Football faces Fresno frenzy
Fresh from a few days off the Mustangs hit the road to take onthe Fresno St. Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs stand at 3-3, amazing after their 3-0 start thatincluded wins at Washington and Kansas St. Evidently winning in theWAC is a little different as the Bulldogs have lost games againstLouisiana Tech, UTEP, and Boise St. as they have fallen like a rockout of the Top 15.
SMU sits at 1-6 and looks to get back to way they played againstSan Jose St. and Boise St. Coach Bennett is interested in how histeam will perform in the hostile Fresno environment.
“They’ll have a sold out crowd,” remarkedBennett, “and we will have to play well to have a chance towin.”
Key Match-Up
Fresno’s Defensive Backfield vs. SMU’s ReceivingCorps
SMU has yet to face a secondary that is as opportunistic as theBulldogs.
Fresno St. has eight picks on the season, but its what they dowith the ball once they have it that makes them so special. Threetimes, Bulldog defensive backs have returned interceptions fortouchdowns [too put this in perspective the Mustang passing gamedidn’t get its third receiving touchdown until the fourthgame].
Don’t think that Fresno is recklessly taking chances backthere either as their pass defense is ranked fourth nationallyallowing only 173.5 yards per game to the opponents.
The Bulldogs backfield is anchored by junior safety JamesSanders who leads the team with three picks and is second intackles. Sanders also has a touchdown and forced fumble to his nameand last year he was the only sophomore to be named first-teamAll-WAC.
His cohort in crime is Richard Marshall, a sophomore corner whois in his second year starting. Marshall leads Fresno St. intackles with 27 and has also returned a pick for a score. WACcoaches are having nightmares about seeing these guys again nextseason.
SMU counters with a receiving corps that seems to rise and fallweekly. This week it was Devin Lowery that was called out by CoachBennett.
“The guy we need to step is Devin Lowery,” Bennettsurmised, “he has a lot of talent we just need to seeit.”
Lowery hopes to work his way up into the number two spot next toChris Foster, who has distinguished himself as the go-to-guy with ateam-leading 24 catches for 336 yards. Bobby Chase and RenaldoPellerin each had probably their best games of the season againstLouisiana Tech as Chase had 4 grabs for 65 yards while Pellerin hada magnificent twisting catch for a 23-yard score.
Whoever it is making plays for the Mustangs, the key thisweekend will to be to find the end zone more often then thedefensive backs of the Bulldogs.
X-Factor
SMU’s Rolando Humphrey
The corner has simply been the most consistent Mustang thisseason, and his play has caught the eye of his coach.
“Rolando has played well,” said Bennett, “andquietly has put together a very nice year for us.”
I don’t know what’s been quiet about Humphreyleading the team in tackles with 51 including seven for a loss. Thejunior also leads the team in pass breakups with seven.
The one thing that Humphrey hasn’t done this season iscreate a turnover. Part of that has to do with teams throwing awayfrom his coverage, and part of it has to do with just notcapitalizing on opportunities.
Fresno St.’s Logan Mankes
There is a first time for everything and this week that means anoffensive tackle is an X-Factor. Mankes is definitely not a newname to those who pay attention to college football, but his storyis a great one.
Mankes walked on at Fresno before the 2001 season, and the guythat wasn’t good enough to be offered a scholarship protectedthe blind side of future first-rounder David Carr all season.Mankes was named a Freshman All-American for his 12 starts thatyear as it started a streak of 34 straight starts for the bigguy.
Mankes missed all of 2003 due to a torn ligament in his knee buthas come back with a vengeance this year as even ESPN’s MarkMay took notice with a breakdown segment on Mankes during CollegeGameday Scoreboard.
Mankes is 6-4 and weighs 305 pounds. It will be a tall order forany of the Mustangs to take him on, but if SMU beats Mankes for asack the psychological effects to Fresno could be worthmonitoring.
Inside the Bulldogs
A Busted BCS-Buster.
After two weeks Fresno was the talk of college football as theyopened the season with wins at Washington and Kansas State. TheBulldogs physically dominated both name schools and sat at 3-0 and#12 in the polls before opening WAC play at Louisiana Tech. Thebubble has burst as Fresno now sits at 3-3 following conferencelosses to Louisiana Tech, UTEP, and Boise St.
Coach Pat Hill says it simply comes down taking advantage ofopportunities.
“Players are more resilient than coaches,” saidHill. “They understand the problems that were having and itsabout making plays.”
Hill said his team has lost some of the swagger they use tocarry itself with.
“SMU is going to come down that ramp [from the lockerroom] thinking they can win,” he remarked, “there is nomagic about us right now.”
Inside the Mustangs
Good-bye?
SMU is coming off a bye week and used the extra week off to getall players some rest and hopefully get some of the injuredstarters healthy.
The Mustangs took three days off from practice and the extrarest will allow Foy Munlin to return to his starting running backposition. Bennett saw the advantage of getting players healthy buthe also wasn’t impressed with how his team went into thebreak.
“When you play two weeks when you don’t play as wellas you liked,” Bennett joked, “you’d like to getback to work as soon as possible.”
The added week allowed some of the Mustangs that don’t seethe field as often to get some scrimmage time.
SMU has the nation’s youngest team with 85 underclassmanon the roster. Bennett held scrimmages on Tuesday and Wednsday ofthe first week off to get some of the youngsters involved.
Sorry to see us Leave?
Fresno St. will be remaining in the WAC at the end of the seasonwhile SMU leaves the league to join Conference USA, something thefolks in Fresno are a little sad about.
Since SMU took the series opener 24-14 in 1999, the Bulldogshave rolled off four straight wins. SMU looks to reverse the trendin Bulldog Stadium on Saturday when the game kicks off at 9pm.
