Spring Game

I took my oldest son to the Spring Game on Saturday and caught the first half. Strangely, according the box score, I saw all the scoring. I have yet to walk away from an SMU Spring Game believing that SMU has a well-oiled machine on its hands. DeMyron Martin looked better; Willis looked like he is recovering from a hand injury.

The defense looked okay. Maybe the secondary will be better than last year. Since you can't touch the quarterback, you can't judge the defensive line at all. That also probably means you can't fairly evaluate the quarterbacks either. A few years ago, Chris Phillips looked pretty good in limited Spring action, I think in large part because he knew he could sit in the backfield on every snap and avoided running.

These things are shows, more or less, and a reward of sorts for the kids that worked hard all month. What they are not, are serious contests. Case in point; there were no real teams on Saturday: No red offense and defense; no white/blue offense and defense. It was offense against defense all the way. Under those circunstances, I am trying to decide whether the 31-7 score is a good thing or not.

If it were up to me, I would give up pretending that you are trying to accomplish any real work at the Spring Game. Let the seniors be the captains of the two teams and let them pick the teams. Let them actually play and have a little fun out there. Some other schools do it that way. I think SMU doesn't because SMU needs to "work." While I agree with the sentiment, I have no expectations of really accomplishing anything at the game anyway.

At halftime, I left the stadium and saw they were selling old game-worn jerseys for $25.00 a pop. So I ask you, when else am I going to get the chance to buy a game worn 2004 Desmond Jones home jersey for $25.00? I mean, you have to, don't you?

My son and I then walked around the stadium towards the new Dedman Center, which I have never been in. It is a very nice facility. First class, like every other SMU building. Saw the sunning pool. Probably lingered near the sunning pool a little too long. I mean . . . yeah. What was I talking about?

Of course, along the way, we walked through Doak Walker Plaza, which brings me to the real issue of the day.

Uniforms

There is some discussion about uniforms lately. Yes, there is a push to make the colors throughout the athletic department consistent (as well as the University as a whole). But there are a couple of things to consider.

First, SMU has one more year on its Nike contract. That isn't to say the uniforms cannot change. It does mean that if next year SMU switches to Under Armour or Adidas or Reebok, the uniforms will have to change again, at least subtly. For example, Nike is the only company doing piping on the jerseys right now.

Rumor is Adidas wants SMU bad. That may be soccer related. I don't know. I do know kids like Nike. I have a hard time believing Coach Doherty wants anything else.

Second, Bennett apparently really likes the blue helmet. It is his baby. I hated the blue helmet at first. The current blue helmet with red mustang outlined in silver is improved over the original non-outlined mustang version. I still prefer the white helmet with red mustang. But if they change the helmets to green with pink mustangs and SMU wins, nobody is going to care.

So, in brief, expect no major changes this year.

And for the record, the administration doesn't think "2008: New Coach, New Unis, New Attitude!" is very funny.

Post-NCAA Tournament

As I am posting this, it looks like Florida will repeat.

I have a few friends that are alums of Ohio State. This is to make them feel better. BTW, don't watch this at work, especially with the speakers up. You were warned.



See, this is the in-depth coverage you don't get on Orsini's blog.

Actual SMU football related post tomorrow. I had a long boulevard-related discussion today. Very insightful. Waiting for a little more information, before posting.