We meet again, Dr. Jones.

Boy, having this much time away from Wolf Pack football makes things somewhat more difficult when you have to get back into the swing of things, but here goes nuthin'.  Prepare for the Mustangs!

I hope everyone is having a very safe Pearl Harbor Day; while I was traveling down Virginia Street this morning I was almost hit head on by an elderly gentleman, who possibly served at Cantigny although I can't be certain, driving a behemoth of a truck who, when he tired of traveling behind a car driving a sane speed, swung out into the oncoming traffic in order to pass, nearly hit me, and in the process was nearly plowed out of life by a bus.  It's not often we get a snow like this one, so please drive safe for my sake and yours.

I guess we have plenty of time to delve into most of this SMU business, so we won't hit it all at once.  Besides, we want people to keep checking in, right...am I right!?

*cough*

Anyway, let's look at SMU.  The Mustangs finished second in their division (West) of Conference USA with a 6-2 conference record; overall Jones and crew went 7-5.  Their season record is as follows:

September 9, 2009 (W)
SMU: 31 vs. Stephen F. Austin: 23
(SFA is out of the FCS Southland Conference, where they finished 6-1, 10-3 overall.)

September 12, 2009 (W)
SMU: 35 at UAB: 33
(UAB finished 5-7, 4-4 in CUSA, for 5th place in the East Division.)

September 19, 2009 (L)
Washington State: 30 vs. SMU: 27 (OT)
(Washington State finished 1-11 and only scored more than 20 points twice [once vs. Hawai'i]; here's that single win.)

October 3, 2009 (L)
TCU: 39 vs. SMU: 14
(TCU, from the MWC, finished undefeated and is facing Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.  Need I say more?)

October 10, 2009 (W)
SMU: 28 vs. East Carolina: 21
(East Carolina finished 9-4, 7-1 in CUSA, and defeated Houston for the conference crown; here is that once conference loss.)

October 17, 2009 (L)
Navy: 38 at SMU: 35 (OT)
(Navy is 8-4 with their game vs. Army still pending, including wins over Notre Dame, Delaware, and, well, SMU, and a losses to Ohio State [27-31], Pitt, Temple, and Hawai'i.)

October 24, 2009 (L)
Houston: 38 vs. SMU: 15
(Houston finished 7-5, 6-2 in CUSA, first place in the West Division, and losing to East Carolina 32-38 in the conference championship game.)

October 31, 2009 (W)
SMU: 27 at Tulsa: 13
(Tulsa finished 5-7, 3-5 CUSA, 4th place in the West Division; the Golden Hurricane blew [and I really mean that] through most of October and November accumulating 6 consecutive losses before defeating a really bad Memphis team 33-30 in OT to close out the season.)

November 7, 2009 (W)
SMU: 31 vs. Rice: 28
(Rice finished 2-10, 2-6 in CUSA, 5th place in the West Division.)

November 14, 2009 (W)
SMU: 35 vs. UTEP: 31
(UTEP finished 4-8 overall, 3-5 in CUSA for third place in the hapless West Division.)

November 21, 2009 (W)
Marshall: 34 vs. SMU: 31
(Marshall finished 6-6 overall, 4-4 in CUSA for fourth place in the East Division and a bowl bid.)

November 28, 2009 (W)
SMU: 26 vs. Tulane: 21
(Tulane is really, really bad.  They finished 3-9 overall, 1-7 in CUSA for dead last in the West Division.)

SMU-
PF: 335 PA: 349 Dif: -14
Nevada-
PF: 487 PA: 326 Dif: +161
Dif-
PF: Nevada +152 PA: Nevada -23

What Sagarin has to say:

56 Nevada     A = 73.61 W- 8 L-4 Schedule=66.95(82) vs. Top 10: 0-1 vs. Top 30: 0-1
ELO CHESS=71.98  61
PREDICTOR=74.82  53

88 SMU         A = 66.24 W-7 L-5 Schedule=65.91(90) vs. Top 10: 0-1 vs. Top 30: 0-1
ELO CHESS=70.19 69
PREDICTOR=62.19 103

By Conference
9 WESTERN ATHLETIC (FBS) Mean = 66.35 Simple = 66.74 Average = ( 9)  Teams = 9
10 CONFERENCE USA (FBS) Mean = 64.83 Simple = 64.69 Average = ( 10) Teams = 12

More on this later.