Defense

[Stallion]

I thought our front 7 defensively played Championship Football. Hard to believe in a game where opponent scored 42. They repeatedly got UH in 3rd and long but SMU's secondary repeatedly allowed UH to convert on 3rd and 4th Down-UH had 14 3rd or 4th Down Conversions. Great pass rush which directly lead to turnovers and points plus great run defense against a quality and elusive RB at least while game was on the line. Margus Hunt in particular is a lot more disruptive in recent weeks than his sack stat lines show. QBs are bailing out and getting rid of the ball because of the heat.

[JasonB]

Agree. Houston had a good gameplan to pick on parks and the young safety, and was able to complete a ton of passes against them, but the front 7 was fantastic.

[Hoop Fan]

totally agree, its really two defenses we have. When an opponent opens it up on us and takes chances, we are very vulnerable. Because our front seven is so solid, we are very good against vanilla offenses in vanilla situations, but terrible against a well run spread and hurry up.

[SMUSIC 07]

Margus was flying around the tackles all game. He would have had 6 sacks if Houston's offense was as slow-developing as the RnS.

[AusTxPony]

That bodes well for our chances against running teams: Tulsa, USM, but we should have a difficult time with a balanced team like UCF and their good defense. Bowl-wise, we should make it with 6-6 since CUSA is so bad this year.

[Stallion]

yep and if you haven't seen Tulsa this year-they have definitely transitioned into a running team with an inconsistent passing attack.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

Taylor Reed was a monster last night. Best game I think I've ever seen him play on the Hilltop. That guy always plays right on the brink of being out of control. Its backfired on him at times in the past. Last night it was working for him big-time.

[GiddyUp]

And the Houston OL is huge. I dont think they get the most out of their size in the stance position.

[jimhagle]

If our secondary was not depleted by injuries this D would have been pretty special.

[GiddyUp]

If our secondary was not depleted by injuries this D would have been pretty special.

very true. Our middle of the field pass coverage is pretty poor.

[GiddyUp]

yep and if you haven't seen Tulsa this year-they have definitely transitioned into a running team with an inconsistent passing attack.

that bodes well for us

[PonyPlayer4]

Before he knocked himself out, Brett Haness wasn't playing terrible. He would actually come up and hit someone from the secondary.

Completely agree on our front 7. They played an amazing game, besides allowing the QB to scamper after good coverage.

[JasonB]

They ate Haness alive for a lot of the game. He did a great job tackling, but was giving too much cushion, leaving the deep out open as well as the deep post. The transition between Parks and Haness was their go-to point.

[docabel]

If our secondary was not depleted by injuries this D would have been pretty special.

very true. Our middle of the field pass coverage is pretty poor.

What do you mean? We had a pick 6 from our nose tackle. That's pretty middle of the field

[jimhagle]

Where has Wright been all year-he looked pretty good.