Mustangs gallop into WAC

The Mustangs return home after two tough road games to open theWAC season against the San Jose State Spartans. The Mustangs havetaken their lumps against the Big XII and TCU and now point theirattention to a team that also has yet to win against a Division 1-Aopponent. The Spartans have won a game, though, after beatingDivision 1-AA Morgan State 47-28 last weekend. On paper, this gamegives SMU their best chance at victory because the Spartans do nothave the talent of Texas Tech, TCU, or Oklahoma State, and HeadCoach Phil Bennett is interested to see how his team reacts.

“One of our challenges,” he said, “is toexecute against guys closer to our talent and experiencelevel.” The ‘Stangs are aiming to break their 15-gamelosing streak.

Key Match-up:

SMU Passing Game vs. SJSU Defensive Backs

Quick, who is the Mustangs quarterback for Saturday? Well, as ofpress time, Phil Bennett isn’t quite sure either afteropening the position up for competition following the loss atOklahoma State. “We’re not going to name a startingquarterback,” Bennett explained. “We will make thedecision Friday or Saturday.” Chris Phillips has led the teamon only two field goal drives, despite playing the majority ofsnaps and starting the first three games. Phillips has been greatat running the quarterback draws and the quick two-step-drop throwsout to the wide receivers, but he hasn’t moved the teamconsistently. Tony Eckert has moved the team the best, appears tomake downfield reads with confidence, and has only struggled withturnovers when he forces the ball into tight spaces. Jerad Romo hada 59-yard touchdown run against the Cowboys in his first action ofthe season. Combined, the three quarterbacks have yet to throw atouchdown and have thrown five interceptions.

All three quarterbacks have to do a better job of getting it tothe wide receivers who, as a group, have only 33 catches on theyear and have yet to have a 100-yard game. This week Bennett hasswitched things up trying to find a playmaker somewhere in hisgroup. Chris Foster, a junior from Plano East, and sophomoreReynaldo Pellerin move into starting spots against the Spartans.Pellerin hopes to find the same success he experienced last yearagainst San Jose when he had a beautiful 31-yard grab for atouchdown. The whole crop of SMU receivers hopes to make playsagainst a sturdy SJSU coverage unit.

Sophomore Josh Powell, who is second on the team with 12tackles, leads San Jose State’s defensive backfield. Powell,the anchor of a 4-2-5 alignment, is coming off a medical red-shirtseason that derailed his progress after his stellar freshmancampaign in 2002. He had 88 tackles and 4 interceptions. Last week,the Spartans held Morgan State to only 30 yards through the air andsafeties Brian Nunez and Katrell Collier had interceptions in theiropening game of the season. If the Mustangs’ receivers canfind a way to turn some of the short underneath routes into bigplays, SMU will be tough to beat.

X-Factor

SMU’s Turnover Margin

This is supposed to be a player but this is so important that itis the X-Factor that will allow a Mustang victory. The SMU defensehas not created a single turnover the entire season and that,coupled with the 11 turnovers on offense, leaves the Mustangs lastin the entire nation in turnover margin. The defense has beenpretty sturdy early in games, but they have been on the field waytoo long. They are also often in poor field positions, resulting inmany of the points scored due to fatigue and short drives. The SMUdefense needs to find a nose for the ball and make a play that canbe taken to the end zone or at least put the offense in good fieldposition. If the offense keeps control of the ball, and the defenseforces the Spartans to cough it up a few times, the Mustangs willcelebrate Saturday night.

SJSU’s Tyson Thompson

The running back from Irving is coming off a tremendous gamewhere he had 158 yards on the ground on only 20 carries and foundthe end zone twice. Thompson has bounced around TCU, Garden CityJunior College in Kansas, and now San Jose, something Coach Bennettfound funny.

“He played for my brother in high school and said heoriginally signed with TCU to stay close to home,” Bennettchuckled, “and he ends up in San Jose.”

No one doubts his talent. He ran for over 5,000 yards in highschool, but questions of attitude have dogged Thompson throughouthis career; he was arrested for stealing weight equipment from hishigh school. Rumors have swirled in San Jose that he and Coach FitzHill don’t see eye-to-eye, but for now they appear to begetting along well enough for Thompson to get his carries. None ofthat matters on Saturday because if Thompson has a big day in frontof his friends and family, it will be a long evening for theMustangs.

Inside the Spartans

Deserving of Better

There is probably not a more respected man in all of collegefootball than Spartan Head Coach Fitz Hill. One of only fiveAfrican-American head coaches in Division I college football, Hillis one of only two D-1 coaches to have a doctorate degree and he isthe only head coach to have served in Operation Desert Storm andDesert Shield in the early 90’s. All of which makes what theSan Jose State administration is doing to him such a travesty. Mostadministrations do everything to help their athletic programs; atSan Jose they named 23 of Hill’s players ineligible 24 hoursbefore kickoff against Stanford. Hill was forced to spend the lastday of game preparation trying to figure out what was going onrather then planning for the Stanford Cardinal.

Seventeen of the players were reinstated but it is apparent thatSan Jose State is trying to kill the football program due to thehuge deficit at which it runs, despite big money payouts to playgames on the road. This year, the Spartans head to Washington andHawaii while in the past they have played at Tennessee and Floridaamong others. If San Jose State no longer wants to play footballthat’s fine, but let Dr. Hill and his players have a chancewhile they still represent the school.

Inside SMU

MEDIC!

The SMU team has been struggling with injuries all year, butlast week it got out of hand when SMU played six or seven freshmanat a time on the defensive side of the ball. SMU is the youngestteam in the nation with 75.9 percent of their roster underclassmen,and now more youngsters have been forced on the field earlier thenBennett would have hoped.

In Stillwater, Bennett pulled some starters so theywouldn’t get injured, but he left starting defensive end CoryMuse in on punt coverage. Muse tore his ACL and he will be gone forthe year. Wesley Medlock separated his shoulder and won’t seetime as receiver or on special teams for three to four weeks.Starting cornerback Charles Akinyemi suffered bruised ribs and isquestionable for Saturday’s game along with starting strongsafety Jamey Harper, who hurt his hamstring.

The good news is that SMU could have guys returning to bolsterthe defense. Free safety Alvin Nnabuife’s hamstring shouldallow him to return to the field along with starting middlelinebacker Rico Harris. Darrin Johnson seems to be ready to returnfrom an ankle injury to keep pressure off the quarterback at hisleft tackle spot.

Must Win?

This may be a must win for the two teams as the both search fortheir first Division I victory of the season against an opponentthey both believe they can beat. SMU has the revenge factor aswell, as they have lost two straight against the Spartans includinglast year’s 31-14 loss in San Jose. The Spartans own theseries lead at 3-1, a trend that SMU looks to change Saturday nightat 7 p.m. in Ford Stadium.

Trent Redden is a junior finance and public policy major. Hecan be reached at [email protected].