A win is a win, right?

Not in this case. SMU is headed into the fourth weekend of college football play and the 2011 season is entirely upon us.

SMU defensive coordinator Coach Tom Mason and SMU safety Chris Banjo tells us the after effects of a potential win in Memphis this weekend.

Besides the obvious answer of the Mustangs continuing to be first in Conference USA West standings, by the fourth week football is nearing the halfway point for regular season and conference play is in full swing.

Coach Mason said, “It is an important game … it really gives you momentum going into, you know, a really tough end of September and October, every conference game is important.”

Safety, Chris Banjo, had a similar response saying, “Coach Jones always expresses the importance of conference play on the road.”

Many SMU fans are already looking forward to the next week’s game against archrival TCU.

Though not a conference game, it is a heavy game requiring a lot of preparations.

Coach Mason broke down how a win would affect SMU playing TCU.

“That gives us a lot more confidence. It would really give us a good boost mentally going into TCU. You just want the momentum going into it.”

But as a player Chris Banjo sees, going into next week with a win as a confidence boost but also realizes “we have to watch the tape and get better.”

Both coach and player agree on one common theme presented itself. Confidence.

“Just building confidence, every game is a stepping stone and a tool,” Banjo said.

“You have to win this one to move on to the next one but it gets you on a three game win streak and that’s where we want to be heading into what we have ahead of us and that thing ahead of us is not going to be easy.”