SMU considers UNT

[eulesseagle]

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[eulesseagle]

Joined: 11 Mar 2005

Posts: 673

Location: Dallas

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 10:50 am Post subject: Collegefootballnews.com Preview

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SMU Mustangs

Preview 2006 - 2006 SMU Offense Breakdown

- 2006 SMU Defense Breakdown

- 2006 SMU Depth Chart

- 2006 SMU Further Analysis

- 2005 SMU Preview

By Pete Fiutak

In today's quick-fix world, everyone demands an instant turnaround. In football, things occasionally take time.

It's hard to preach patience when teams like UCF, Tulsa, and UTEP go from zero to contender in a season, but SMU has slowly been building under head coach Phil Bennett over the last four seasons.

He has had a team with no experience, he has had a team with no talent, and he has had a team with an ugly combination of the two. Now this is his team, his program, and his stamp on a program that has come up with one winning season in the last 20 years. It's also his best team yet.

Last year, the Mustangs pulled out of a nosedive to win the final three games of the season beating a bowl bound Houston and ruining UTEP's Conference USA title hopes. That proved once and for all that SMU really can become a player in the Conference USA race. It was the only team to beat TCU, and four of its six losses came by seven points or fewer. It's time for all those close losses to turn into wins.

Head coach: Phil Bennett

5th year: 11-35

Returning Lettermen: 42

Lettermen Lost: 14

Ten Best SMU Players

1. RB DeMyon Martin, Soph.

2. SS Joe Sturdivant, Sr.

3. DT Adrian Haywood, Sr.

4. DE Justin Rogers, Sr.

5. WR Bobby Chase, Sr.

6. TE Ryan Kennedy, Sr.

7. LB Wilton McCray, Jr.

8. TE Vincent Chase, Soph.

9. C Ben Poynter, Jr.

10. DE Cory Muse, Jr.

2006 Schedule

CFN Prediction: coming

9/2 at Texas Tech

9/9 at North Texas

9/16 Sam Houston State

9/23 Arkansas State

9/30 at Tulane

10/7 at UTEP

10/14 Marshall

10/21 at East Carolina

10/31 UAB

11/11 Houston

11/18 Tulsa

11/25 at Rice

2005 Schedule

CFN Prediction: 1-10

2005 Record: 5-6

Preview 2005 predicted wins

9/3 Baylor L 28-23

9/10 TCU W 21-10

9/17 at Texas A&M L 66-8

9/24 Tulane L 31-10

10/1 at Marshall L 16-13 OT

10/8 at UAB W 27-22

10/15 East Carolina L 24-17

10/22 at Tulsa L 20-13

11/5 Rice W 27-7

11/12 at Houston W 29-24

11/26 UTEP W 40-27

There will be an interesting mix of fast, talented young players, a lot of inexperience, and good building blocks. Bobby Chase leads a deep and experienced receiving corps, DeMyron Martin is one of the league's best backs heading a very fast, very good backfield, and the starting five up front should be fine. However, there's no experience whatsoever at quarterback and absolutely no developed depth on the line.

The attack struggled throughout last season and was never consistent. Now it has various options in its spread formation with several pieces looking to find time in different formations to adapt and adjust on the fly. For a team that has averaged 17.7 points per game over the last 90 outings scoring 14 of fewer in 43 of them, any pop and explosion will be welcome.

The offense might have been bad throughout last year, but the defense has saved the day time and again keeping the team in several games. There's lots and lots of speed in the back seven, but little experience outside of safety Joe Studivant and linebacker Wilton McCray. The line will be fantastic with Adrian Haywood and Justin Rogers among the best in the conference.

Outside of the conference-opening loss to Tulane, SMU had a shot at winning each of the three league losses last year. For Bennett and his program, it's time for some good breaks to come their way. More importantly, it's time for the team to be good enough to make it's own good fortune.

The Schedule: If SMU's dream is to win the West, it has a decent enough schedule to do it with Houston and Tulsa coming to Dallas and missing UCF and Southern Miss from the East. The key will be getting off to a hot conference start with road trips to Tulane and UTEP that might make-or-break division title hopes. The non-conference schedule is nice and fluffy after the opening day game at North Texas with Sun Belters North Texas and Arkansas State along with Sam Houston State.

Best Offensive Player: Sophomore RB DeMyron Martin. Martin exploded at times throughout his true freshman season ripping up TCU, East Carolina, Rice and UTEP, but he was held in check by Tulane and Marshall. He's a strong workhorse who'll be a 20-carry back from the start and a 1,200-yard runner if he can stay healthy.

Best Defensive Player: Senior SS Joe Sturdivant. The leader of the secondary didn't just lead the team in tackles last season, he led the team in tackles with 33 more than the number two man. He's like a free safety when the ball is in the air, and he hits like a linebacker.

Key player to a successful season: Redshirt freshman QB Justin Willis. The only SMU quarterback with even a lick of experience, Chris Phillips, is playing fullback/tight end. Willis has a ton of talent and the type of running ability to be a do-it-all playmaker, but he's going to need time to figure out what he's doing. Teams are going to load up to stop DeMyron Martin and the running game until Willis proves he can take advantage of what's being given to him.

The season will be a success if ... SMU has a winning season. There are way too many holes to win the West, but the schedule is nice enough to expect seven wins and a possible bowl bid. At the very least, it would be a disaster if this is another losing season.

Key game: Sept. 30 at Tulane. The Green Wave only won two games last year, and one of them was a 31-10 blasting at SMU for the only Conference USA blowout loss the Mustangs suffered. It's the league opener this year for SMU and will be a must win with a trip to UTEP coming up the following week.

2005 Fun Stats:

- Fourth quarter scoring: Opponents 110 - SMU 60

- Penalties: SMU 76 for 660 yards - Opponents 57 for 502 yards

- Field goals: SMU 18 of 22 - Opponents 12 of 23

The Last Time SMU…

…played in a bowl game…1984 (Aloha Bowl vs. Notre Dame)

…missed a bowl game…2005

…pitched a shutout…1998 (Hawaii)

…was shutout…2004 (Fresno State)

…scored 50 points…1999 (Northridge State)

…went undefeated…1982

…won a conference title…1984 (share, SWC)

…had a 3,000-yard passer…1978 (Mike Ford)

…had a 1,000-yard rusher…2003 (Keylon Kincade)

…had a 1,000-yard receiver…1978 (Emanuel Tolbert)

[MeanGreen61]

After last season, especially the OC performance, being considered as just a fluffy opponent is kinda generous

[meangreendork]

Even if the sentence is poorly arranged "nice and fluffy AFTER", I don't blame anyone for thinking we'll get steamrolled, especially with last season's performance.

But on a positive note, the team I saw at the G/W spring game was entirely different from the team at last year's G/W spring game.

Keep in mind, lots of people thought we'd be steamrolled by Baylor. Even when they did win the next season, the win gap wasn't nearly as big as the 52-14 drubbing at Fouts.

[tux]

Even if the sentence is poorly arranged "nice and fluffy AFTER", I don't blame anyone for thinking we'll get steamrolled, especially with last season's performance.

But on a positive note, the team I saw at the G/W spring game was entirely different from the team at last year's G/W spring game.

Keep in mind, lots of people thought we'd be steamrolled by Baylor. Even when they did win the next season, the win gap wasn't nearly as big as the 52-14 drubbing at Fouts.

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So, SMU thinks we're "nice and fluffy", eh? : I know we're weak when matched up against OOC teams, but we're talking SMU here. We'll see who's "nice and fluffy" after the game at Fouts.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

So, SMU thinks we're "nice and fluffy", eh?  :  I know we're weak when matched up against OOC teams, but we're talking SMU here.  We'll see who's "nice and fluffy" after the game at Fouts.

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I am sure TCU considered SMU "fluffy" after their win the previous week against well respected Oklahoma..... You never know...... Obviously A&M took SMU seriously after SMU defeated TCU and they stomped SMU 66-8.

Usually the bee gets killed by the man but sometimes the bee kills the man. Strange things are possible. Beat UT & SMU !!!!... (unlikely but you never know)

Edited May 25, 2006 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[TIgreen01]

So, SMU thinks we're "nice and fluffy", eh?  :  I know we're weak when matched up against OOC teams, but we're talking SMU here.  We'll see who's "nice and fluffy" after the game at Fouts.

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Yes, and last year we were talking Tulsa and LaTech. Those games didn't turn out to good for us. SMU will be a stiff test for us this year....provided that the redshirt Freshman QB from Denton Ryan steps up....in only his second collegiate game ever? I think SMU kind of parrallels our team from last year (offensively)....they return virtually everyone from the offense except at QB (granted we also lost our glue-man/center)...and they have supposedly the conferences top RB and great depth at that position. I think they will struggle and we should be able to shutdown their offense. Here's hoping our Offense shows some improvement over last year by week 2.

[greenjoe]

I'm astounded that the SMU fans know all about the mascot changes at Arkansas StAte and can discuss other up to date happenings around the football nation, but can't understand that our name change happened 10 or 12 years ago.

Join the Mean Green Club

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GO MEAN GREEN

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

I'm astounded that the SMU fans know all about the mascot changes at Arkansas StAte and can discuss other up to date happenings around the football nation, but can't understand that our name change happened 10 or 12 years ago.

Join the Mean Green Club

Buy Season Tickets

GO MEAN GREEN

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---I am sure they know better... it is another attempt to insult us as being meaningless and not worthy of their attention. That has gone on for years and I expect it to continue, get used to it. We NEED to defeat them and hopefully in a big way.

[PlummMeanGreen]

---I am sure they know better... it is another attempt to insult us as being meaningless and not worthy of their attention.  That has gone on for years and I expect it to continue, get used to it.  We NEED to defeat them and hopefully in a big way.

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Private schools versus public schools most always have these kind of symptoms and banterings. We open ourselves up for much of this on our own w/o SMU having to really do much if you think about it.

What would probably silence many of our critics from SMU, though, is the day when the Mean Green Village out a Eagle Point is completely finished with a new NCAA D1-A football stadium at the juncture of those 2 Texas interstates as our shining buckle on the rolling Texas prairieland we call our Eagle Point Campus. Trust me (and other older nestors who have worked in DFW the last few decades), that will silence many of those SMuuuuu'ers.

Edited May 25, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[foutsrouts]

Our name change happened EIGHTEEN years ago. 1988.

I'm astounded that the SMU fans know all about the mascot changes at Arkansas StAte and can discuss other up to date happenings around the football nation, but can't understand that our name change happened 10 or 12 years ago.

Join the Mean Green Club

Buy Season Tickets

GO MEAN GREEN

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[mad dog]

After last season, especially the OC performance, being considered as just a fluffy  opponent is kinda generous

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QFT

[UNTFan23]

I'm astounded that the SMU fans know all about the mascot changes at Arkansas StAte and can discuss other up to date happenings around the football nation, but can't understand that our name change happened 10 or 12 years ago.

Join the Mean Green Club

Buy Season Tickets

GO MEAN GREEN

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Ignorance is bliss.