Wrapping Up the Preseason | Baylor vs. SMU Preview Links/Notes

As I mentioned last night, my typical routine preparation routine for an opponent consists of First Look -> Stats Preview -> Prediction Thread with a few opponent-specific things interspersed like videos, important points, etc.  When you're talking about the first game of the season, though, that routine breaks down.  The statistics upon which I rely for my preview simply don't exist yet for 2014, and there's not much sense in looking back over everything from 2013 to try to draw any kind of conclusions about how these two teams will play.  Just know that when I do start putting those together, they'll take the format I switched to after the WVU game last season and used the rest of the way (here's an example).

Also, even though we can't break things down the way I typically like, it doesn't mean we don't have a lot of good information to help prepare for this game:

ODB Preseason Stuff:

• 2014 Position Previews -- From QBs to Special teams, we looked at every position on Baylor's 2014 team.
• Official Preseason Prediction Thread -- ODB's community weighs in about how the 2014 season will unfold.
• Official Preseason Awards -- ODB's staff predicted who would take home the major honors for Baylor this year.
• CampBU 2014 StoryStream -- If it happened in CampBU, we talked about it somewhere in here.
• 2014-2015 Scholarship Chart -- Up-to-date with the additions of Rami Hammad and Ishmael Wilson.
• "The Palace" -- Ted's 2014 Hype Video
• Podcasts -- Offensive Preview, Defensive Preview, Season Predictions

ODB SMU Stuff:

• Baylor vs. SMU Game Hub -- Everything Baylor vs. SMU is going in here.
  
• Depth Chart Analysis -- When Baylor revealed its depth chart for the 2014 opener, we talked about it.
• First Look: SMU -- Our weekly feature taking a general look at the opponent.
• Injury Report: SMU -- Baylor is getting several key weapons back while missing a couple others.
• Predict the Score: SMU -- Still open, I believe.

Bill Connelly's In-Depth Previews:

• Baylor -- Baylor's got the pieces for another run
• SMU -- Mustangs stay the same, remain interesting

S11's BearsTruth Previews:

These are, if I'm being honest, almost the entire reason I wanted to write this post.  BearsTruth's S11 has written a comprehensive, three-part preview for Baylor's game on Sunday that is, in a word, fantastic.  I reached out to him to see if I could use the videos here with proper attribution and didn't hear anything, so I'll just link everything and let you read for yourself.

• Part 1: SMU's Defense
• Part 2: SMU's Passing Game
• Part 3: SMU's Run Game and Matchup vs. BU

I recognize and freely admit that ODB holds no monopoly on great content, so when it's out there for Baylor fans to see, I want to highlight it.  These S11 previews are outstanding content.

UPDATE: S11 and BearsTruth gave me permission to post the following video from the previews, which are COMPLETELY FREE:

That's pretty much it for right now.  The first Open Thread of the CFB season goes up in less than an hour, so see everyone there!