The Mustangs will need a good showing on Saturday to turn around an otherwise disappointing season. (Stuart Palley)
Twenty minutes after Phil Bennett took questions from the media in the box level of Ford Stadium, he could be seen running laps by himself in the seating bowl. One man seemingly swallowed up by the entire stadium.
It was an apt metaphor for the way SMU’s supposed breakthrough season has gone so far.
SMU is in the middle of a four-game losing streak and has lost its first two conference games, making Bennett’s job security more uncertain than ever and SMU’s chances of going to a bowl almost impossible.
But Bennett says he isn’t looking ahead into the future, just focusing on this week’s opponent, Tulane.
“I have the ability to focus on the task at hand, and that’s what I’m choosing to do,” Bennett said. “That’s what I want to do; that’s what I love to do.”
At the start of the season, Tulane was a game many fans and writers had checked off as an easy win. But the way the season has gone, SMU has no easy wins or easy games, even against a Tulane team that has the same record as SMU. Both teams are 1-5 overall and 0-2 in Conference USA.
“They’re a very good front four,” Bennett said of the defense.
Despite SMU’s record, Bennett said that nothing can be ruled out at this point in the season because the Mustangs can still qualify for a bowl if they win five of their remaining six games.
He said the team needs to keep working and the coaching staff will continue to stress the importance of putting a complete game together.
“You can stand around and ask why it isn’t happening and it really does go to hell in a handbasket,” Bennett said. “We’re just not going to do that.”
The Mustangs will need quarterback Justin Willis as a part of any late season comeback, but Willis’ unchecked emotions drew several questions at Tuesday’s press conference.
Willis threw his helmet into the ground and was visibly upset with Bennett when the coach opted not to go for it on a fourth down when SMU was down 21-0.
Bennett said Willis’ emotions are good and bad. Good in that they can inspire teammates, but bad when they can be uncontrolled during key situations during games.
“He would tell you that he would like to be a little more even-keeled more of the time,” Bennett said.
Willis, who took several shots from Southern Miss defensive players, is “a little beat up” but did not suffer a concussion from any of the shots and should be fine to play this Saturday.
