FORT WORTH – The Mustangs aren’t out of the woods yet, but a decent showing in Ft. Worth gave fans some hope headed into conference play. However, the 21-7 defeat at TCU is still a loss and the Mustangs will enter the conference opener against UTEP with a 1-3 record.
“We’re not into moral victories that’s just plain and simple, you’ve got to make plays to win and they made more than we did,” SMU head coach Phil Bennett said.
And the biggest plays weren’t even with TCU’s offense on the field. A first quarter blocked Thomas Morstead punt led to the first points for the Horned Frogs.
“We can’t accept the blocked punt, its something we work on,” Bennett said. The play was all too reminiscent of North Texas from one year ago.
The other play was an interception that TCU linebacker Robert Henson returned 58 yards for the Horned Frogs second and game-winning touchdown.
“In the first half we made a couple of mistakes, the interception I threw, we couldn’t convert,” quarterback Justin Willis said.
The SMU offense looked like it had things working in the first quarter for the first time this season.
On their first drive of the game the Mustangs didn’t score, but looked like they could move the ball against the tough TCU defense. It was the second drive that put SMU on the board – a quick attack that produced 76 yards in just three plays. A 15-yard pass to DeMyron Martin, a 46-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders and a 15-yard run by Martin was all the Mustangs needed to score and take their only lead of the game. After that everything seemed to fall apart.
The blocked punt, an interception, turning the ball over on downs and a fumble were mixed in with six other punts through the rest of the game.
SMU faced arguably the best defense they have so far in TCU, and possibly the best they will see all season. But the offense failed to convert when the defense kept them in the game for the first time this year.
The Mustangs’ defense looked considerably better, but also played the worst offense they have faced all season.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was the 16-play, 78-yard touchdown drive mid way through the second quarter. It was the last scoring drive of the game, and put SMU in a two-possession hole.
On the following drive the Mustangs turned the ball over on downs within field goal range. But down by 14 Bennett took the chance and tried for the end zone.
“I wasn’t going to kick it there because it was 21-7, I can second guess everything we did, but I won’t,” Bennett said.
Running back James Mapps was sent up the middle rather than Martin who averaged 5.9 yards a carry in the first half. But on the play before Martin took a hit to the head and was “woozy” on the sideline. The bad timing took a weapon away from the SMU offense and it came up short right before the end of the half.
Bennett and his staff said the next job is obvious: regrouping and focusing on conference play.
“We go to conference and try to win conference,” Bennett said. “We challenge our self, keep working and keep striving.”
