With a little effort and a lot of research, SMU faithful canfind one glaring statistic to hang its hopes upon when OklahomaState University visits Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Saturday. TheCowboys are probably the best team SMU will face this season, butthe Mustangs hope to give OSU head coach Les Miles his fourthstraight non-conference road loss.
Oklahoma State (2-1) suffered its only loss, 17-7, to No. 15Nebraska in Lincoln. OSU is a strong team with a very successfulrecent history and a 52-16 massacre of SMU (0-2) last season inStillwater.
“A year ago, they were one of the few teams thatphysically dominated us throughout the game,” coach PhilBennett said. “That wasn’t one of our best games.Hopefully that will motivate our players to put on a betterperformance.”
SMU will need positive production from every unit that touchesthe A-turf. Last week, the special teams play hurt the Mustangs andtheir offense never opened up the way they thought it would. Tobeat OSU, the offense will have to be clicking from the coin toss– turnover-free and bound for a big play – and thespecial teams can’t make big mistakes.
The Cowboys have the type of personnel that can turn smallmistakes into big plays. Senior wide receiver Rashaun Woods is oneof the nation’s receivers and should get a lot of attention.Along with Woods, running back Tatum Bell and quarterback JoshFields are players who have the potential to create huge problemsfor SMU’s defense. So far this season, Bell has rushed 65times for 445 yards and seven touchdowns. In only his second seasonas a starter, Fields surpassed the 4,000-yard passing mark Saturdayagainst Southwest Missouri State.
“They’ve got a lot of athletes up there,”Bennett said. “We’ll have some match-up problems onboth sides of the ball. We’ll have to come toplay.”
Coming to play may prove easier than going to play. Afteropening its season on the road to two Big 12 teams, SMU is finallyat home, which should bolster the team’s confidence. Despitethe fact that Stillwater is only a road trip away, playing inDallas could mean a lot to a mentally vulnerable football team.
“It’s home. You practice on that field and I thinkit becomes a comfort zone,” Bennett said. “You hopethat’s a factor.”
In addition to home field advantage, the Ponies will have todraw confidence from knowing that they have not played to theirpotential. They have returned to Dallas several times with thebitter feeling that can invade a team that knows it can playbetter. Playing on the road so much has a lot to do with that.
“We have competitors,” Bennett said. “Idon’t think you’ll see anybody go lay down. I thinkthey know they’re playing a good football team.”
SMU tailback Keylon Kincade has continued to carry the ball at arecord pace. In SMU’s two games, Kincade has had 59 carries(29 and 30) for 206 yards. He has averaged nearly four yards perrun, but Bennett is looking for ways to reduce Kincade’s ballcarrying.
“I’m seriously considering taking the red shirt off[freshman tailback Richuel] Massey,” Bennett said. “Aswell as Keylon’s playing, I don’t want him carrying theball 30 times.”
Part of lessening Kincade’s carries will be getting thepassing game on track. Quarterback Richard Bartel and receiversChris Cunningham, Matt Rushbrook and Trey Griffin have had somedifficulties. While there is no single culprit, the aerial attackhas seen a few missed passes and a few dropped balls. With OSU intown, Bennett’s bunch will have to pull together to keep theCowboys from running wild in Ford Stadium.
“My goal is to get better,” Bennett said. “Forus to beat them, we’ll have to play extremelywell.”
Kick off time has been moved to 6 p.m. at Ford Stadium and willbe televised nationally on Fox Sports Southwest. DespiteThursday’s rain that forced SMU to cancel practice, theforecast for Saturday is sunny with a high of 83 degrees.
