurs, Spears, Ali, Howerton, Todora, K Smith, Webb, Wilds, Hicks, Becker, Rau, Proche, Benson, Page

So, not a huge list, which shows some of the problem. He had a large number of players who were either 3 stars but had no major offers, or 2 stars with some P5 offers. But the list above is part of the reason why I expected us to be okay at DL, and why we should expect more out of the OL and TE.

JasonB wrote:So if CM had decent recruits, and the JUCO and GT recruits from Dykes were decent recruits, then what we are seeing is a coaching issue on offense, correct?

I don't think that can be answered yet. There are similarities in the offense, but I assume differences in the way plays are called, snap counts, protections, etc. Roberson and Sanders played one healthy game and both got hurt against tcu. QB and WRs need timing, chemistry, and that takes time no matter how many times they run routes against air over the summer. Offensive line needs to be better. Xavier J needs to get healthy. So it's difficult (or early) to say whether what we're seeing is coaching, talent dropoff, health, learning curve or a couple of good opponents ... or some of each. Michigan game doesn't seem likely to alter that analysis.

JasonB wrote:No, the model is that they opened their doors to academic non-qualifiers under Francione and hired GP to run the defense. On offense, they hit it big with late qualifiers, such as LT, who were good enough athletically to play anywhere. Defensively, GP was great at identifying athletic talent who played one position in high school because of their athleticism, but would explode at another position in college. LT got them the visibility they needed, both in terms of building a local fan base as well as national attention. Then when Fran left and they kept GP, GP took it to another level by extending his athlete projections across the entire team.

So, the model is finding a great coach who can both recruit and project, and support of the school to build the program.

Patterson is the best college coach there is at playing moneyball. Then TCU got an athletic director (now at UT) who could raise $$$$. Those are the 2 biggest reasons for TCU's success.