POST GAME THOUGHTS-SMU

There's still 13:10 left in the game, but I'm going to go ahead and do this because my kids need to be fed soon enough. The score was A&M: a lot to SMU: very little.

Given how much of a laugher this game was, instead of breaking down the offense and defense individually, I'm just going to give you the good news and the concerning news.

Good news

The offense was able to get more than a few quick scores, once we got into our groove. Also, we didn't miss Speedy at all, with Jeremy Tabuyo stepping up into his role very very well. The offensive line gave Kenny (and later Kyle) plenty of time, and the RBs were productive.

Defensively, the front four was pretty stout. Darrell Jackson has star like capabilities, and it was great to see Justin Manning getting in and being productive. I've been saying all year long that Jay Arnold needs to see more time, and with Ivan Robinson being out we finally saw him out there. I thought the front four of Myles/Daeshon, Williams, Jay, and Obi was pretty solid.

LBs did a decent job as well. So so so good to have Shaan Washington back from injury. He's got incredibly burst and can fly to the ball. He's the playmaker we're missing at our outside LB spots. I can only imagine what a combo of Hilliard, Washington and Mastro would be like.

The secondary was okay. Few breakdowns. Nothing notable.

And how about our mascot corporal? Needs to wrap up next time, but solid effort in protection IMO.

Concerning News

I know my expectations are high. We're winning 51-3 and I'm still concerned. It feels like anything less than perfection will lead to disaster against teams like...say...Arkansas next week. Whether that is offensively or defensively, we have to be perfect. Is that unrealistic to expect? We were pretty darn close to perfect against SC...

We had another maddeningly slow offensive start filled with sloppy penalties and mental mistakes. Again, my expectations are incredibly high, but three points in two possessions against a team like SMU is unacceptable. We need that fast start game in and game out to give us breathing room.

Kenny had a good game once he settled in. Sounds like a broken record, but he's great in the short/intermediate game but struggles with the long ball (aside from the one beautiful ball he had early in the game). He and Ricky just didn't seem to be on the same page today.

Defensively, like I said the front four is solid, but it seemed like our LB corps vacated the middle of the field a lot leading to us being gashed...especially on draws. That cant happen against Arkansas, who come to Dallas with an incredibly talented group of...

THERE YOU GO DEVANTE. WAY TO LAY A LICK SON. SO GOOD TO SEE YOU OUT THERE MAN. SO DAMN GOOD

sorry, there's a game on...RBs who are not only tough between the tackles but can finish strong as well.

Bottom line

We covered the spread. We didn't get the shutout (sad trombone), but on the whole it seemed like a better performance than we had against Rice (right? I know it's SMU though).

Lots of stuff to clean up, but plenty of time to do it. Time to get ourselves back together and get things ready to go for Arkansas.

BTHO arky.