Is that just me?

No, no.

And I think, look, there's a lot of good that has come with the changes.

We just need a little stability and a little bit of a framework so everybody can operate.

That's probably what's missing.

But to your point, with all the transfers, with all the movement, you don't have any super rosters anymore.

Nobody's stacking two and three and four deep.

What do you make of the depth of the conference? And do you feel like you're going to get multiple teams in the playoff like you did a few years back when you and Clemson represented the conference?

Is that just me?

No, no, and I think, look, there's a lot of good that has come with the changes.

We just need a little stability and a little bit of a framework so everybody can operate.

That's probably what's missing, but to your point, with all the transfers, with all the movement, you don't have any super rosters anymore.

Nobody's stacking two and three and four deep.

at the top 10 schools because those guys want to play.

And if they're not playing, they're going to go somewhere else.

What do you make of the depth of the conference? And do you feel like you're going to get multiple teams in the playoff like you did a few years back when you and Clemson represented the conference?

What do you think when all is said and done, he will have meant to SMU?

Yeah, he's already meant a lot.

You know, his legacy is still being written.

You know, he broke our total yards record last week.

He's 605 yards away from the all-time leading passer.

He's 10 touchdowns away from that record.

If he stays healthy, he's going to easily break all of those this year.

What's at stake when you, him, Ponies cards get together Saturday on ESPN2?

Oh, okay

... that's unfortunate.

We're about to throw a touchdown and probably go up 24 to 10, and hopefully try to pull away, 'cause to your point, we, we won everything except the dadgum scoreboard.

You know, I wish Kevin, when he saw he ran the wrong route, was getting a little pressure, wouldn't have thrown it up.

But man, if he goes in like he was supposed to, we had a shot.

But we didn't.

Now, the second pick wasn't good.

We are well-positioned.

how are you handling the new landscape of college football it seems every week there's something new for coaches to deal with a couple of years ago it was just the portal or just nil and now it's pros coming back to play college and injunctions and all sorts of courtroom action and it just seems insane from us on the outside looking at what coaches have to deal with

it's pretty chaotic.

I mean, when, when every, when every three or four months, uh, something that is unprecedented happens, you just keep thinking, well, there can't be anything else.

And then, and then something else happens.

And so, um, you know, you worry about what you can control.

You worry about getting your team ready.

You know, thankfully at this point we're, we're into season time and it's like, how do we win with this team? But you're still having to juggle all that, you know, as you build and sustain a program.

Are you incorporating some new concepts to your passing game this year, or is he – you know adopting to what you're doing I guess in other words is going to have a different look to it this year when you throw the ball

Yeah.

So I'll, I'll just settle one that came into my head.

So we're, uh, 2021 at Miami, Tyler Van Dyke's year.

We'd started out so terrible.

We'd started playing well.

This is in the...

We ended up winning at Pitt, who ended up winning the league, and then we're playing NC State at home, and they were good.

Mm-hmm

So do you, do you find that the ACC has a responsibility to show that those preseason things are wrong before they're, you know, respected in the way that you'd probably like to see it?

Yeah, I mean, I think you bring up a really good point.

So, look, teams that have had success, like take Clemson in our league, for example.

What they've done over the last 10 or 15 years, they've earned the right to have some credibility, some bias, and people assume they're going to be good until they're not.

They've earned that.

We haven't earned that yet as a program.

We're working on it.

I know we've seen him the last few years, but what are realistic expectations for your quarterback? I know we think we're familiar with him, but is there a level that we have not seen yet out of him?

[laughs]

But he's like an old soul in terms of his maturity.

It's, it's, I don't know, it's a, it's a gift he has.

Like, um, but he can obviously connect and relate to guys like Kevin and Ty and our players, um, in a great way.

You know, it's always easy to say, "I'm your coach.

I played this.

I've done this," but when, when your position coach and your, one of your co-coordinators, like, has recently played your position in this offense, in this league at a high level, like, that gives you a lot of credibility, and he's just done such a great job.

[laughs]

forward, what do you think were the key factors in what allowed what appears to be a pretty seamless transition from the American Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference? I mean, 10 wins a year says a lot about

that adjustment.

It was a couple of things.

We have a great staff.

We have great support from our university.

And that's important, especially in this climate.

And it was the perfect storm.

But it gives you a chance to say why you stay at SMU even if SEC schools are at least inquiring about you.

upbringing.

Coaches impacted me.

So my parents divorced when I was three.

My mother remarried when I was seven to who I consider my dad.

And he had been a high school coach for eight years.

And then by the time they got married, he was out of coaching and started his own business, was a really successful business guy.

But he coached high school football for eight years.

Like, is it fair to say, like, that's his next step? And talk about just how great he is because he's been probably one of the most winning quarterback y'all had and have had.