New offensive coordinator Joe Craddock said the SMU offense will be geared around a physical running attack (photo by PonyFans.com).

The SMU offense in 2014 was not what it was supposed to be. The scheme created to light up the scoreboard limped through the season, as the Mustangs averaged just 11.1 points per game, were held to fewer than 10 points in seven of their 12 games and scored more than 13 points only three times. The 1-11 Ponies mustered just 100.3 rushing yards per game, 269.0 yards per game of total offense, completed 53.5 percent of their passes, surrendered 48 sacks and changed quarterbacks more often than they swapped jerseys.

Transfer Matt Davis took over at quarterback after getting his feet wet off the bench and ended up tying for the team lead with 855 passing yards (he started five games). More importantly, despite losing 116 yards on sacks, he still led the team in rushing with 613 yards on the ground — more than double the total posted by any teammate. At the team’s 2015 Kickoff Luncheon, new head coach Chad Morris commended Davis for his athleticism and running ability … before pointing out that when a quarterback leads a team in rushing, it generally is not a good sign.

Morris, of course, was hired to revitalize the SMU program, based in large part on his reputation as an offensive mastermind, whether as one of the elite coaches in the history of Texas high school football, or as an assistant at places like Tulsa and Clemson, where he guided high-powered offenses as those teams’ offensive coordinator. Last year’s Tigers, by comparison, averaged 30.8 points and 408.3 yards of total offense per game. A quick glance at last year’s Clemson statistics — 64.8 percent completion rate, nearly 262 passing yards per game, 23 passing touchdowns — might suggest that the new SMU offense will be firing the ball all over the field in a pass-happy aerial show. New offensive coordinator Joe Craddock, who followed Morris from Clemson to Dallas, said that is not the case. The Mustangs, he said, will emphasize the running game, first and foremost.

“We have to be physical,” Craddock said. “Absolutely, we have to be a physical, downhill-running football team. We do throw the ball all over the field — we want to take three shots a quarter, we’ve talked about that — but we have to have a downhill-running, physical mentality about us. That’s the first and foremost thing, because everybody knows that if you get one-dimensional, you’re not going to have very much success. So to be what we want to be, we first have to be a downhill physical football team that will come right at you. Once you have that, everything else will open up. You know, all the different holes in the defense will open up when you can run the football. Those safeties get down there and try to make plays in the run game, that’s when you can hit them over the top with the big play.

With K.C. Nlemchi getting hurt in the spring, the returning Mustang running backs — Prescott Line and Darius Durall — combined for a total of 254 rushing yards last season. But Morris and Craddock raved about Line during spring drills, even speculating that he might be the most irreplaceable player on the entire roster and suggesting that they will move him around to several positions in order to allow him to contribute to the offense in as many ways as possible.

Quarterback Matt Davis tied for the team lead in passing yards in 2014 and also led the Mustangs in rushing last season (photo by SMU athletics).

“We can’t afford to lose guys like Prescott Line,” Craddock said. “Prescott is going to give you all he’s got. He knows the system, and he’ll study the system as much as he needs to to get it.

“Prescott is a football player. He’s smart, man. He knows. If you just give him a baseline rule, he gets it, and … we do have to be careful moving him around too much, but he’s a smart football player, and he knows where to line up.”

The passing game will be in the hands of Davis, who was recruited by Morris to Clemson when he graduated high school before signing with Texas A&M and eventually ending up at SMU after a stint at Tyler Junior College. He will be backed up by redshirt freshman Darrel Colbert, true freshman Ben Hicks, redshirt freshman Jordan Severt and senior Garrett Krstich. Craddock said that while the quarterbacks all are novices at running the new offense, he sees considerable potential in the group.

“We’ve got great quarterbacks here,” Craddock said. “I mean Matt Davis is something special. When you talk about (former Clemson quarterback) Tajh Boyd — we’ll go back to Clemson for a second — everybody loved Tajh. Everybody. Matt Davis is the same way — everybody loves Matt Davis on this football team. He’s got a sense, an aura about him that’s just unbelievable. Everybody looks up to him. We’ve got Darrel Colbert, a great kid from Houston, another kid that everybody looks up to. Jordan Severt — everybody looks up to him. We’ve got a great group of guys. Ben Hicks, the freshman — he’s come in and kind of just … everybody just flocks to him. He’s got that ‘it factor,’ just like those other guys.

“I’m really happy with what we’ve got here and what I have to work with on a day-to-day basis. There’s four great kids that are unbelievable to work with … and then, not to mention Garrett Krstich — you know, he didn’t go through spring because he was hurt, but you talk about an unbelievable story, and a great kid, as well. So I couldn’t a happier quarterback coach, I’ll tell you that.”

The Mustang quarterbacks will be throwing to a mostly new group of receivers. Jeremiah Gaines moves from outside receiver to his more natural tight end position, which the previous offense utilized on in exotic packages. Redshirt freshman Courtland Sutton will line up at one outside receiver position after a dominant spring, and will be flanked on the opposite side by sophomore Shelby Walker. Sophomore Ryheem Malone will start in the slot, and several newcomers, including senior Darius Joseph and true freshmen Kevin Thomas and Xavier Castille, also will be in the rotation.

Joe Craddock said that running back Prescott Line has the talent and intelligence to play in any of several different positions for the Mustangs this season (photo by Pat Kleineberg).

Like any offense, the Ponies will go only as far as their offensive line allows. The unit is expected to start the same five players as last year — left tackle Chauncey Briggs, left guard Daniel McCarty, center Taylor Lasecki, right guard Evan Brown and right tackle Kris Weeks — but throughout preseason camp, the coaches have lauded the linemen for the work they put in during offseason conditioning workouts and during spring and preseason practices. At the Kickoff Luncheon, Morris went so far as to call the offensive line one of the strengths of the team. Craddock agreed with the assessment that the line has shown vast improvement.

“My favorite — and there’s no secret here — my favorite group in the whole offense, being an ex-quarterback, is the offensive line,” Craddock said. “There was a couple of guys up front that really surprised me — not from a … not talking about from a football standpoint, moving around and making blocks, and stuff like that. But from a leadership standpoint, because I hadn’t watched any of those guys play. I didn’t watch any film from last year — I didn’t want to cloud our minds from that. So we didn’t watch any from a football standpoint, but from a leadership standpoint, guys like William Barns stood out, just being a leader, always getting the guys going, getting us in the right place. Very smart kid. Taylor Lasecki — same thing, getting us lined up, being a leader, getting the guys going that need to get going. (Daniel) McCarty — very quiet, you know, didn’t say a whole lot, but just did his job and led by example. So there’s guys up front that really surprised me from that aspect.”

How quickly the offense starts clicking, of course, remains to be seen. Craddock said that before the Mustangs could really start learning the new system, they had to start unlearning the system taught by former coach June Jones, and had to start changing the way they prepare and study and practice.

“They had to learn a whole different system,” Craddock said. “June Jones is a great Xs-and-Os coach and knows a lot of good offense, and we had to teach them our system. We had to take an eraser and erase their minds and say, ‘hey, man, everything y’all have learned in the past … just try to block it all out. That was the main thing. This is going to be something that’s like nothing you’ve ever learned. You need to come in with a fresh mind, and to be honest with you, those guys picked it up so fast. Matt Davis was on it, Darrel was on it. Ben came in, graduated early, and was on it. So for the majority, those guys did a really good job picking it up, but I’m sure Coach Morris has said, as everybody has heard, the biggest thing is you’ve got to change the culture.”