Column in Thursday's DMN - please read!

[Corso]

Times are tough for SMU, but give Bennett time

01:15 AM CDT on Thursday, September 25, 2003

UNIVERSITY PARK – SMU had its best football practice of the season this week.

Of such small steps, the recovery of a program is made.

"We can sit around and say, 'We're not any good,' " coach Phil Bennett said Wednesday. "But that's not the way it's going to be around here. We're not crybabies."

These are tough times for SMU football. The early season results raise unsettling visions of the bad old days, when the program had just returned from the death penalty.

The Mustangs are 0-3 for the fourth time in the last five seasons, with the losses against Big 12 teams. SMU was nearly as good as woebegone Baylor but was overwhelmed by Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

SMU allowed more than 50 points to Texas Tech and OSU. The margin of defeat was more than 45 points in each game.

The last time the Mustangs allowed more than 50 points twice and had two 45-point losses came in 1990, in the second season of the program's second chance.

Has SMU gone all the way back to the get-out-of-NCAA-jail stage?

Will this be the first of four one-win seasons in a six-year span, as the 1990 season was?

Was the 6-5 record of 1997 under Mike Cavan the best this program will ever do?

The answer to all counts is no, if Bennett gets the time.

Bennett is a good coach who has worked with winners throughout his career. He put together a quality staff and has repaired broken ties to Texas high schools, a must for SMU.

The key for Bennett is to hold it together while his program takes root. That made this a key week for the Mustangs.

The 52-6 loss Saturday to Oklahoma State, in which Rashaun Woods set an NCAA record with seven touchdown receptions, was the type that can kick the life out of a struggling team. It was embarrassing, although Bennett refuses to use any form of that word.

Embarrassed teams often quit. If that happened to SMU, Bennett's work would be set back a year.

The enthusiasm and crispness at practice, especially on Wednesday, encouraged Bennett. SMU should lose its WAC opener at Nevada on Saturday and has a real shot at only four wins this season.

In the face of that dire predicament, the Mustangs showed this week their psyche is not ruined. That is important.

Bennett did everything in his power to make it this way.

He refused to rip players. Rather than add punishment drills, he kept the same practice routine. He cautioned his assistants to avoid anything that could be seen as a sign of panic.

Bennett also reminded his players that they must share the burden. Bennett takes an intriguing approach. He supports his players to the limit but also holds them accountable for their actions. The handholding will go only so far.

"Now is the time to answer the challenge," Bennett said. "We're the only people who can help us get out of this. We have to fight through this, and it starts with attitude."

A better offense would help.

SMU has scored as many offensive touchdowns as legendary Notre Dame. Both have only three, which puts them in a tie for fewest in Division I-A.

The Mustangs have also averaged only a foot of total offense per game less than tony UCLA. That puts UCLA in 116th place at 239.33 yards per game, with SMU dead last at 239.

SMU pays a steep price for having minimal experience at quarterback. Richard Bartel has only eight career starts. Inconsistent quarterback play means an inconsistent offense.

The situation at quarterback illustrates what Bennett inherited when he took this job before last season.

SMU is so thin on experienced talent that 22 freshmen have already played this season. That includes nine true freshmen, all of whom Bennett would prefer to redshirt to give them a year to get bigger, stronger and smarter. These freshmen will be experienced seniors.

Bennett cannot afford the luxury of redshirting talented freshmen. When SMU reaches the stage that an entire freshman class can be redshirted, it will have crossed a significant milestone. Until then, Phil Bennett keeps pushing up the hill.

E-mail gfraley@dallasnews.com

[SMU00]

That might be the most encouraging article the DMN has run about the future of SMU since .... well, since forever. Thanks for the hookup.

[Dooby]

I liked this article until I went to the DMN website and realized it was by Jerry Fraley. Fraley is a world-class moron.

[GoRedGoBlue]

Careful, you're being positive. Stallion will have this post deleted.

[Swamp Gas]

I think that's a hell of an article, and he presents good reasons to think things are going to get better. I like it.
Have patience - and Go SMU!

[Hoop Fan]

It was a decent spin, but I hope I don't have to read articles like that much longer. Here is a point I have a problem with: "SMU pays a steep price for having minimal experience at quarterback. Richard Bartel has only eight career starts. Inconsistent quarterback play means an inconsistent offense." Bullcrap. There was nothing Bartel could have done against Ok State, short of developing 4.5 speed overnight. Each Olineman has to get determined to block his man.