PonyFans.com is proud to have 16-year-old Nate as a guest columnist. In this installment, Nate offers his view of Saturday's game at East Carolina. Feel free to post comments and constructive criticism, ask him questions, and/or give suggestions for upcoming columns! (He can be followed on Twitter at @Pony_NATE_tion.)

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To have so much momentum, and for that momentum to come to a grinding halt like it did Saturday was shocking, to say the least. SMU came out and looked flat and outmatched.

Nate says cornerbacks Horace Richardson and Jordan Wyatt will have their hands full Saturday with ECU wideout Zay Jones, the top FBS receiver in the country (photo by Pat).

Memphis pounded SMU with big play after big play, including some long screen passes, plays which the SMU defensive line read poorly. When a defensive lineman recognizes a screen, he is supposed to retrace to the line of scrimmage and go get the ball. Failing to do this leaves linebackers out to dry because there are three or four big offensive lineman getting out in front of the ball carrier, and the only defense left is the linebackers and a couple of pieces in the secondary. SMU failed to do that up front on several occasions, leading to Doroland Dorceus and the other Memphis tailbacks busting big gains on what should have been miniscule gains.

Defensively, the other thing that went wrong was some absolutely putrid tackling. SMU defensive coordinator Van Malone appeared to be putting his guys in the right spots, but the Memphis ball carriers either made the SMU defender miss or the SMU defender whiffed on the tackle. Injuries to linebacker R.C. Cox and cornerback Horace Richardson didn’t help, either.

Offensively, there were no holes for running backs Braeden West and Ke’Mon Freeman to run. This causes more pressure to be put on quarterback Ben Hicks to make plays, and he can’t be trusted to consistently make plays yet. He certainly was inconsistent last week. He either sailed throws high or put them at the receivers’ feet. Or he would try to fit a ball into a really tight window, putting the ball in harms’ way. He also held on to the ball way too long, leading to sacks. Head coach Chad Morris needs to instill in Hicks the urgency to get rid of the ball. Hicks has to have that clock ticking in his head and he needs to know when to throw the ball into the sixth row.

Overall, it was an embarrassing performance following two big wins, and now the momentum is all but gone. The Mustangs sit at 4-5 and need to win at least two out of the last three games of the year to “go bowling.” Morris has said many times that this week is all about how the young Mustangs respond to adversity. The two wins over Houston and Tulane might have gone to the players’ heads and that could have resulted in a lackluster performance last Saturday.

The 4-5 Mustangs pay a visit to East Carolina this week, hoping to keep their bowl hopes alive. This week, SMU runs into a reeling Pirates team that has lost six of its last seven games and is hoping to stop the bleeding. ECU comes in with a 3-6 record.

East Carolina is the prototypical college spread offense. The understatement of the year is that the Pirates are adept at throwing the ball. ECU has the third-ranked passing offense in the nation, with 364 passing yards per game. But the oddity is given those astounding numbers, the Pirates only score 28 points per game, which ranks them 72nd in the country.

Quarterback Philip Nelson, who has thrown for 2,477 yards and 16 touchdowns, with a 68 percent completion rate, leads East Carolina’s offense. The primary reason Nelson has those statistics is the FBS leader in receptions and runner-up in receiving yards thus far, Zay Jones. This is by far the best receiver SMU will face all season — Jones is just simply outstanding. The 6-1 receiver averages 14 catches per game! That is jaw-dropping. For the season, Jones has caught 127 balls for 1,300 yards and five touchdowns. The banged-up SMU secondary will have its hands full Saturday with Jones. Richardson and fellow cornerback Jordan Wyatt will need to play a nearly flawless game to keep Jones in check.

The SMU offense has a chance to put up some crooked numbers this week. East Carolina surrenders 439 yards game, nearly giving up 200 rushing yards per game. A hopefully-healthy SMU offensive line will push around ECU up front and take some of the load off of Hicks’ shoulders. Expect big games from West and Freeman. If Hicks plays passable football, this game is easily winnable for SMU.

East Carolina might be the worst FBS team the Mustangs have played all season, and a loss would be crushing the Mustangs’ bowl hopes. SMU will play with desperation and leave Saturday with a .500 record, needing to win one more game to become bowl-eligible. SMU will win a close shootout.

Nates take: SMU 38, ECU 30