All things considered, I'd say Saturday was encouraging.

Obviously, when you've got the ball with two minutes left down three against the 14th-ranked team in the country, you'd love to pull that off on the road, but after an absolute cluster of a week for the Eagles, the performance in a 38-28 loss was admirable.

Here's what stands out...

-Was Grayson James perfect? No, but he did throw for 237 yards with a TD and a pick. He also showed toughness putting his head down on a few runs and got in early in the 3rd to make it 21-20. As I've been saying, he just gives this offense so many more opportunities to push the ball down the field. BC was 6-15 on third down (which O'Brien actually chirped me for asking about, saying the 4th down conversions were the real story), but I don't know what to tell you if you don't think this offense looks much better with him at the helm.

-Now, having said that, Reed Harris was the leading receiver (4/78), but then the two tight ends were next in line. Lawing absolutely has to find a way to get Skeete and Bond more involved. Bond had just two grabs for 26 yards.

-Running game was very good again. Robichaux had 90, McDonald had 63. As a team they had 180. That has to continue - especially if you get weather games these last two weeks.

-Defense gave up 438 yards, but it didn't feel like a complete mess like it has recently. Sure, the end of half stuff is inexcusable still with the chunk plays, but overall, they gave the offense a shot. However, O'Brien did say he felt like they needed 40 to win (he was right) and said they never really stopped the Mustangs. He's right, but for whatever reason (at least to me) it never felt all that ugly. SMU is just fast as hell with really talented players.

-It's not even worth talking about special teams anymore at this point. Need a full yard sale in the offseason to revamp that unit. O'Brien said unless it was like 4th-&-10 or 4th-&-15 they were going for them. Just a brutal way to have to manage a game.

-Only 1 turnover, turned SMU over once and held the ball for 35:02. Again, I know they gave up 38 points, but this really didn't feel all that bad to me given how good the opponent was.

-You just have to feel bad for the defensive guys at this point. Other than the front four, the depth has taken a major hit and you probably lose Tucker and Brown for at least a week now, if not longer. Just brutal luck. That unit did the best it could against those receivers.

I'm encouraged and I think both of these last two games are now winnable given you have a real passing attack that can go toe-to-toe with other good offenses. Anything but 7-5 is a massive fail in my opinion. While a win here would have been massive, fans should still show up to watch this team the final two games at Alumni.

It actually looks like real football now.