I am an SMU alum (99’-03’) but grew up in Coral Gables on the campus of the University of Miami and am a lifelong Canes fan. I’ve also been a member of Rivals Canesport for 15 years.

2 weeks ago, The U fired it’s Athletic Director. A search firm will hire a new AD within the next 7-10 days, and accordingly the new AD hire will impact both HC Manny Diaz and OC/QB Coach Rhett Lashlee.

The fans overwhelmingly want HC Diaz fired, who has horribly struggled in 3 years now as HC. However, there is an internal power struggle with The U’s BOT; one BOT faction wants an all out pursuit for Oregon’s Cristobal, who is from Miami, went to Miami, and even has deep high school ties to BOT Members. The new AD will technically decide Manny Diaz’s fate, but it is likely the Cristobal BOT faction will influentially prevail (it is more powerful/influential) and Diaz will be fired, meaning Rhett will also likely be let go at some point when The AD hires The U’s new coach, irrespective of whether that new HC is either Cristobal, Kiffin, or someone else.

Whether The U’s internal BOT turmoil right now combined with Manny Diaz’s probable firing prompts Rhett to proactively exit stage left and accept the SMU HC vacancy when Sonny departs for TCU (presuming that happens), seems to be a plausible scenario.

Miami Hurricanes fans like Rhett. He has done well at The U in 2 years as OC/QB coach, and the emergence of Freshman QB Tyler Van Dyke as the starter in only 6 games (22 TDs 6 INts, 2550 Yds, 61.6%) is due to Rhett and the relationship he has with the young man.

Let's talk about this game, folks.

I don't think so. I think he "signs" on the NLI signing date on December 15th. Untill then, he is "COMMITTED" not signed. BTW, OL Cory Hendrix needs to be REMOVED from the commitment list as he has decommitted since he has, evidently, decided not to play football in college. Keeping him on the list also artificially distorts upward the "team recruiting rank".

This got ugly/slow in the middle quarters and SMU let USF hang around too long. But it was a good workman-like win after an back-to-back emotional wins.

How we feeling of the potential additions of Air Force and Colorado State to replace Cincinnati, Houston and UCF?

Personally, that seems like a net-negative not just from a numbers standpoint, but in program cache and market. It's definitely going to hurt the TV revenue when that gets renegotiated.

SMU are 20.5 favorite overs USF and have own a 93.9% matchup predictor, according to ESPN's Power Football Index, this game should be a cake-walk.

3 Keys to Beating TCU

I think the spread is way too big for this game. TCU seems about the same - on paper - from two years ago, while SMU has improved significantly. Before the season started and really knowing what we had in Mordecai, this for sure looked like a loss, but now I'm not that certain. This should be fun.

What say you?

They call it 'Big Ben' and it was executed perfectly on Saturday. Let's break it down.

3 Thoughts on SMU's Thrilling Win Over LaTech

Wow what a finish. It wasn't pretty, but damn sure glad we got that Tanner Mordecai guy.

Massive Duncanville (TX) OL Cam Williams represents a colossal piece of the puzzle for Mario Cristobal's offensive line coup in 2022. Williams opens up on the continued push from #Oregon as well as a few other fall trips on the docket

STORY: https://n.rivals.com/news/massive-ol-cam-williams-talks-oregon-pledge-fall-visits

Coming off a breakout sophomore season, Rivals250 DE Trey Wilson opened this year to a fast start. As September 1 nears, he's anxious about teams reaching out. There's a quartet of contenders that have already made notable impressions already

STORY: https://n.rivals.com/news/rivals250-de-trey-wilson-opens-up-on-top-contenders

Looks like this site is again dead until we expiate our sins for subscribing. 🤬😈👿

The new No. 1 prospect in the 2023 class took a bunch of visits this summer. This is where things stand with each school:

He plans to visit SMU before the end of summer:

Recruiting in 2021 is way more accelerated than the Mannings are accustomed to. Nonetheless, five-star QB Arch Manning has dived in with the backing of his entire family

On the lessons from Archie, a 'Peyton 202' course + Arch, the football junkie

STORY: https://n.rivals.com/news/the-mannings-embrace-their-own-approach-with-arch

2023 Colleyville (TX) Heritage QB Weston Smith was tossing around a football in LA when he was handed a phone with Florida State's Kenny Dillingham on the line

The rest is history

More on FSU's push for Smith plus a few more contenders on the radar: https://n.rivals.com/news/smu-florida-state-covet-texas-qb-weston-smith

2023 QB Brennan Storer will enter his first season at Highland Park's starter with a handful of offers in hand -- and even more schools expressing interest

The latest on one of Texas' top 2023 signal-callers bracing for the fall and balancing recruiting: https://n.rivals.com/news/2023-texas-qb-brennan-storer-receiving-in-state-looks

You haven’t linked any of your new content to the message board. Ever.

You’ll notice that EVERY website, and specifically Damon on this website, links each article to the board in an effort to stimulate content discussions.... Kind of an important thing for somebody managing a website Predicated on discourse of the content.

The HillTopics is under new leadership!

Friday was my last day with Rivals, folks. I want to say thanks for the wonderful opportunity to rebuild this site into something great.

In the last 19 months, we've increased subscribers. We've restarted social media projects and built new social media projects. We've scored a TON of scoops regarding SMU football, basketball and recruiting. In short, we've done everything we were supposed to do under my watch ... and for that, I am very proud.

I will be heading to a new project (look for a formal announcement on social media) in a few days. Your new managing editor will be a familiar name to The HillTopics. Stephen Peters has been my No. 2 guy for the past year and a half. You may have seen some of his bios, and you may not have seen some of his work because he's done a lot behind the scenes.

He'll now take over and keep the train going. Follow him on Twitter at @iamspeters.

If you want to stay in touch with me, don't hesitate to reach out on Twitter at @DamonSayles or via email at dsaylesbr@gmail.com.

Brandon Stephens was a running back entering the 2019 season. He's now the newest member of the Baltimore Ravens -- as a cornerback.