When this season’s football schedule was finalized on April 1, I was excited for several reasons.
First I saw the game against Big 12-powerhouse Oklahoma and was already getting pumped to go to Norman, Okla. But what was even better was the bye week we have before that.
Well, it’s not exactly a bye week, but it’s a road game less than an hour away and against an inferior team.
I am of course talking about the SMU Mustangs.
It’s time for the annual State Farm DFW Duel Battle for the Iron Skillet.
Does this rivalry really need a sponsorship? Two teams are playing for the right to keep a large iron cooking utensil in their trophy room.
Plus, what insurance company would really want to sponsor the slaughter we are going to see Saturday?
The Mustangs have a total of 133 rushing yards. We rushed for 233 yards in one game last Saturday against the Cardinal.
How can you maintain possession of the ball, keep the clock moving and plan on winning games when you rush for 44.3 yards per game? You can’t. That’s why SMU has just one win on the season and that was at home against Texas State.
The Mustangs still gave up 36 points to a team that isn’t even Division 1. The other two games you gave up 56 to Rice, and somehow improved to just 43 points allowed against a Texas Tech offense that is actually pretty good.
But in that “improved” defensive showing, SMU could only put up seven points. You need to get things clicking at the same time.
How can you expect to hold TCU to under 36 points and somehow muster more points in the same game against the No. 2 total defense in the nation? I don’t think the Mustangs can.
But if there is one thing SMU has going for them it’s history.
The last time TCU had SMU and Oklahoma on the same schedule, the Mustangs handed the Horned Frogs their only loss of the season. And this time TCU could have to worry about overlooking the terrible Mustangs on the way to facing the No. 2 team in the nation.
Still, SMU has to move and hang on to the ball against a defense that is allowing 178 yards a game with a mediocre offense. And stop an offense that is averaging 398 yards per game.
I don’t even want to talk about the difference in special teams. TCU has a return man who ranks in the top 20 in the nation, while SMU’s gamechanger is the punter. And he should get several opportunities to pad his punting stats in this game.
June Jones’ offense might have worked out in Hawaii, until his team faced an SEC team, but that was solely because he had the players around him that could run that offense. This SMU team isn’t there yet, but the roster is pretty sophomore heavy.
Maybe next year’s rivalry game will be better, but this year’s matchup should be a landslide.
Wessels is the Sports Editor of the TCU Daily Skiff.
