Defense. I was wondering if we had it after last year didn't produce much better that the year before. But Hill and group have recruited well. How many 3 man fronts did we see tonight that didn't end up giving the opposing team a 20 yard gain? A lot. Bodies. It takes bodies, good bodies to run any defense. And its obvious Hill and group not only recruited well, but coach well. After SIU's qb had some great escapes/runs. We managed smu's 2nd qb really well. Also, they have great blitzes. Amazing how they change the game.

Offense. TE are still a work in progress. Blocking needs work. Early on, some great catches. Then they kind of disappeared.
WRs. either the qb just can't make reads, or these guys still can't get open enough. Plus there were a number of drops. Perhaps that is a function of pass velocity and not ability.
RBs. They did well. Martin should be a top shelf guy, and he was doing well. Ropati stops and looks to much. but considering we were on our 4th guy and he did a nice job.
OL. Much better than last year. Still a ways to go. Run blocking still a struggle at times but much better.
QB and OC. Well, they don't have it. Arod just doesn't seem to understand what we can and can't do against a d. Seems more often than not, we are running the play the defense expects. Our qb gets rattled way to easily, and the coaches should of known that from last year, but its still happening this year. 10-11 qbs, some been with the program mulitple years, and we can't get a top shelf guy? Yea, I know, that is harder than we think. but it happens elsewhere. Also, it seems we frequently run plays to the side with more d players than o players.

Players. Now that they are professionals, I feel we can criticize them a little more, but not to much.
The D has it. So many of them stepped up and nailed it when they needed to. No more lost in "I'm playing my zone" ..... To many to name, but there are several who seem to have it. to have the ability to make the needed play.
The O? Many of them play very well, but despite their desire to take it to the other team with the "it" factor and dominate? Lassiter's catch and run seems the only play that really stood out as an it play. a couple guys on the line were doing really well. But on many of these run plays, it seems we just aren't getting the block needed. Maybe that's more a function that Arod's plays are easy to recognize.
Jake may be a gamer, but you can't panic for long, long stretches like he did. When he through that one into the dirt 3 feet from the reciever, the oline's body language was like, what in the heck? they were not ready to go to bat for him. Something needs to change here, or we won't be going bowling.