Mustang’s second chance to make first impression
It wasn’t a very bad start for SMU on a late Augustevening in Lubbock. But after the first quarter ended with thescore tied at three, not much seemed to go right for the Mustangs.A 21-0 outburst by Texas Tech undid the Ponies, who went on to dropthe season opener, 58-10. But what went wrong for SMU? A plethoraof mental errors, match-up problems, and a hostile environment allseemed to contribute to the Red Raiders’ rout of theMustangs.
“It was a disappointing game, but I’m notdiscouraged,” head coach Phil Bennett said. “We feltgoing into the game that we could have some match-up problems withtheir wideouts, and it happened.”
Bennett also feels that the Mustangs’ red-zone defensedeclined against Tech this year as compared to last.”Approximately 31 of their points came in less than 100 yardsof offense,” Bennett explained, “and you can’tturn the ball over, and you can’t have punt returns, and youcan’t throw interceptions for touchdowns.”
The head coach felt that it was mistakes like these thatappeared to send the Ponies into the mental tailspin from whichthey did not escape.
“I don’t think that quitting is ever an option, butwhen you lose your concentration, sometimes it looks likeyou’re not playing as hard as you’re capable ofplaying. I think the environment sort of dictated. We tried to dothings that we don’t practice, but at the same time,I’m not discouraged in the sense that we can getbetter.” “
Sophomore quarterback Richard Bartel, who completed 21 of 44passes for 195 yards, including one touchdown and threeinterceptions, also felt that the loss was partly due to errors anda loss of composure. “One mistake after another,”Bartel said, “became a snowball effect. It wasn’t lackof effort or lack of coaching or lack of preparation or anythinglike that.”
As quarterback, he felt that what the Red Raiders saw was nothis best stuff. “Against Texas Tech I didn’t do what Icould do. I didn’t play the way I should play to be thequarterback of this team.”
Following the mishap in Lubbock, the Mustangs will travel toWaco, where they will face the Baylor Bears this Saturday. Bartelfelt optimistic that SMU can certainly avoid another loss like theone in the panhandle.
“If we come out and play the way we’re supposed toplay, then neither myself nor this offense will look the same. [Ateam will] make the biggest improvements from the first to thesecond game. I think anybody in the country will tell youthat” he said.
“You think you’re prepared, you think you’reready, and then the first game happens, and you know what you needto work on. You know, we’re fixing things here; we’vehad two weeks, and we’ll be ready. It’s a long season.We have 10 weeks in a row straight, and we need a win righthere” Bartel said.
