Thoughts On Smu

emmitt01 · September 3, 2007

1)Attendance announced at 27,000. Some on their board even predicted a sellout. Only at SMU do the fans think it's Halloween and come dressed as empty seats. Might have been 22-23,000 there but you could easily have bought a ticket and walked in to sit anywhere. And this with Tech bringing the crowd.

2)Losing out on Ryan Leonard to them will hurt. He is all over the place.

3)Pony up t-shirts look gayer than I could have imagined. Having it on the hats that your assistant coaches wear...well, they better watch out for Justin Willis.

4)Getting carved up by a team that is not in OU's stratosphere (just look at Leach's record against the top 25) is worse than losing by 69 to OU. Yes, it is. Stop it right now, don't argue, yes it is. Tech did it in SMU's house, against a team that people touted as a CUSA contender, with established players at all of SMU's skill positions. Last year's QB- check. Last year's best RB- check. Last year's 2 leading receivers- check. Opposing defense with a fraction of OU's size, speed or talent- not so much.

On a serious note, here's how I see things in terms of our keys to the game.

1)TACKLE. SMU has some good speed and wraps up when they get there. If we can't do this we will make them look far better than they are.

2)DB's. I don't know what happened to Dominique Green. I don't care. Evyn Roman will be eaten alive again if he is all we have. Our secondary needs to show a bunch more.

3)We should be able to move the ball on these guys. As I've said before and this game bore out, they play 10-12 yards off of their man in coverage. This may have just been respect for Tech's offense but I doubt it. If it were they would have changed strategies when they started to get carved up. Also, both safeties are brand new.

4)At least 3 out of 4 D-linemen for SMU are new. I know Tech's line is huge but the pressure was absolutely non-existent. I hope we can block half this well because....

5)Their linebackers are the weak spot. The best linebacker they had, Reggie Carrington, is gone and the rest are very average. If they have to step up in run support or to blitz (and please, pretty please let them yell "all out" before they come) the underneath route will be WIDE OPEN for us just like it was for Tech.

6)If I were SMU I would run Dickey Ball with the occasional designed QB run. Their #1 and #2 weapons are Demyron Martin and Justin Willis getting loose. If we force Willis to stay in the pocket he will get happy feet, run around and make bad throws. All the talk I heard about his newfound maturity? Please.

With this said they look to be able to get to the corner on their runs...anyone remember where we got torched on Saturday?

7)Vizza needs to start!! I know that he won't but he really needs to. Of the two QB's he seems to be the one who will stand in there and complete the throw. With patience the SMU secondary can be absolutely taken apart.

8)Crowd. SMU fans are so so easy to take out of the game. If we march in 7-10,000 strong and are vocal and loud we will drown them out and make the ponies feel like they are on the road.

I woke up Sunday morning still believing in a NT win. Nothing has changed after seeing the ponies.

Green Dozer · September 4, 2007

Right on Emmitt! Great post, and good insight. BEAT SMU!

MeanGreengdub · September 4, 2007

Emmitt, do you really think we can get that many people there? I'm asking that in all honesty. How many would you say we had at OU?? I was at OU but unfortunately, I was at Coaches watching the game.

NT03 · September 4, 2007

3)Pony up t-shirts look gayer than I could have imagined. Having it on the hats that your assistant coaches wear..

VERY ::

Edited September 4, 2007 by NT03

Green Crazy · September 4, 2007

Three thing's I'm worried about for the SMU game: 1. Henderson running back kickoffs. (if we're not better on special teams this week than we were agains OU, he could run two back.) 2. D Martin (that dude is nasty. he takes some big hits, because of his size, but a monster with the ball.) 3. Their secondary. (I thought they played pretty well against Tech in the first half, almost holding them to 14 for that half.)

We're going to need a really good game to pull a W out next week.

Cr1028 · September 4, 2007

How many would you say we had at OU?? I was at OU but unfortunately, I was at Coaches watching the game.

If I were a guessing man, I'd say between 500 and 1000 if you include the band.

CaribbeanGreen · September 4, 2007

3. Their secondary. (I thought they played pretty well against Tech in the first half, almost holding them to 14 for that half.)

Tech passed for 250 in the first half alone. Harrell was something like 23/26.

No excuses. We should compete with this team.

Green Crazy · September 4, 2007

Tech passed for 250 in the first half alone. Harrell was something like 23/26.
No excuses. We should compete with this team.

There is such a thing as empty numbers.

dodgefan · September 4, 2007

I didn't get to watch SMU and Tech, but after reading Emmitts report it sounds like NT should win this one!

Emmitt are you a coach? You seem to have a mass of information on SMU?

UNTFan23 · September 4, 2007

There is such a thing as empty numbers.

That's still a lot to give up ... in 30 minutes of football.

Ibleedgreen · September 4, 2007

I think we had at least 1000 at OU. From the north end zone, you could see three reasonably sized sections of green, plus the band. I was pleased with our turnout.

emmitt01 · September 4, 2007

Emmitt, do you really think we can get that many people there? I'm asking that in all honesty. How many would you say we had at OU?? I was at OU but unfortunately, I was at Coaches watching the game.

I think we can get that many there. If you consider that it is a very short drive to Dallas from Denton and couple that with the fact that a large number of our alums/fans will be coming directly from their homes IN Dallas I think it is not a pipe dream. I would say we took about 1,000 plus the band to OU. Our sections were so spread out that the numbers looked smaller....by the same token it was hard to get an accurate read so our numbers could have been smaller.

Green Crazy · September 4, 2007

That's still a lot to give up ... in 30 minutes of football.

I know, but Tech's o-line was the reason for a good portion of those yards, Harrell had all day to wait for a wr to come free...or get open. I'm just saying the SMU db's did a solid job against a good passing attack.

UNTBill · September 4, 2007

I think we can get that many there. If you consider that it is a very short drive to Dallas from Denton and couple that with the fact that a large number of our alums/fans will be coming directly from their homes IN Dallas I think it is not a pipe dream. I would say we took about 1,000 plus the band to OU. Our sections were so spread out that the numbers looked smaller....by the same token it was hard to get an accurate read so our numbers could have been smaller.

We should have a really good turn out for the game. I am bringing 8 and from what i've read on the board and

the people I've talked to, I'm guessing 3,000 plus UNT fans---I hope I'm wrong and its more like 6K.

GMG

Dodge2007 · September 4, 2007

1)Attendance announced at 27,000. Some on their board even predicted a sellout. Only at SMU do the fans think it's Halloween and come dressed as empty seats. Might have been 22-23,000 there but you could easily have bought a ticket and walked in to sit anywhere. And this with Tech bringing the crowd.
2)Losing out on Ryan Leonard to them will hurt. He is all over the place.
3)Pony up t-shirts look gayer than I could have imagined. Having it on the hats that your assistant coaches wear...well, they better watch out for Justin Willis.
4)Getting carved up by a team that is not in OU's stratosphere (just look at Leach's record against the top 25) is worse than losing by 69 to OU. Yes, it is. Stop it right now, don't argue, yes it is. Tech did it in SMU's house, against a team that people touted as a CUSA contender, with established players at all of SMU's skill positions. Last year's QB- check. Last year's best RB- check. Last year's 2 leading receivers- check. Opposing defense with a fraction of OU's size, speed or talent- not so much.
On a serious note, here's how I see things in terms of our keys to the game.
1)TACKLE. SMU has some good speed and wraps up when they get there. If we can't do this we will make them look far better than they are.
2)DB's. I don't know what happened to Dominique Green. I don't care. Evyn Roman will be eaten alive again if he is all we have. Our secondary needs to show a bunch more.
3)We should be able to move the ball on these guys. As I've said before and this game bore out, they play 10-12 yards off of their man in coverage. This may have just been respect for Tech's offense but I doubt it. If it were they would have changed strategies when they started to get carved up. Also, both safeties are brand new.
4)At least 3 out of 4 D-linemen for SMU are new. I know Tech's line is huge but the pressure was absolutely non-existent. I hope we can block half this well because....
5)Their linebackers are the weak spot. The best linebacker they had, Reggie Carrington, is gone and the rest are very average. If they have to step up in run support or to blitz (and please, pretty please let them yell "all out" before they come) the underneath route will be WIDE OPEN for us just like it was for Tech.
6)If I were SMU I would run Dickey Ball with the occasional designed QB run. Their #1 and #2 weapons are Demyron Martin and Justin Willis getting loose. If we force Willis to stay in the pocket he will get happy feet, run around and make bad throws. All the talk I heard about his newfound maturity? Please.
With this said they look to be able to get to the corner on their runs...anyone remember where we got torched on Saturday?
7)Vizza needs to start!! I know that he won't but he really needs to. Of the two QB's he seems to be the one who will stand in there and complete the throw. With patience the SMU secondary can be absolutely taken apart.
8)Crowd. SMU fans are so so easy to take out of the game. If we march in 7-10,000 strong and are vocal and loud we will drown them out and make the ponies feel like they are on the road.
I woke up Sunday morning still believing in a NT win. Nothing has changed after seeing the ponies.

Damn good post by Emmitt. I can't believe in his radio show that TD asked for the fans not to be discouraged and to show up and support. I really felt sorry for the guy to have to make that kind of statement. If Meager is on target we should get off to a good start. SMU actually played pretty good defense but just could not get any pressure on Graham. Tech has such great HOT reads when SMU tried to blitz. They execute better than any spread throwing offense in the country. UNT defense needs to give our offense great field position and we need to be able to run the ball some. Vizza runs better and gives us another dimension but we won't see him unless the game gets out of control again or unless Meager is flat out off his game.

kmb0204 · September 4, 2007

I hope im wrong but it seems like anytime driving is involved student numbers tend to be low. Although since the school dropped the ticket price this could prevent a number of negative problems. Also as far as I can tell, a lot of people are bringing their friends and family. Come Saturday I think we will be see a mass of Green.