Contributor @SMUMustangsOn3 | Former Notre Dame beat reporter | @SMU and @MedillSchool alum
Chicago, IL
Joined June 2012
- Tweets31.2K
- Following873
- Followers3.7K
- Likes2.4K
Patrick Engel retweeted
SMU trailed Cal 20-17 at half and won 59-20. The last time a team trailed at half and won by 39+ points came on Nov. 8, 2003 when Texas trailed Oklahoma State 16-14 at half and won 55-16
Unlike any expansion before or even realignment, a 24-team playoff fundamentally changes how we value and process on Saturdays from August through November.
Nobody was asking for that kind of
change to the regular season.
In short, these graphs from an SMU perspective:
SMU is a pretty efficient offense, a good anti-efficiency defense, good at generating explosive plays but below average at preventing them.
Marques White, SMU’s sack leader, enrolled in college when Chad Morris was still at Arkansas. He and fellow SMU DE Aakil Washington have 15(!) combined years of CFB experience.
They’re also two big seasons why SMU’s defense ranks top-15 in havoc rate on3.com/teams/smu-mustangs/n…
SMU had 567 yards on its own against Missouri State last week.
Today, the Mustangs and Boston College combined for 540. If you love sloppy execution, whew was this the game for you.
SMU is the only FBS team without a win when scoring under 24 points since 2014.
Its most recent was beating UTEP 17-0 on Oct. 6, 2012. If you want to remember some guys, take a look at the box score from that day.
Patrick Engel retweeted
.@PatrickEngel_ breaks down how SMU is the most explosive offense in college football so far this season.
Great look in his ‘Stangs Snaps and Stats: on3.com/teams/smu-mustangs/n…
SMU is 1st in FBS in yards per pass attempt, 1st in 20+ and 30+ yard plays, 2nd in comp. % and 5th in yards per play.
…but 35th in points per game and 52nd in points per drive.
Might be the most explosive offense in CFB. The scoring needs to reflect it on3.com/teams/smu-mustangs/n…
SMU outgained Missouri State by 353 yards and averaged nearly four more yards per play. It had 10 plays of at least 20 yards.
The Mustangs only won by 10.
For the second time this season, SMU went an entire half without punting (first half against Florida State being the other).
Those two halves featured 12 combined possessions. Only four ended in touchdowns. That’s a lot of empty yards.
After last week, SMU needed Louisville to find at least one loss on what appears to be a pretty light ACC schedule. All it took was one week.
Louisville is now 1-3 in the four games (all against unranked teams) following its top-20 wins under Jeff Brohm.
In two Power 4 games, SMU has allowed 6.1 yards per rush (when removing kneeldowns, sacks and bad snaps). Its three runs of 50+ yards allowed are more than all but one FBS team this year.
Big-play prevention starts with more playmaking from the front 7 on3.com/teams/smu-mustangs/n…
Through 2 full weeks, no FBS team has more 50+ yard passing plays than SMU (5). The team right behind with 4? It's Louisville. They're both top-5 in yards per pass.
Points and passing yards feel like they'll be plentiful this afternoon.
New: The @SMUMustangsOn3 staff makes their picks ahead of No. 16 SMU’s trip to face No. 23 Louisville.
Can the Mustangs notch another big ACC road win?
Story: on3.com/teams/smu-mustangs/n…
SMU set a school record with 16 players catching a pass in its win over UC Davis. I wondered how common that is across FBS and tried to find out.
Unsurprisingly, it’s pretty rare! Here’s how rare: on3.com/teams/smu-mustangs/n…
SMU has played five quarters of football this season and has five passing plays of at least 50 yards.
Florida State blitzed on 18 of SMU’s 39 dropbacks. It got pressure on only 9 of those dropbacks. That’s a big win for SMU’s pass protection.
But two blitzes with 7 rushers against 6 blockers resulted in two of the game’s biggest plays on3.com/teams/smu-mustangs/n…
