SMU Whips the Wave 37-20

[tpstulane]

Bottom line we didn’t beat a team with a winning record.

[anEngineer]

this is the first team in the fritz era that didn’t improve throughout the season. That I dont like .

I am just not sure you can say that given the schedule we had. Our competition in the first 6 games went 27-43. For the last 6 games they were 51-20. That's a huge difference. Two had double digit wins and two won 9. We just don't have 9-win talent yet.

[TURVS71]

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but I do think Willie Fritz is the right guy. It's hard to win here, everyone knows that. Also, our talent level has gone up and we have a very good committed class for next year. I guess we'll keep Hall for 1 more year.

I can understand the Offense not getting that much better as the year went on because the competition got much better and our QB didn't really shine (not coming down on the young man, he gave it his all and is a winner). Don't know how good our back up is but I sure hope he can come on strong next year.

It's hard to win here? That's ridiculous. Being "here" has nothing to do with throwing interceptions, fumbling the ball, being one of the most penalized teams in the
FBS and coaching decisions and getting off to slow starts. No, being "here" has nothing to do with a 6-6 season

[winwave]

I think we were the better team tonight. At times it's frustrating to watch because we're our own worst enemy.

We lost more games this season than our opponents won. We could have been a 9 or 10 win team. I thought our offense would progress as the season moved on. It didn't; it regressed.

I don't know if anyone else experienced this, but up here in the Northeast ESPNU was running the ACC network showing Duke vs. Miami. Right before kickoff they ran a message on the bottom of the screen saying Tulane vs. SMU is on ESPNews. So I switched and found the game there. Then on the first possession, when Tulane took a timeout before 4th down, ESPNews switched to an FCS playoff game (Villanova vs. I don't know!) They didn't tell us that our game was now back on ESPNU. WTF? Switching channels in the middle of the game? And I can only imagine what the Duke and Miami fans thought!!!

The I don't know team playing Villanova was SELA. They are coached by Frank Scelfo. Very happy for him as he had lost his job as the OC at UTSA and then gets his first college HC job. They were down a lot in the first half but came back to win. Congrats to Frank. Much deserved. He's running RR's offense there.

[tpstulane]

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but I do think Willie Fritz is the right guy. It's hard to win here, everyone knows that. Also, our talent level has gone up and we have a very good committed class for next year. I guess we'll keep Hall for 1 more year.

I can understand the Offense not getting that much better as the year went on because the competition got much better and our QB didn't really shine (not coming down on the young man, he gave it his all and is a winner). Don't know how good our back up is but I sure hope he can come on strong next year.

It's hard to win here? That's ridiculous. Being "here" has nothing to do with throwing interceptions, fumbling the ball, being one of the most penalized teams in the
FBS and coaching decisions and getting off to slow starts. No, being "here" has nothing to do with a 6-6 season

+1
$17 million in additional funding to athletics. That hard to win here excuse needs to be put to bed.

[winwave]

I think we were the better team tonight. At times it's frustrating to watch because we're our own worst enemy.

No doubt about that. Beyond frustrating.

But, we weren’t the better coached team...and that is really troublesome.

I think the three of us agree on that.

[Jaxwave]

I was worried when we went to more of a passing offense with McMillan it would not be successful and end up hurting the running game. Sure it looked good against bad teams but failed against better teams.

[Wave755]

I think we were the better team tonight. At times it's frustrating to watch because we're our own worst enemy.

We lost more games this season than our opponents won. We could have been a 9 or 10 win team. I thought our offense would progress as the season moved on. It didn't; it regressed.

I don't know if anyone else experienced this, but up here in the Northeast ESPNU was running the ACC network showing Duke vs. Miami. Right before kickoff they ran a message on the bottom of the screen saying Tulane vs. SMU is on ESPNews. So I switched and found the game there. Then on the first possession, when Tulane took a timeout before 4th down, ESPNews switched to an FCS playoff game (Villanova vs. I don't know!) They didn't tell us that our game was now back on ESPNU. WTF? Switching channels in the middle of the game? And I can only imagine what the Duke and Miami fans thought!!!

The I don't know team playing Villanova was SELA. They are coached by Frank Scelfo. Very happy for him as he had lost his job as the OC at UTSA and then gets his first college HC job. They were down a lot in the first half but came back to win. Congrats to Frank. Much deserved. He's running RR's offense there.

And, did you notice, UTSA finished the season 4-8 today?

And, as I posted before, when RichRod got the Michigan job Frank Scelfo gave an interview for one of the Michigan newspapers doing a biography of RR saying in 1998 he asked his brother Chris to remove his name from consideration for the Tulane job since RR had “earned it” but Chris refused.

Congrats, Frank Scelfo, a true friend of the Wave!

[Wave QB]

We don’t belong in a bowl game.

If we get offered, we need to go! We should never be at home during the Bowl season. I don’t care if we are 12-0 or 6-6. If you want our program to get better at recruiting or performing on a big stage, then we have to be seen during the Bowl Seaosn.

[DfromCT]

It's hard to win here? That's ridiculous. Being "here" has nothing to do with throwing interceptions, fumbling the ball, being one of the most penalized teams in the
FBS and coaching decisions and getting off to slow starts. No, being "here" has nothing to do with a 6-6 season

Well said. That's the toughest pill to swallow from the season: we didn't correct the same stupid mistakes we make regularly and made bad decisions both on the field and on the sidelines.

[RobertM320]

Bottom line we didn’t beat a team with a winning record.

We did have an oddly balanced schedule this year as far as opponent strength. If you look at the FPI rankings, five of our opponents were in the top 32 (all losses) and six of our opponents were #74 or lower (all wins.). The only one between 33 and 73 was Temple at #50. So for many years we were somewhere around #100. Fritz moves us to the 90s and 80s. This year he jumps us all the way up to #60. Our schedule just didn't really have any "average" teams for us to be competitive with. They were either much better than us, or much worse than us.

It actually IS possible to have improved as a team without it showing in the record.But you can't say we didn't improve.

For comparison:
2019 - #60
2018 - #80
2017 - #91

A jump from #91 to #60 only shows a one game difference in record. Sometimes, its not that you're bad. It really IS just that your opponents are better.

https://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=8092&s=308075

[DfromCT]

Bottom line we didn’t beat a team with a winning record.

We did have an oddly balanced schedule this year as far as opponent strength. If you look at the FPI rankings, five of our opponents were in the top 32 (all losses) and six of our opponents were #74 or lower (all wins.). The only one between 33 and 73 was Temple at #50. So for many years we were somewhere around #100. Fritz moves us to the 90s and 80s. This year he jumps us all the way up to #60. Our schedule just didn't really have any "average" teams for us to be competitive with. They were either much better than us, or much worse than us.

It actually IS possible to have improved as a team without it showing in the record.But you can't say we didn't improve.

For comparison:
2019 - #60
2018 - #80
2017 - #91

A jump from #91 to #60 only shows a one game difference in record. Sometimes, its not that you're bad. It really IS just that your opponents are better.

https://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=8092&s=308075

After starting 5-1 our schedule got tougher, no doubt. But our play did not improve, which is what we're not happy with. We made the same stupid mistakes and decisions getting to 5-1 as we did on the back end going 1-5. If you look back on this board when we were 5-1 (and every week since), there was no shortage of comments about how we better correct the mistakes on the field and on the sidelines or else we weren't going to win many more game.

I don't think many are happy with 6-6. The team definitely did not improve as the season progressed.

[OUG]

This game was there for us and the coaching lost it. Sure, it was 17 points, but there were multiple decisions made (in addition to falling behind 14-0 at the start and being unprepared again!) that the coaches simply have to take responsibility for. It isn’t good enough to say we don’t have the talent. We are out here losing to Temple, Navy, SMU — not just UCF and Cincy. The issue is not just talent.

As just one microcosm, I do not understand how you can justify going for it on 4th and 4 from the 6 down 4 points in the beginning of the fourth quarter, against a prolific offense like SMU... We spent the whole third quarter successfully shortening the game and then we open ourselves up to a two score deficit for no reason! There is no chance the analytics book told us to go for it in that situation on the road; and if it did, Fritz should burn it.

We are out here losing to Temple, Navy, SMU --

Temple is the only team to beat Memphis all year, and they'll be 9-4 if they win their bowl.
Navy will be a 10 win team if they close out this win against Houston and beat Army next week.
SMU is a 10 win team.

I mean, you say "not just UCF and Cincy" but are these other three any less talented?

Six losses: A good chance two of the six are to teams playing in an NY6 bowl (Memphis and Auburn)
A third was a grand total of 7 points away from being undefeated for the third year in a row (UCF)
Two others will have 10 wins.

Its very possible that 5 of our six losses will have come to teams with 10+ wins by the time the season is over. Not sure what we're all expecting, but that's a tougher schedule than ANY team in the ACC or Pac12 played.

My point is that they’re all good teams, but you cannot seriously argue that we haven’t been recruiting at a competitive level with Navy, SMU, and Temple.

When we lose to a UCF I’ll buy the idea that Fritz doesn’t have the pieces. When we lose to Navy, SMU, and Temple, I don’t buy that excuse.

[Wave755]

This game was there for us and the coaching lost it. Sure, it was 17 points, but there were multiple decisions made (in addition to falling behind 14-0 at the start and being unprepared again!) that the coaches simply have to take responsibility for. It isn’t good enough to say we don’t have the talent. We are out here losing to Temple, Navy, SMU — not just UCF and Cincy. The issue is not just talent.

As just one microcosm, I do not understand how you can justify going for it on 4th and 4 from the 6 down 4 points in the beginning of the fourth quarter, against a prolific offense like SMU... We spent the whole third quarter successfully shortening the game and then we open ourselves up to a two score deficit for no reason! There is no chance the analytics book told us to go for it in that situation on the road; and if it did, Fritz should burn it.

We are out here losing to Temple, Navy, SMU --

Temple is the only team to beat Memphis all year, and they'll be 9-4 if they win their bowl.
Navy will be a 10 win team if they close out this win against Houston and beat Army next week.
SMU is a 10 win team.

I mean, you say "not just UCF and Cincy" but are these other three any less talented?

Six losses: A good chance two of the six are to teams playing in an NY6 bowl (Memphis and Auburn)
A third was a grand total of 7 points away from being undefeated for the third year in a row (UCF)
Two others will have 10 wins.

Its very possible that 5 of our six losses will have come to teams with 10+ wins by the time the season is over. Not sure what we're all expecting, but that's a tougher schedule than ANY team in the ACC or Pac12 played.

My point is that they’re all good teams, but you cannot seriously argue that we haven’t been recruiting at a competitive level with Navy, SMU, and Temple.

When we lose to a UCF I’ll buy the idea that Fritz doesn’t have the pieces. When we lose to Navy, SMU, and Temple, I don’t buy that excuse.

Sagarin has Memphis 18, UCF 26, Navy 29, Cincy 32, SMU 34, Tulane 62 & Temple 68. https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/s ... onference/
Only Memphis “blew us out,” Navy, UCF, Temple & SMU were all winnable games. Not winning at least one of those 4 is very depressing indeed.

The Memphis defeat seems to have “sucked the wind” out of the Wave for this season. The days of the “Buffet” Bob Toledo/CJ total blowouts are over, but this team with many talented players simply never did come back together after the Memphis loss for the second half of this season.

[DrBox]

I think we were the better team tonight. At times it's frustrating to watch because we're our own worst enemy.

No doubt about that. Beyond frustrating.

But, we weren’t the better coached team...and that is really troublesome.

That's the bottom line. Things clearly weren't right since the Memphis game; but the SMU was the first time we looked objectively poorly coached. And a poorly coached Tulane has no chance.
Don't know what happened (players lost interest?; coaches lost interest?), but he needs to fix it between now and the bowl game.

[Jaxwave]

All about QB play. Better teams in AAC had it, we didn’t.

[HoustonWave]

This game was there for us and the coaching lost it. Sure, it was 17 points, but there were multiple decisions made (in addition to falling behind 14-0 at the start and being unprepared again!) that the coaches simply have to take responsibility for. It isn’t good enough to say we don’t have the talent. We are out here losing to Temple, Navy, SMU — not just UCF and Cincy. The issue is not just talent.

As just one microcosm, I do not understand how you can justify going for it on 4th and 4 from the 6 down 4 points in the beginning of the fourth quarter, against a prolific offense like SMU... We spent the whole third quarter successfully shortening the game and then we open ourselves up to a two score deficit for no reason! There is no chance the analytics book told us to go for it in that situation on the road; and if it did, Fritz should burn it.

Exactly!!! It’s crazy to point to just two or three plays as changing the direction of the game. There were countless chances for us to take control of, and ultimately win, this game—starting with all the failed 3rd and 4th down plays. Also our decision to stop running after we had the SMU defense about to completely collapse late in the 3Q. Our coaching decisions and play calling bailed out SMU’s defense.

[anEngineer]

It's easy just to claim we were "outcoached" every time we lose a game. Is it outcoached when the other team just has better players? To me, being outcoached means you have clearly better players and lose. Every time this year that we had better players, we won... decisively. We lost some on the road when we were equal talent, but winning on the road is harder and is a step in program development. I just don't see the "outcoached" part; it just seems like something frustrated people say when they aren't sure what their specific complaints are.

[winwave]

It's hard to win here? That's ridiculous. Being "here" has nothing to do with throwing interceptions, fumbling the ball, being one of the most penalized teams in the
FBS and coaching decisions and getting off to slow starts. No, being "here" has nothing to do with a 6-6 season

Well said. That's the toughest pill to swallow from the season: we didn't correct the same stupid mistakes we make regularly and made bad decisions both on the field and on the sidelines.

Yep. It was maddeningly frustrating to see the same crap week after week. Locally it has been doubly frustrating because despite the fact that the Saints are winning they are committing an insane number of penalties every week. Won't win a Super Bowl that way.

[HoustonWave]

This should have been a 9-3 season! No excuses. I’m tired of hearing the back to back bowl BS....Frankly, at this point I am not really exited about our “bowl.” I’m more disgusted with the lack of coaching, execution and discipline of all parties. At some point you have to make the “leap” and win the games we let get away. Being happy for 6 wins, this year, just does not “do it for me!”

Bullseye!!! And even though our opponents in the back half of the season have impressive W/L records, we all know that we beat ourselves in the Navy, Temple and SMU games—making the mistakes (players and coaches) that we were making early in the season. How can we go the whole season and not figure out how to start playing before the middle of the 2Q? Super frustrating.

[Wave QB]

This should have been a 9-3 season! No excuses. I’m tired of hearing the back to back bowl BS....Frankly, at this point I am not really exited about our “bowl.” I’m more disgusted with the lack of coaching, execution and discipline of all parties. At some point you have to make the “leap” and win the games we let get away. Being happy for 6 wins, this year, just does not “do it for me!”

We “could” have been 9-3, but all of the last 3 bowl teams here “could” have won more games than they did. It’s just another annoying time to be a Green Wave fan.

Compared to what we have seen with our football program, sitting around bitching and complaining about a 6-6 record is a “leap” into the right direction. I don’t think anyone is “happy” about 6 wins. I think people are happy that we aren't a 2-5 win team sitting at home for the Bowl Season again while other 6 win programs get more media/college football showcase time than us. We need the recruits, and we need the attention in order to get things changed. This year, I am extremely disappointed at our guys for not winning at least 7 games. However, I am looking forward to seeing how we handle another bowl game.

It’s a new era and kids what to play for teams that are on TV during the bowl week. They want the attention, and they want their families to hear/see their names during major telecast.

If we get a bowl game, we need to take it, and win it.

[DfromCT]

If we get a bowl game, we need to take it, and win it.

I don't think there's any question that we're getting a bowl bid. And I would MUCH rather play in the XYZipper bowl if it's after Christmas than anything before Christmas. I really don't want the Wave to go back to the Cure Bowl.

But I also don't think in today's day and age there's a chance in hell we decline a bowl invite.

[HoustonWave]

This game was there for us and the coaching lost it. Sure, it was 17 points, but there were multiple decisions made (in addition to falling behind 14-0 at the start and being unprepared again!) that the coaches simply have to take responsibility for. It isn’t good enough to say we don’t have the talent. We are out here losing to Temple, Navy, SMU — not just UCF and Cincy. The issue is not just talent.

As just one microcosm, I do not understand how you can justify going for it on 4th and 4 from the 6 down 4 points in the beginning of the fourth quarter, against a prolific offense like SMU... We spent the whole third quarter successfully shortening the game and then we open ourselves up to a two score deficit for no reason! There is no chance the analytics book told us to go for it in that situation on the road; and if it did, Fritz should burn it.

We are out here losing to Temple, Navy, SMU --

Temple is the only team to beat Memphis all year, and they'll be 9-4 if they win their bowl.
Navy will be a 10 win team if they close out this win against Houston and beat Army next week.
SMU is a 10 win team.

I mean, you say "not just UCF and Cincy" but are these other three any less talented?

Six losses: A good chance two of the six are to teams playing in an NY6 bowl (Memphis and Auburn)
A third was a grand total of 7 points away from being undefeated for the third year in a row (UCF)
Two others will have 10 wins.

Its very possible that 5 of our six losses will have come to teams with 10+ wins by the time the season is over. Not sure what we're all expecting, but that's a tougher schedule than ANY team in the ACC or Pac12 played.

My point is that they’re all good teams, but you cannot seriously argue that we haven’t been recruiting at a competitive level with Navy, SMU, and Temple.

When we lose to a UCF I’ll buy the idea that Fritz doesn’t have the pieces. When we lose to Navy, SMU, and Temple, I don’t buy that excuse.

Exactly. We clearly had talent as good, and probably better than, Navy, Temple and SMU. We don't yet have the same talent as Memphis and UCF. To not win at least one of the Navy, Temple and SMU games is clearly on the coaching staff. It was uncanny how we continually failed to start executing until mid 2Q. Seemingly every game started with (1) a McM turnover; (2) one or more OL penalties, (3) zero DL pressure, and (4) usually a failed 4th down attempt. That same script happened over and over--like Ground Hog Day. It never got fixed.

[swampnik]

I think we were the better team tonight. At times it's frustrating to watch because we're our own worst enemy.

Box score bares that out. Could not capitalize at 21-17 with an excellent defensive stand in the 3rd says it all.

[sader24]

It's easy just to claim we were "outcoached" every time we lose a game. Is it outcoached when the other team just has better players? To me, being outcoached means you have clearly better players and lose. Every time this year that we had better players, we won... decisively. We lost some on the road when we were equal talent, but winning on the road is harder and is a step in program development. I just don't see the "outcoached" part; it just seems like something frustrated people say when they aren't sure what their specific complaints are.

In my opinion we were more talented than Navy and Temple. I saw us as in the neighborhood with SMU. I felt like we were seriously outcoached against Memphis, Navy 1st half, Temple, and SMU we weren’t outcoached as much as we just were poorly coached and made several bad in game coaching decisions. I’m not pushing for Fritz to be fired. I understand what he’s done here, but I didn’t see any improvement this season. I understand the difference in the early and late schedule, but from what I watched in all those games if the team was improving steadily we beat Navy and we beat at least one of SMU or Temple. We were not ready to play in the 1st half of most of our conference games including one that we won. I watched every game and that’s what I saw.