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PonyFans.com is proud to welcome, as a new columnist, Nate, who is 13 years old, in seventh grade, might want to be a sports writer and knows more about football than a lot of people who already make their living covering sports. Nate will preview each game throughout the season, looking at a key player, matchup or statistic that could prove relevant in each upcoming game … and he'll go out on a limb and pick the score of each game. Feel free to post comments and constructive criticism, and to give suggestions for upcoming games!

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The SMU Mustangs are coming off an absolute gut-wrencher at the hands of Rutgers in triple overtime. I knew it was going to be high-scoring, as I predicted 35-31 SMU, but not 55-52! A couple notes about the Rutgers game and we’ll talk about the task at hand in the Memphis Tigers.

Redshirt freshman Paxton Lynch has thrown for 995 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his first year as the starting Memphis quarterback (photo by Memphis athletics).

Garrett Gilbert: Hats off too ya, Garrett. Heck of a game (45/70, 484 passing yards, 5 passing touchdowns, 0 PICKS and 2 rushing touchdowns). The key: 0 interceptions. Turnover-free performances usually mean good things happen.

He led SMU on that absolutely furious comeback, topped off with one of those "DaDaDa ... DaDaDa" Sportscenter moments on that two-point conversion to Jeremy Johnson. (That two-point conversion was No. 1 on ESPN's Top 10 Plays the next morning.)

"Our coaches have done a great job of putting us in position to succeed," Gilbert said. "We've got to do a better job of turning those (chances) into points, as we did (against Rutgers) ... I think offensively, it's a credit to how much work our guys put in during the offseason.

Jeremy Johnson: 18 catches for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also topped the Gilbert play with an absolutely amazing catch in the back corner of the end zone that would’ve also been a catch in the NFL, as he got two feet in.

Defense: Have to improve run defense. In my preview to the Rutgers game, I explained that Rutgers has a relentless rushing attack. They ran over the Ponies for 191 yards.

Negative: That AAC loss probably throws SMU out of AAC title contention for a BCS berth, as they probably would have had to go undefeated in conference to keep pace with Louisville.

Positive: SMU hung with a very good Rutgers team, and Gilbert had a record-setting day. This shows the Mustangs can hang with the good, solid teams like Rutgers.

In the past, the Mustangs have always seemed to start out 1-3 then finish 7-5 or 6-6 in an easy C-USA. This year, though, they are in a tougher conference and had a tough opponent, after an expected 1-3 start, in Rutgers. The Mustangs ultimately lost that game and now find themselves in a 1-4 hole and have to go 5-2 the rest of the way if they want to go just 6-6 if they want to make a bowl. I would say this is a good time to have Memphis and Temple coming up.

Don’t underestimate the Tigers. They may be 1-4, like us, but they have given some teams a scare. They lost to a very strong UCF team, 24-17, (UCF won at Penn State and almost beat South Carolina). I’m really not worried about their offense, which runs the ball effectively for an average of 168.6 yards per game on the ground but only averages 18.4 points per game. If anything, I’d be more worried about the defense, which only gives up 20.2 points per game.

SMU is 2-3 all-time against Memphis, though the Mustangs have won two blowouts in a row: 42-0 and 44-13 (in 2011 and 2012). The Tigers never have been able to really get into the swing of things on the offensive side of the ball. Their passing threat, well ... isn’t a threat. Quarterback Paxton Lynch only has two passing touchdowns this year, and the offense only has six overall touchdowns. The only thing I’m the slightest bit worried about is their defense, and I think SMU can handle that just fine.

"It's a different team," Gilbert said about Memphis. "We did have some success last year, and scheme-wise, they might look familiar, but they're much-improved."

The Mustangs have a must-win coming up Saturday and have to get hot to get back to Bowl Season. I think that the SMU Mustangs will come out strong against a weaker opponent that they have recently dominated, even though it is on the road. Gilbert will have a big day, I feel Joyner will be 100 percent now and he will have a strong showing, and the defense overall is what has to pick up the slack for SMU in order for the Mustangs to be successful. I’m thinking we’ll be talking Sunday about a 2-4 Ponies team coming off a dominant win over Memphis.

Nate's take: SMU 41, Memphis 17