SMU 2017 season

untjim1995 · August 2, 2017

Not sure why that thread got closed, but I predict the Ponies go 7-5. That home schedule is very winnable. SFA, us, Arky State, UConn, Tulsa, UCF, and Tulane. Athlon predicts them to go 7-5, as well.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · August 2, 2017

20 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Not sure why that thread got closed, but I predict the Ponies go 7-5. That home schedule is very winnable. SFA, us, Arky State, UConn, Tulsa, UCF, and Tulane. Athlon predicts them to go 7-5, as well.

People are sensitive about SMU Jesus. He's very publicly staked out this position of "we only recruit Texas," and many people here like that...even though the hard evidence has shown that since 1969 only one school in Texas has won an national title outright: Texas in 2005.

Personally, if I'm an SMU fan and SMU Jesus doesn't have a winning season in his third year, that's a problem, given what the expectations were when he was brought in. And, knowing that in Year Three of June Jones, the hated Jones was taking the Ponies to their second consecutive bowl game.

History is what it is. And, people in Texas overly defend the "Texas first" or "Texas only" approach to recruiting that simply has proven not to work. If you recall, Todd Dodge initially talked that way when he got here.

So, my thread quoted a national sports article about George Dunham's rival and our 2017 opponent, SMU's schedule and how favorable it was to them. It was an echo of what the DMN had written earlier in the year here: https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/smumustangs/2017/02/09/smu-releases-2017-football-schedule

Perhaps people see SMU Jesus as a foreshadowing of what could happen here - consistently poor recruiting sinking the school even when the schedule is favorable. And, both UNT and SMU have favorable schedules in 2017. If they can't win this year, and we can't...it doesn't bode well for the future...

...and, many people here hate to admit that so early in our new coach's tenure.

Ben Gooding · August 2, 2017

38 minutes ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

People are sensitive about SMU Jesus. He's very publicly staked out this position of "we only recruit Texas," and many people here like that...even though the hard evidence has shown that since 1969 only one school in Texas has won an national title outright: Texas in 2005.

Personally, if I'm an SMU fan and SMU Jesus doesn't have a winning season in his third year, that's a problem, given what the expectations were when he was brought in. And, knowing that in Year Three of June Jones, the hated Jones was taking the Ponies to their second consecutive bowl game.

History is what it is. And, people in Texas overly defend the "Texas first" or "Texas only" approach to recruiting that simply has proven not to work. If you recall, Todd Dodge initially talked that way when he got here.

So, my thread quoted a national sports article about George Dunham's rival and our 2017 opponent, SMU's schedule and how favorable it was to them. It was an echo of what the DMN had written earlier in the year here: https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/smumustangs/2017/02/09/smu-releases-2017-football-schedule

Perhaps people see SMU Jesus as a foreshadowing of what could happen here - consistently poor recruiting sinking the school even when the schedule is favorable. And, both UNT and SMU have favorable schedules in 2017. If they can't win this year, and we can't...it doesn't bode well for the future...

...and, many people here hate to admit that so early in our new coach's tenure.

People don't like to look at or face reality. It seems you, me and @MGNation92 are the only three that are consistently vocal about the facts. Not the what could be, or what should be, or walking around eyes wide shut, but facts. And the facts obviously aren't looking favorable for us. And people want to shun it as an over addressed hyperbole.

When recruiting was dipping for Dan McCarney and I swear as the sun goes down this evening, there were people saying, the very people saying it now, that recruiting doesn't matter as much as I (and others) say it does and the metrics are skewed. Then 2015 happened.

But recruiting woes are not SMU's problem, and IMO, they will win this year. Hopefully not against us, but they will have a winning season.

Edited August 2, 2017 by Ben Gooding

MGNation92 · August 2, 2017

11 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

People don't like to look at or face reality. It seems you, me and @MGNation92 are the only three that are consistently vocal about the facts. Not the what could be, or what should be, or walking around eyes wide shut, but facts. And the facts obviously aren't looking favorable for us. And people want to shun it as an over addressed hyperbole.

When recruiting was dipping for Dan McCarney and I swear as the sun goes down this evening, there were people saying, the very people saying it now, that recruiting doesn't matter as much as I (and others) say it does and the metrics are skewed. Then 2015 happened.

But recruiting woes are not SMU's problem, and IMO, they will win this year. Hopefully not against us, but they will have a winning season.

While I tend to agree with you on how terrible Littrell's recruiting has been and the negative side effects it will have on the program, I'm still in a "wait and see" mode. Only reason being is that seeing the guys that McCarney brought in with no other offers, you could see on tape, why these guys had no other offers.

I think Littrell is at least finding kids that could play in high school, and hoping they'll translate into results on the field in college. Will that happen? We just have to wait and see

UNTLifer · August 2, 2017

I don't see 7 wins.

southsideguy · August 2, 2017

3 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

People don't like to look at or face reality. It seems you, me and @MGNation92 are the only three that are consistently vocal about the facts. Not the what could be, or what should be, or walking around eyes wide shut, but facts. And the facts obviously aren't looking favorable for us. And people want to shun it as an over addressed hyperbole.

When recruiting was dipping for Dan McCarney and I swear as the sun goes down this evening, there were people saying, the very people saying it now, that recruiting doesn't matter as much as I (and others) say it does and the metrics are skewed. Then 2015 happened.

But recruiting woes are not SMU's problem, and IMO, they will win this year. Hopefully not against us, but they will have a winning season.

We will have a winning season if we have decent qb play. If we have very good qb play i see a 8-4 season. I hope fine learned from his freshman year. Doesn't look like mason has grown any since last year. For our qbs to have a good year we have to learn how to block and qb need to learn when to throw it away.

Edited August 2, 2017 by southsideguy
b we will have

BTG_Fan1 · August 2, 2017

2 hours ago, southsideguy said:

We will have a winning season if we have decent qb play. If we have very good qb play i see a 8-4 season. I hope fine learned from his freshman year. Doesn't look like mason has grown any since last year. For our qbs to have a good year we have to learn how to block and qb need to learn when to throw it away.

Just got to hope that those 2 weeks of practices from the bowl game and pay off with the OL and QB room

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · August 3, 2017

18 hours ago, southsideguy said:

We will have a winning season if we have decent qb play. If we have very good qb play i see a 8-4 season. I hope fine learned from his freshman year. Doesn't look like mason has grown any since last year. For our qbs to have a good year we have to learn how to block and qb need to learn when to throw it away.

He's throwing multiple interceptions in practice to guys who also were lightly recruited, if at all, by FBS schools. It's a joke. Except Lamar, we are playing a schedule full of teams that are not relying on FCS/Division II offer guys.

We have a ridiculously winnable schedule. I just doesn't look like we have the roster to do it outside of a few guys - who were signed by McCarney: Kishawn McClain, Jeffery Wilson, and Turner Smiley.

southsideguy · August 3, 2017

i have to ask why McCarney lost to a fcs team in a blow out? Those were the players he recruited. We heard the same about Dodge recruits and McCarney. I may change my tune at the end of this season but i willing to give the team and the coaching staff a chance. He improved the team's win record last year so we will see if the team is rising or is sinking this year. I know i am optimistic and I wearing the green glasses but it is the start of the football season and I am fired up. I hear there is 4 star qb that might be available . I think Fine will improve he was true freshman last year.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · August 3, 2017

McCarney's team quit on him...because, they likely felt that he had mentally quit on them. There's only so far you can drive a horse that won't run. McCarney was at the point of seeing that it wasn't going to happen and retired early in his mind. UNT is a tough job, but you can't quit on the team you put together and expect things to go well.

McCarney made it worse by playing favorites with players too openly. All coaches have favorites, some (most?) just do a better job of hiding it. The coach he trusted to get QBs couldn't land a real FBS ready QB. In fact, most of the guys brought in at QB couldn't even cut the mustard at FCS or D II schools after they flamed out here. Some (Dajon Williams) simply never played again anywhere.

Also, after Skladany left, the defense was cooked. The McCarney/Skladany combo did great things at Iowa State, given their past. The same duo pushed us to one of four winning season in the last 22 years. But, once Skladany was gone, McCarney was pretty lost.

And, that's what turned many of us against his coaching regime. You had a guy who had been on a national championship staff during the Urban Meyer Florida era. And, a guy who turned up Iowa State to the point of consistently beating Iowa State and, finally, Nebraska - their long term in-state and border rivals respectively.

To me, the cracks were showing after a couple of recruiting seasons where supposed DL guru McCarney couldn't woo DT recruits who were better than we had seen in the then-recent past.

southsideguy · August 3, 2017

but the defense got cosh to coach them....lol. that guy has been terrible where he has been.

untjim1995 · August 3, 2017

1 minute ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

McCarney's team quit on him...because, they likely felt that he had mentally quit on them. There's only so far you can drive a horse that won't run. McCarney was at the point of seeing that it wasn't going to happen and retired early in his mind. UNT is a tough job, but you can't quit on the team you put together and expect things to go well.

McCarney made it worse by playing favorites with players too openly. All coaches have favorites, some (most?) just do a better job of hiding it. The coach he trusted to get QBs couldn't land a real FBS ready QB. In fact, most of the guys brought in at QB couldn't even cut the mustard at FCS or D II schools after they flamed out here. Some (Dajon Williams) simply never played again anywhere.

Also, after Skladany left, the defense was cooked. The McCarney/Skladany combo did great things at Iowa State, given their past. The same duo pushed us to one of four winning season in the last 22 years. But, once Skladany was gone, McCarney was pretty lost.

And, that's what turned many of us against his coaching regime. You had a guy who had been on a national championship staff during the Urban Meyer Florida era. And, a guy who turned up Iowa State to the point of consistently beating Iowa State and, finally, Nebraska - their long term in-state and border rivals respectively.

To me, the cracks were showing after a couple of recruiting seasons where supposed DL guru McCarney couldn't woo DT recruits who were better than we had seen in the then-recent past.

DMac just seemed to lose it...I'm sure the stroke had something to do with it, but the frustration of not being able to have recruits come to us instead of fighting for them every year just drained him. I'll say it again, but we haven't had someone that publically optimistic about UNT Football since Hayden Fry was here. For three eyars, it looked like it was all coming together, too, even though recruiting still sucked. But when 2013's season ended in the HoD Bowl win over UNLV, we got absolutely no bounce--the fans didn't care enough to buy season tickets after the best season we had in over a decade, maybe longer, and even worse, TX HS Coaches and recruits didn't care as we got no bump upward. Then in 2014, we regressed backwards at QB and our recruiting class was dead-ass last in the FBS.

Why recruiting here is so impossibly hard is frustrating, but I get why it is this way. History of apathy has been just terrible to the program's reputation and we don't play people that get recruits' attention like it does at other similar G5s. Except for Dodge, with his great HS reputation to get skilled offensive players here, and Dickey getting a few gems that he managed to convince to come here in a few classes, this place has royally sucked at the recruiting game since 1995 when we moved back up. I'm still at the point of only believing that recruiting can be fixed here when I actually see it get fixed here with a few solid classes at the top quartile of G5s (P5s aren't a reasonable comparison, IMO). Otherwise, its the toughest part of being the UNT Football Coach.

BTG_Fan1 · August 4, 2017

16 hours ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

He's throwing multiple interceptions in practice to guys who also were lightly recruited, if at all, by FBS schools. It's a joke. Except Lamar, we are playing a schedule full of teams that are not relying on FCS/Division II offer guys.

We have a ridiculously winnable schedule. I just doesn't look like we have the roster to do it outside of a few guys - who were signed by McCarney: Kishawn McClain, Jeffery Wilson, and Turner Smiley.

So we praise Mac for those guys, the same guys who got destroyed by Portland State...

SL recruits have not had the time here that any of those guys have had. We can compare the lists in a few years

golfingomez · August 4, 2017

On 8/2/2017 at 11:44 AM, untjim1995 said:

Not sure why that thread got closed, but I predict the Ponies go 7-5. That home schedule is very winnable. SFA, us, Arky State, UConn, Tulsa, UCF, and Tulane. Athlon predicts them to go 7-5, as well.

yeah, but they have to play Russia St.