Signs of life
The Mustangs scored six touchdowns on Saturday night, and Justin Willis was a part of all six. Willis threw five touchdown passes that ranged from 11 to 32 yards. His one rushing touchdown was a two-yard untouched walk into the end zone.
Willis accounted for 262 of the Mustang’s 443 yards. And the Mustangs offense achieved things they haven’t done in more than 15 years.
Justin Willis started the game completing his first 13 pass attempts, which ties the second best in SMU history. It was last done in 1986.
Columbus Givens had 106 receiving yards on the game. The last time the Mustangs had a 100-yard receiver was in November of 2004, when Bobby Chase did it against Nevada.
Fred Turner’s 72-yard run was the longest since 2002, and his 104 yards on the game is the second highest since DeMyron Martin’s 117-yards against UTEP in November of 2005.
As a team the Mustangs achieved numbers that current students have never seen. The Mustangs scored 35 first half points for the first time since 1985. The 45 points the SMU offense finished with is the most ever at Ford Stadium, and the five different players catching touchdown passes is the most ever for an SMU team. And the Mustangs had a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver for the first time since 2002.
Head Coach Phil Bennett might have summed up this weekend’s victory over Sam Houston State best when he said, “It was a game we should have won and we did. I liked that our players came out ready to play. There wasn’t a lot of confusion, we knew what we had to do.”
Bennett also mentioned that they wanted to break Sam Houston’s spirit.
The Mustangs took the ball 80 yards in eight plays and topped it off with a 32-yard pass from Justin Willis to Columbus Givens.
SMU scored on five of its six first-half possessions. Willis also dominated the first half throwing for 196 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 14 yards and a touchdown. The Mustangs dominated the first half, doubling SHSU’s total offense 274 to 137.
The Mustang defense was solid, too. Forcing two interceptions, a failed fourth down conversion, a blocked punt and a missed field goal. Junior line backer Reggie Carrington recorded the first two sacks of his career, and sophomore defensive lineman Patrick Handy also recorded the first sack of his collegiate career.
Junior Corey Muse had another stand out game, blocking a punt and intercepting the ball from Bearkat starter Phil Daugherty. Senior Brandon Bonds also sacked Daugherty and recovered his first career fumble.
Bennett made it a point to get everyone in the game. “We played everybody, every guy that wasn’t red-shirted played some quality time. I told the coaches at halftime that if we scored on the first or second drive that we were going to play the field.”
Even the third string defense made an appearance in the final two series of the game.
Bennett also made a note that “[he’s] sure [the defense was] not happy with Sam Houston getting 310 yards, but I don’t care. I think the benefits of playing the players is a lot more profound and will help us this week.” Most of the third string defense is scout team, and the game experience will carry over into practices.
This past week Coach Bennett called six players into his office, one of them being starting quarterback Justin Willis. Willis said that “we talked about the speed of the game. He told me he thought it was too fast for me, and I told him I was making it too fast for myself.” After watching film from North Texas, Willis noted that he had much more time than he realized.
Bennett went on to say that he “thought Justin had a good practice this week, – he was very focused. We knew that for us to get better he would have to have some success,” and success he had.
The one downside of the game was the early exit of Johnnie Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald started the game in DeMyron Martin’s place and left the game in the first quarter with a high ankle sprain. The Mustangs “have to be able to get out of the first quarter without losing our best back,” according to Bennett.
But things could be looking up for the Mustangs’ ground game.
“The good news is that DeMyron Martin is healing very fast. The dislocation and swelling went down after they put [the bone] back in, and there is a possibility that he could be back for the UTEP game,” said Bennett.
Bennett finished off the night by reiterating that “we’re not going mention bowls, we’re not going to mention conference, we’re just going to focus one game at a time.”
Signs of life
Signs of life
Signs of life
