First off, this was a really solid SMU football team, drastically improved from the last time they came to Lubbock.  Their skill position players didn’t impress me so much, but they have some quality talent on both sides up front.  LT Kelvin Beachum could start at any program in the Big 12.  The battle between Beachum and Brian Duncan was one of the more enjoyable sub-plots for football enthusiasts.  Duncan didn’t steal his cookies by running around Beachum.  RT J. T. Brooks is nasty and violent player, which ups his stock in my rating system.  While undersized, C Blake McJunkin was scrappy, could move around little and a fine technician.  Our sacks and pressure were the result of LB blitzes, stunts and good coverage.   The SMU OL was really well coached and I think they’ll give the Mustangs a chance against TCU.  They would also be an upgrade for many Big 12 teams.

The Pony DL was big and strong with good athleticism as a group.  Hunt seemed to receive all the ink, but I was more impressed with Thompson on the other side.  He gave Chris Olson all he wanted.   They do a nice job of occupying blockers in the run game for an undersized and active LB corps.  I won’t be surprised, if they win 9 or 10 games this season and are considered a solid victory by year end.  No one seems to be giving SMU credit for the quality of squad they’re fielding in 2010.   They’ll beat Rice by 3 TDs.  The trio of Hunt, Frazier and Thompson would either be starting or logging serious minutes at every Big 12 program outside of Austin.  We’ll only play 2 or 3 more teams this season, who will be as well-rounded on both sides of the ball in the trenches.

It’s good to see the Ponies back.  The state of Texas is a lot bigger than it was 20 years ago in the waning days of the SWC.  More programs are able to field competitive teams across the board and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are as many a 6 ranked teams from the state at some point.

MVP

I waffled back and forth between Will Ford and Cody Davis, but I finally realized we might not have won this game without Lyle Leong, or Chykie Brown’s Worst Nightmare, as I like to call him.  He catches everything, runs crisp routes and possesses a Harry Potterish wizardry skill of finding ways to create separation.  Leong has always intrigued me by his efficiency and productivity.  Splitting time with the Ed Britton Project, he played roughly half the snaps of Lewis and Torres in 2009.  However, his numbers were 42 catches for 513 yards and 8 TDs.  Double that and he’s our best receiver last year.  His 11 catches for 142 yards and 3 TDs puts him well ahead of that pace.  Neutralizing the September 18th affair to a Leong vs. Chykie game is going to give us a really good chance to win, if we can protect Potts.  Doubling the 6 for 80 and 2 TDs from last year’s contest is probably enough.

Offense

The playcalling was fine for me.  Execution graded out in stretches of good and bad.  SMU had enough talent in their front 7 to successfully make you pay for missed blocking assignments.  Bear in mind, Harrell and Crabtree only hung 43 on a much shittier SMU defense a couple of years ago.  We racked up 431 total yards and 35 points.  We were well on our way to 49 points from the end of the 1st quarter to mid-way through the 3rd scoring TDs on 5 of our 8 drives.    A dropped pass by Corndog on 3rd & 4 at the SMU 31 killed the next drive, followed with a blown blocking assignment by Batch resulting in Stephens getting stuffed on 3rd & 1 from our 34.  Our last drive started off promising and fizzled at the SMU 40.  We were predictably terrible at zone blocking, but after re-watching the game, it was apparent we made a lot of mental mistakes up front in the run game.  We’ve looked worse against less than solid opponents right out of the gate.  Most of the evidence that popped up on film can be corrected in weekly fashion.

QB

He got off to a shaky start in the 1st quarter, but after settling in, I thought Taylor Potts played very well.  He made a few ill-advised decisions on where to go with the football and was locking on receivers early in the game.  There was a day when 34-53 for 359 yards with 4 TDs and no interceptions would get you Heisman consideration.  Potts only killed a couple of drives with poor throws and the other two ended in missed FGs.  SMU dropped a lot of guys back in coverage and he definitely threaded some needles that Sheffield wouldn’t have had the arm to complete.  The fades to Leong were perfectly placed.  The TD to Lewis was one of the best passes I’ve seen him throw at Tech.   Mechanics were much improved.  Overall, a solid opening act with room for improvement. Some of those late throws on deep outs will potentially be turnovers facing Curtis Brown.  We can’t afford those kind of mistakes.  Getting Torres back will help tremendously.

RB

Our running game was frustrating to watch.  Of the 26 attempts, I considered 18 as successful plays.  That’s not bad.  However, half of those were the result of us actually getting a hat on someone and half were the result of second effort by Batch and Stephens.  They ran hard and fought for extra yards.  Batch was terrible in blocking.  He missed 2 or 3 blocks that would have resulted in springing Stephens to the 3rd level instead of having his legs cut out from under him near the line of scrimmage.

WR

We’ve covered Leong.  Lewis kept the chains moving with 6 catches for 79 yards and a TD, but more importantly, drew coverage away from Leong.  I did see him take a couple plays off.  Franks specializes in turning a 4 yard out into a 4 yard gain as evidenced by his 6 catches for 31 yards.  He had trouble getting over press coverage and rounded or tipped off other deeper routes beyond his lethal zone.  Swindall looks like his knee is still a little sore, but he contributed with a couple of nice plays.  The mustard on Potts’ balls were too spicy for Corndog.  However, he reeled in a couple of passes and showed why he’s the Sookie Stackhouse of our receiving corps.  We know we’ve got a weapon here, but how in the hell can we trust that he won’t sleep with a Were?  Nice special teams play, btw.  Eric Ward got on the stat sheet, but hasn’t found a way to get noticed much.

“Hand over your Corndog, I do say.”

OL

The good thing was pass protection.  We had a couple of breakdowns and SMU got through, but for the majority of the contest, Potts had all day to throw or a comfortable passing lane to step in to.  Thompson was a challenge for Olson, but he settled in and allowed for functionality.  I read a lot about Margus Hunt and he looked like a specimen.  Waddle was rarely challenged with him, and at one point, looked bored.  That’s a good sign and Waddle may be as good as advertised.

Now, the bad thing.  We ran around and played a bunch of grabass in run blocking.  Part of this can be attributed to playcalling.  Batch and Stephens were able to grind 2 or 3 yards out of our stretch play, but if we ask Deveric Gallington to reach block Sam Acho, we’re staring 2nd & 13 in the face.  I’m hoping we choose to shelve philosophical ambitions for the Texas playbook.  The remaining portion of fail can be chalked up to missed assignments.  Edwards was asked to run around a little more and looked stiff at times.  We ran a nice little counter play behind him with Stephens that I liked, but he had trouble locating his target at the 2nd level.  Gallington looked more athletic, while also struggling with job duties.  I  optimistically noted that when Gallington did get a hat on an SMU defender the odds started to swing heavily in our favor.   Keown let Frazier get away from him a couple of times, but Frazier moved around really well for 300 lbs.  SMU played him standing up at times where he used his hands well and took advantage of his lateral mobility.  That’s a tough matchup for a big center.  While Waddle’s pass blocking audition went well, he exhibited symptoms of amnesia and confusion trying to find his man in the run game.  Chris Olson was the weak link of the unit and he’s now my biggest question mark for the Texas game.  Olson seemed to struggle physically, while the others were merely frustrated about the ban on post-game Twinkies in the locker room.

Defense

As most of you probably were, I was extremely impressed with our coverage schemes.  I read Tuberville say he had never faced Jones and I’m guessing his level of respect for his playcalling abilities only went up.  Willis might have played Jones at the Falcons.   I was confused at times with what we’re doing at the micro-level, but the macro-level seems founded upon sound principles.  Let’s take our two best athletes, who we don’t trust at safety, and teach them one thing really well.  Don’t let anyone inside of you and wear this guy for a shirt.  Now, we’re playing 9 on 8 football inside the hashes.  Our guys at safety, who know how to do everything but cover enough ground to split verticals, are an asset to our perimeter run defense and protecting our LBs in coverage or facilitating blitzes.  We are trying to stop people.  We got gashed several times in the guessing game by straight dive plays, while we had outside stunts called with our DTs.  That didn’t go well.  We are capable of doing much better than 27 points, but you have to like the start for a new scheme.  I was most impressed with the effort level across the board and they were awarded accordingly with 5 sacks and 3 interceptions.  I figured hitting 14-17 points would have meant we’re beyond the curve.  We didn’t make it, but I doubt Davis drops that ball next time or I’ll ever see an 80-yard field goal again.

DL

As expected, Whitlock and Duncan were a force throughout.  It appears Duncan will be more than capable of replacing Brandon Sharpe’s 15 coverage sacks notching 3 in this game.  There aren’t a whole lot more Kelvin Beachums on his plate.  Duncan’s speed rush should be more lethal against some of the lesser athletes he’ll be facing for the rest of the year.  The remaining unit fell into the not  a weak spot category.  I didn’t see any of Kerry Hyder, Donald Langley, Scott Smith or Myles Wade get blown off the ball.  None of them are super speed rushers, but they did a good job of maintaining their lanes and playing containment.  We’re not counting of them for big sack numbers or a ton of pressure.  We’re counting on them to stay disciplined and reduce line of sight.  I think we’ll continue the trend of relying on our LB corps and Duncan when we want to get to the QB fast. Hyder looked the best to me.  Keep an eye on none other than Bobbie Agoucha.  He played the first snap of the 4th quarter and turned in a hurry up and get his ass in shape grade.  That kid is extremely strong.  I don’t think he’ll be an every down player, but he has potential as a true 2-gap NG.  Smith was close to getting around Beachum on back-to-back snaps to start the 4th quarter.  He’s going to be alright for us and his most important quality is that he plays with a motor.  This unit wasn’t necessarily flashy, but they weren’t hurting us by any means.

LB

A truly prototypical MLB is explosive.  When he comes into contact with anything, he detonates like a hand grenade.  I don’t think  Bird possesses that type of natural power and comes across as top heavy when OL get their hands on his shoulder pads.  He had a really rough game in the middle whiffing on some tackles and running himself out of several plays.  However, he was effective on the outside as well as shadowing the QB and running delayed blitzes, which makes him the best option for what we’re trying to do.  The 4th quarter sack was a big play for us.  Fehoko made one nice play that I recall, but was pretty much a non-factor other than losing containment.   It may not be long before Barr becomes a better option.  He’s really raw right now, but he’s a fluid athlete.  Julius Howard didn’t do anything spectacular and didn’t hurt us either.  Tyrone Sonier looked the best to me and had really good timing on blitzes.  We’re going to see a lot of movement with this unit early in the season and we still might see Bird over at Buck.  Cueball is huge and physically ready to play.  I think we’ll see more of him in the rotation as Willis gains confidence in his understanding of the defense.  None of them are perfect, but they were all playing hard and chipped in with some big plays here or there as a result.  I would expect to see the most progress with this unit over the season as they leave the most room for improvement right now.

DB

It’s been years since we’ve landed a warlock out of high school for our secondary, but that’s exactly what Will Ford is turning out to be.  You can never have too many warlocks in your secondary and Cody Davis played like one in this game as well.  Outstanding game, gentlemen.  Ford is going to challenge guys like Jeff Fuller and Malcolm Williams.  He got away with a blown coverage or two that SMU didn’t find.  Davis looked fast in his new role and he appeared to play the responsibility of a true SS for most of the game.  The dropped pick would have moved him past Leong for MVP.  Wow.  By far, the most improved player on our roster based upon game one.  If he continues at this level, I will behold him with a weapon label at some point.  Much better use of a talented football player.  D.J. Johnson was solid and physical.  While the interception was a tremendous play for us, he was beaten badly on the route and I don’t think Garrett Gilbert will underthrow that ball.  Keep an eye on this as it could be an indictment against Johnson’s top end speed.  Regardless, he’s a baller and competitor, and in most years, our #1 CB.  Phillips was getting beat to the flats early, but really played well after the break and recorded the gift pick.  Tre Porter got his career off to a fast start, but got lost afterwards and gave up a TD to Cole Beasley.  That puts you back on the bench under the new regime, but he is big and athletic with the warlock potential we desire.  I don’t remember any bad plays by Frank Mitchem and it appeared that will be his primary role going forward.  I’ll take 218 yards with 2 TDs and 3 interceptions any weekend.

Summary

We weren’t able to run them out of the stadium when we had them down 28-7 or 35-17 to start the 4th.  I felt a 4-TD win over a solid club like SMU would have made a significant statement.  My only real disappointment was that we didn’t finish strong and were outscored 10-0 in the 4th.  It’s not that we weren’t playing hard, we just weren’t executing like we had for the previous 2 quarters.  Fixable errors.  Not perfect, but a solid win over a respectable opponent.  This was the Houston game for us last year.   It feels a hell of a lot better than a loss to a respectable opponent.