Well, it’s official. Coach Bennett’s here for at least another year. Ed Board is OK with the decision, but Bennett has got to come through next season to validate the confidence Athletic Director Steve Orsini has put in him.

To be successful, the team has to do more than just get to a bowl game, or even win the conference championship. There are fundamental issues surrounding this team’s offense that need to be changed for the Mustangs to be successful.

Unimaginative play calling and an incessant urge to always run the ball for short, or no gains cannot and should not be the backbone of an offensive scheme. It cost SMU the win against Rice.

Sure, Ed Board’s never coached a football team, but we’ve played enough rounds of Madden to know you can’t run the same play over and over again and expect the opponent not to catch on. The Mustangs have many offensive threats, but these athletes aren’t getting the chance to show what they’re capable of doing on the field. Bennett and his coaches need to explore a wider variety of plays to keep opponents guessing and give our players an opportunity to make big plays.

We realize a run-dominate offense takes time off the clock and helps the defense stay rested. We know it requires more endurance for the defense to be on the field, but a balanced scheme of passing and running plays will give the offense more tools to march down the field and score, and that should be plenty of time for the defense to stay rested.

Also, how about some more trick plays? Zack Sledge threw a 75-yard pass to Bobby Chase for a touchdown against Arkansas State in week four, but that play wasn’t tried again until the Mustangs were trailing against Tulsa two weeks ago. We realize the athleticism has not always been top notch with Bennett’s teams, but things are different now. Our guys cannot only handle those situations – they can be successful at them. For starters, we’d love to see Justin Willis and DeMyron Martin try a flea flicker every once in a while.

Speaking of powerful tools, how about those tight ends? Ryan Kennedy caught 20 of 29 passes for 199 yards this season, five were for touchdowns and 10 were for first downs. Vincent Chase was only thrown the ball three times all season, and caught every pass for 23 yards and a touchdown. Why isn’t the tight end position being utilized more?

All these things come down to coaching. We have every confidence in our classmates who represent this university on the gridiron. We know they have faith and confidence in their coaches. This team has come a long way during Coach Bennett’s tenure; it is long past time for the coaches to take this team to the next level.