Rainbow Warriors?
At 0-4, the Mustangs are hoping that history will repeat itself when they travel to Hawaii to face the University of Hawaii Warriors at Honolulu. Hawaii (2-1, 1-0 WAC) will be SMU’s first conference opponent.
In 1998, SMU started its season 0-4 and traveled to Hawaii. On Oct. 3, 1998, SMU shut out Hawaii, 28-0 and went 5-3 in its last eight games. After a sound defeat in Stillwater, Okla., SMU looks to regain some of the defensive intensity uncovered against Texas Tech and TCU.
Offensively, head coach Phil Bennett backed away from the possibility of playing backup quarterback Richard Bartel. In separate press conferences last week, Bennett openly explored the possibility of sitting starting quarterback Tate Wallis in favor of Bartel. Bartel, however, did not see the field against Oklahoma State. Bennett stuck with Wallis despite OSU’s large lead.
“We evaluate from practice,” Bennett said. “We felt like our best chance to win was with Tate Wallis.”
Bennett went on to say that Bartel has made substantial improvements over the course of the season, but still lacks the consistency the coaching staff would like to see. Wallis will retain his role as the starter and should play the entire game at Hawaii.
“If we’re going to have a chance to win,” Bennett said, “then [Wallis] has got to be the guy doing it.”
The guy “doing it” for Hawaii will be quarterback Timmy Chang. Much like the offenses (SMU has defended both successfully and unsuccessfully) Hawaii relies heavily on the pass.
In its conference opener, UH topped Texas-El Paso 31-6 at UTEP. Its offense amassed 369 total yards, its lowest total of the season. The 31 points also marked a season-low. The Warriors have its own quarterback issues, though in a more positive light.
Chang did not finish the game against UTEP due to an injured hand, but Chang will start again. He said the hand is fine and head coach June Jones named him the starter despite the strong play of fifth-year senior backup quarterback Shawn Withy-Allen.
Hawaii’s weakness has been itself. Against No. 24 BYU, Chang threw four interceptions and had no touchdowns. BYU turned the opportunities into a 35-32 victory.
In preparation for Saturday’s game, Jones has watched SMU and knows that his defensive focus should be on runningback Keylon Kincade.
“I know that they’re going to try to run the ball,” Jones said. “They’re going to give you a lot of underneath stuff, but that could change, you know. But right now, in what I’ve seen, they’re very conservative. They don’t pass a lot. They want to give the ball 40 or 50 times to the tailback.”
Bennett’s desire to get the passing game going will be more important as the season goes on, with opposing defenses focusing on SMU’s running attack, Bennett’s desire to get the passing game going will be more important as the season goes on. Jones’ offense will take what the SMU defense gives.
Despite the Navy disaster and OSU’s gaudy passing statistics, SMU’s defense has been solid. “They’re going to make you execute throws and catches,” Jones said. “They’re not going to take chances on defense so that means you got to be efficient in running what we do. You got to complete passes.”
Although Bennett called the OSU game a strikeout, he is hopeful for Hawaii. SMU departed for Hawaii on Wednesday, quoting Washington Redskin head coach Steve Spurrier, “You come up and next time you might hit a homerun.”
