The Mustangs suffered another loss, this time at the hands ofthe Oklahoma State Cowboys. Turnovers cost the Mustangs dearly andOSU was able to take advantage of a banged up defense missing somekey players.
On the Mustangs’ first drive the offense looked to get outto a quick start, but a fumble on the SMU 37 by running back FoyMunlin gave the Cowboys the ball.
The SMU defense made up for the offense’s miscue andforced OSU to go four and out.
With a fresh set of downs on their own 20, the Mustangs got afirst down after SMU quarterback Chris Phillips’ completed an11-yard pass to Blake Warren. However, Phillips’ next passwas picked off.
This time, the SMU defense could not account for theoffense’s turnover and OSU got their first of 8 touchdownswhen OSU quarterback Donovan Woods ran into the end zone.
Forced to punt, OSU’s Darren Williams took RyanMentzel’s punt back 24 yards and into SMU territory. Oneminute and 26 seconds later, OSU scored again, this time courtesyof a 1-yard Shawn Willis rush.
Down 14-0, the Mustangs had a more successful outing on offenseadvancing the ball to the OSU 47 before punting.
On OSU’s next drive resulted in another touchdown early inthe second quarter. On 4th-and-2 on the SMU 16, tailback VernardMorency took the ball all 16 yards to put the Cowboys up 21-0.
The Mustang offense failed to move the ball into OSU territoryon their next drive and after a Mentzel punt, the Cowboys startedon their own 20.
The Mustang defense held the Cowboys this time and forced themto punt.
With the ball back, on 4th-and-11, the Mustangs opted to go forit, but Phillips was sacked for a loss of three yards.
OSU could not move the ball on their next set of downs and the1-yard Warren run brought OSU’s punt out to SMU’s16-yard line.
Once again, the Mustangs moved the ball into OSU territory, butwith 1st-and-10 on the OSU 25, wide receiver Matt Rushbrook fumbledPhillips’ pass. OSU’s Williams recovered the ball andran it 53 yards to the SMU 22. It was the third Mustangturnover.
The fumble, like Phillips’ earlier interception, wouldyield points to OSU. The Mustang defense limited OSU to a fieldgoal rather than a touchdown.
After an uneventful set of downs for the Mustangs on offense,OSU got the ball back on the SMU 47 with 59 seconds left in thefirst half.
OSU would only need 24 of those seconds to add another touchdownto the scoreboard.
At halftime OSU led 31-0.
The Cowboys’ first possession of the second half resultedin another touchdown this time courtesy of a brother-to-brotherplay. OSU quarterback Darren Woods completed a pass to brotherD’Juan Woods from 14 yards out to put the Cowboys up38-0.
With backup quarterback Tony Eckert replacing Phillips in thesecond half, the offense still could not find its rhythm.
After another SMU punt, the Cowboys struck quickly courtesy of a45-yard Woods touchdown connection to Prentis Elliott. The drivelasted only 7 seconds.
After yet another Mustang punt the Cowboys scored anothertouchdown when OSU backup quarterback Al Pena hooked up withD’Juan Woods for a 17-yard touchdown. The score wasD’Juan Woods second touchdown in six minutes. It was also thethird OSU touchdown in the same amount of time.
With SMU down 52-0 at this point, Head Coach Phil Bennett wentto third-string quarterback Jerad Romo. Seeing action for the firsttime all season, Romo quickly scored, running the ball 59 yards fora touchdown.
After a missed OSU field goal from 30 yards out, the Mustangsgot the ball back looking to carry the momentum of Romo’squarterback into the fourth quarter. The Mustangs could notcapitalize on the situation and were forced to go 4-and-out.
OSU finished its scoring for the night when Calvin Robertsrushed 4 yards into the end zone to put the Cowboys up 59-7.
In their last two games, the Mustangs’ opponents haveoutscored them 103-7.
Turnovers plagued the Mustangs. The team lost three fumbles andRomo and Phillips each had an interception.
“We didn’t protect the ball,” Bennett said.”We had way to many turnovers.”
“Turnovers have been our Achilles’ heel for the pastcouple of years,” linebacker Rico Harris added.”We’ve been working on [turnovers].”
Harris did not play Saturday after injuring his hamstring in theTCU game, but will play against San Jose State.
More players suffered injuries against OSU including redshirtfreshman Corey Muse (knee), junior cornerback Charles Akinyemi(bruised ribs) and junior free safety Jamey Harper (thigh) joiningD.D. Lee (elbow), junior defensive back Alvin Nnabuife (hamstring)and sophomore offensive lineman Darrin Johnson (ankle) who sufferedinjuries at TCU.
Bennett feels that some of the players could have returned tothe game, but wanted “our best players for [the San JoseState] game.”
Bennett is also looking for more from the Mustangs’ widereceivers and quarterbacks.
“We’ve got to get more production out of [our widereceivers],” he said.
He also said sophomore Jay’Mond Cleveland and junior ChrisFoster will start as wide receivers.
As for the starting quarterback against San Jose State, Bennetthas yet to decide.
“We’ve yet to score a touchdown with Phillips in thegame,” he said.
Bennett expects to make a decision on the starter by the end ofthe week judging the three quarterbacks on their performances inpractice.
Bennett says the contest against San Jose State will serve as a”measuring stick.”
“I looked at San Jose last Friday and I thought it was ateam we could compete with,” he said. “Is it amust-win? No.”
However, San Jose State will still be a challenge.
“One of our biggest challenges this week is to executeagainst people that are closer to our talent level than whatwe’ve played and closer to our experience factor,”Bennett said.
The Mustangs next take on San Jose State (1-1) in a familyweekend match-up, 7 p.m., Saturday in Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Lastyear, the San Jose State Spartans defeated the Mustangs 31-14 inSan Jose.
“These teams are two teams who are really wanting to win agame,” Bennett said. “I can’t tell you what Ithink it would do for [the team] to walk off the field Saturdayknowing, as a team, that we made progress.”
