New AP poll - look who checks in at No. 13

[82 Frog Fever]

It would have been Donati hiring him, so I doubt things would be much different.

SMU is benefitting from this being all fancy and new and exciting for them, so they are all pulling in the same direction. Contrast that with a good portion of our fanbase, and more importantly boosters, rather seeing us fail because Dykes made their guy look bad, and there is a big difference.

Not to mention Dykes left SMU in great shape. Lashlee was able to come in with a running start.
In contrast, Dykes took over a dumpster fire program with almost no underlying freshman/sophomore talent.

 

[Dutch]

This is my chance to once again say I am the guy who thinks it was wrong to drop the SMU game so we can play SFA or Tarleton.

 

[LVH]

yup. the kinda got bit by the injury bug lately. hopefully they get em healed up and finish out. They don't really have any big tests on their schedule after Pitt, so they need to look really good in case they get to the conf title game and come up a little short.

No Miami, no Clemson, no Virginia Tech

Pitt was undefeated but if you look at their resume its not great. A lot of miracle victories against bad teams. That's why they were only ranked 18 despite being 7-0.

SMU will probably go 11-2 with a loss to Miami in the ACC title game. Probably on the wrong side of the playoff bubble since they will have no ranked wins, for the same reason they got the NY6 snub last year - swung and miss in their only 2 games against ranked opponents.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

This is my chance to once again say I am the guy who thinks it was wrong to drop the SMU game so we can play SFA or Tarleton.

That’s not what’s happening. They are scheduling 1 Power team, 1 Group team, & 1 FCS team. The Power teams have already been scheduled to 2030.

 

[mcdaddy]

Only loss is to undefeated BYU by 3 points.

SMU is making the most out of their ACC invite. Good for them.

ACC "invite"

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

Unfortunately, we had the same opportunity and blew it. SMU deserves some credit.

Our schedule wont be this weak again for some time.

 

[Frog Attack II]

Our schedule wont be this weak again for some time.

This is true... But who knows what the future holds... After last year, I was hoping that we would pull a BYU this year because of the way we killed them in '23.... Additionally, when we looked and saw Utah (road) with Okie State and AZ, I thought it was a tough schedule... All 3 were league favorites in many polls.. Come to find out, they absolutely stink this year... Again, who knows?

 

[ECM]

SMU will probably go 11-2 with a loss to Miami in the ACC title game. Probably on the wrong side of the playoff bubble since they will have no ranked wins, for the same reason they got the NY6 snub last year - swung and miss in their only 2 games against ranked opponents.

Right now we have two wins over ranked teams- Louisville and Pitt.

According to ESPN, right now we'd have a 44% chance at the CFP if we win out and then lose to Miami in the ACC champ game. We'd probably get snubbed for an 11-1 Indiana team that gets shellacked by Ohio State and has zero ranked wins.

 

[TopFrog]

Benefitting from a usually weak ACC this season. Timing is everything.

Scoreboard.

 

[PE Frog]

Not to mention Dykes left SMU in great shape. Lashlee was able to come in with a running start.
In contrast, Dykes took over a dumpster fire program with almost no underlying freshman/sophomore talent.

Not true at all. Dykes left with the potentially best recruiting class SMU would've had in years. You saw how we man handled their fronts last year in the Carter.

This is due to Lashlee making a focused effort to add 4 star transfers to the OL and DL for 2024. These are not SD players overall. He also mixed in multiple skill player transfers from Miami that are net new this season.

The tight end who scored vs Pitt played for Michigan in the Natty last year.

 

[LisaLT]

SMU has played well this year and earned some bragging rights. They are earning it on the field, just like we did in 2022. I hope we stop worrying about what others are doing and only worry about what WE are doing. Or not doing.

 

[TooColdU]

That’s not what’s happening. They are scheduling 1 Power team, 1 Group team, & 1 FCS team. The Power teams have already been scheduled to 2030.
View attachment 16616

Don't think I'd call any of those "Power" teams. Geez what a weak ass lineup.

 

[bp4tcu]

Imagine stealing your rival’s head coach, only for it to be a huge upgrade for them and massive downgrade for you.

Could only happen here. feelsbadman

 

[Wizard]

Benefitting from an usually weak ACC this season. Timing is everything.

What? Look at our schedule lol and SMU dog walked us btw...

It's infuriating that this is where we are but downplaying what they're doing makes us look pathetic

 

[An-Cap Frog]

Right now we have two wins over ranked teams- Louisville and Pitt.

According to ESPN, right now we'd have a 44% chance at the CFP if we win out and then lose to Miami in the ACC champ game. We'd probably get snubbed for an 11-1 Indiana team that gets shellacked by Ohio State and has zero ranked wins.

FWIW I have them at 16 in my poll.

Pitt will lose 2 more games BTW.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

Not true at all. Dykes left with the potentially best recruiting class SMU would've had in years. You saw how we man handled their fronts last year in the Carter.

This is due to Lashlee making a focused effort to add 4 star transfers to the OL and DL for 2024. These are not SD players overall. He also mixed in multiple skill player transfers from Miami that are net new this season.

The tight end who scored vs Pitt played for Michigan in the Natty last year.

Lashlee has been at SMU for 2 years. It would be dumb to say he hasn’t added players in 2 years; however, Lashlee inherited a depth chart that was far more talented and deeper than Dykes did at TCU.
Hell, Dykes had to sign 10 transfers in Dec 21 just to fill out TCU’s front-line depth chart, and he had only a handful of freshmen and Sophomores that would ever play at TCU.

 

[Wexahu]

Imagine stealing your rival’s head coach, only for it to be a huge upgrade for them and massive downgrade for you.

Could only happen here. feelsbadman

Huge upgrade and massive downgrade? College football fans jumping to conclusions is funny. How about giving it a little time and letting things play out a bit? As for the downgrade, our current coach is winning at the same clip his predecessor did. How is that a massive downgrade?

I remember when everyone thought Lincoln Riley was the most can't miss coach out there.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

Don't think I'd call any of those "Power" teams. Geez what a weak ass lineup.

You have no idea if any of those teams will be good/bad 2 to 7 years from now.
You have no idea if TCU or SMU will be good 2 to 7 years from now.
You have no idea who will be coaching any of these teams 2 to 7 years from now.
You have no idea what CFB will even look like 2 to 7 years from now.
You have no idea, period.

 

[Chongo94]

Lashlee has been at SMU for 2 years. It would be dumb to say he hasn’t added players in 2 years; however, Lashlee inherited a depth chart that was far more talented and deeper than Dykes did at TCU.
Hell, Dykes had to sign 10 transfers in Dec 21 just to fill out TCU’s front-line depth chart, and he had only a handful of freshmen and Sophomores that would ever play at TCU.

This is where I get frustrated though. And I’m not calling you out 82, just using this as an example. The coach at Indiana had to replenish nearly as many players as this if not more if I remember correctly and he’s already got them performing better than they have in well, almost forever it seems. If he wins one more game at Indiana he will have had double digit win seasons at 3 of his 4 head coaching stops. Dykes will have 2 in his entire head coaching record, and that includes our NC run.

If you take away Dykes’ NC run year with us, his career record is 51-55. 51-55…..that is indicative. My point with all this is there are good coaches out there if one is willing to look hard enough. Were we?….I kinda doubt it. We went for the the hottest dish on the neighborhood diner menu that smelled good and did some quality spice work for a bit but now that it’s chosen to franchise out, it doesn’t seem to have any flavor (recently and historically speaking.)

The Indiana coach has never had a losing season at any school he’s been at his entire head coaching career. A good coach is a good coach regardless of location. There are good coaches out there and while the jury may not be out on Dykes yet, his career record for me and the last two seasons are evidence that my jury is definitely starting to lean one way over the other.

 

[Wexahu]

This is where I get frustrated though. And I’m not calling you out 82, just using this as an example. The coach at Indiana had to replenish nearly as many players as this if not more if I remember correctly and he’s already got them performing better than they have in well, almost forever it seems. If he wins one more game at Indiana he will have had double digit win seasons at 3 of his 4 head coaching stops. Dykes will have 2 in his entire head coaching record, and that includes our NC run.

If you take away Dykes’ NC run year with us, his career record is 51-55. 51-55…..that is indicative. My point with all this is there are good coaches out there if one is willing to look hard enough. Were we?….I kinda doubt it. We went for the the hottest dish on the neighborhood diner menu that smelled good and did some quality spice work for a bit but now that it’s chosen to franchise out, it doesn’t seem to have any flavor (recently and historically speaking.)

The Indiana coach has never had a losing season at any school he’s been at his entire head coaching career. A good coach is a good coach regardless of location. There are good coaches out there and while the jury may not be out on Dykes yet, his career record for me and the last two seasons are evidence that my jury is definitely starting to lean one way over the other.

Mike Houston, the guy at James Madison before Cignetti was 37-6 in his three seasons there and won a National Title in 2016, then went on to East Carolina and has gone 27-38 in six seasons there, worse than his predecessors. Prior to ECU his career record was 80-25 in eight years of coaching with one losing season (5-7). Certainly with tha kind of record Mike Houston is (or was, I guess) a good coach, right? Then why the struggles at ECU?

When picking coaches, hindsight is awesome. And let's give Cignetti a little time. I have a good friend who went to IU and just talked to him yesterday about how good the Hoosiers were. He said this new coach brought a bunch of his better upperclassmen players over from JMU and they were ready to go from Day 1. Let's see what happens when that immediate pipeline of seniors isn't available in the coming years, and they have a target on their back. I'm not saying he's going to fail but the numbers of coaches at IU that got everyone all excited for a bit only to come quickly back down to earth is pretty long.

Final point, count up all the double digit seasons coaches have had at La Tech, Cal, and SMU through the years. Where you coach is a huge factor in W-L records. Nick Saban was 34-24-1 at Michigan State. In the 15 years Lou Holtz was at William & Mary, NC State, Minnesota, and South Carolina he never had a double digit win season. Only when he was at Arkansas (when they were in the SWC) or at Notre Dame was he able to do that.