PonyFans.com is proud to have 15-year-old Nate as a guest columnist. In this installment, Nate offers his view of Saturday's football season opener at North Texas. 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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SMU is 1-0 for the first time since 2009, thanks to an impressive 34-21 win Saturday in Denton over North Texas.

SMU certainly stayed true to its #PonyUpTempo hashtag, gaining the most yards (572) the Mustangs have ever had under head coach Chad Morris. The Mustangs had five offensive plays of 45 or more yards, including a 88-yard touchdown from redshirt-freshman quarterback Ben Hicks to wide receiver Courtland Sutton, a 49-yard touchdown by running back Xavier Jones and another touchdown pass to Sutton, this time from Matt Davis from 46 yards out.

Nate says that whether quarterback Matt Davis plays will go a long way toward determining if the Mustangs have a chance for an upset Saturday against Baylor (photo by Pat Kleineberg).

Overall, SMUΓÇÖs offense looked fantastic, and was very balanced, with 272 rushing yards and 300 passing yards. Davis completed 8 of 17 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns, though his night was cut short due to a third quarter injury (head coach Chad Morris has said Davis will be a game-time decision Saturday). Hicks played well, completing 5 of 9 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. If Davis canΓÇÖt go Saturday, Hicks played well enough so that SMU coaches say they still feel good about their quarterback situation. The real standout from SaturdayΓÇÖs game was Sutton, who hauled in four catches for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Once again, he displayed his uncanny ability to go up and get a ball, no matter the location or placement, doing so on the third and 45, when Davis scrambled out to his left, stopped, set his feet, and launched a bomb, which was caught by Sutton over two North Texas defenders for a touchdown.

Jones looked impressive, carrying the ball 11 times for 115 yards and a touchdown. Freshman running back Ke’Mon Freeman looked great as well, showing strength and toughness, as he made it difficult for UNT defenders to take him down, carrying it five times for 39 yards. James Proché was the other surprise for SMU, catching three passes for 73 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive end Justin Lawler was a man among boys, collecting 3.5 sacks and eight tackles, four of which were for losses. Senior cornerback Horace Richardson also picked off North Texas quarterback Alec Morris twice.

Overall, SMU looked great in its opener, but the Mustangs looked great against one of the worst teams in the country (UNT is ranked No. 128 ΓÇö dead last ΓÇö in the FBS rankings). Things change this week as SMU hits the road to Waco to take on No. 23 Baylor.

Baylor is certainly a little bit damaged with all the offseason chaos, and came into the season ranked No. 23, and retains that position in this weekΓÇÖs Associated Press poll, but SMU is still a considerable underdog. The Bears opened up the post-Art Briles Era with a 55-7 win over Northwestern State, another big-time nonconference win for the Bears. Quarterback Seth Russell looked good, throwing four touchdown passes on just 20 pass attempts, and running back Shock Linwood continued to do his thing, rushing for 97 yards on 10 carries. LinwoodΓÇÖs backup, Terence Williams, had two rushing touchdowns behind Linwood, and JaMycal Hasty provided even more depth, taking the ball 68 yards on seven carries. Wideout KD Cannon continued to lead the Baylor receiving corps, with five catches for 46 yards and a touchdown. Baylor has depth at receiver too, with the likes of Lynx Hawthorne, Quan Jones and Blake Lynch.

Morris said that while the Mustangs have improved in his second year at SMU, the Bears once again will present a significant challenge.

ΓÇ£Obviously going against a very talented Baylor football team that has one of the best home records in the country since 2011, weΓÇÖre excited about this opportunity that we have, and itΓÇÖs a great gauge at where our program is in year two,ΓÇ¥ Morris said. ΓÇ£We know weΓÇÖre better. TheyΓÇÖve picked up right where they left off. WeΓÇÖve definitely got our work cut out for us.ΓÇ¥

Compliments aside, nothing is different about this yearΓÇÖs Baylor squad compared to last yearΓÇÖs and the year before. The Bears have their main core players ΓÇö Russell (who threw for 376 yards and five touchdowns against SMU last year), Linwood (75 rushing yards) and Cannon (three receptions, 104 receiving yards, one touchdown reception ΓÇö back from last year. The only major subtraction is wideout Corey Coleman, who was chosen in the first round of the NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. Baylor will play fast, quickly and strong ΓÇö again, nothing different.

SMU defensive coordinator Van Malone spoke about how he plans to contain BaylorΓÇÖs offense.

ΓÇ£You have to be measured in your attack,ΓÇ¥ he said. ΓÇ£You canΓÇÖt go all out and be aggressive. You canΓÇÖt sit back on your heels. You see a lot of the stats, but at the end of the day, they come to run the football. Time and time again, people make the mistake that itΓÇÖs a passing operation. ItΓÇÖs the same offense. The character and profile of the receivers is the same. WeΓÇÖre going to prepare in that way, and do our best to put our guys in the right position. If we can play our best game, then it doesnΓÇÖt matter who we play, then we can put ourselves in a position to have success.ΓÇ¥

On defense, Baylor is pretty decimated up front due to graduation. Andrew Billings, Shawn Oakman, Beau Blackshear and Jamal Palmer are all gone. The Bears are switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense mainly because of the losses at defensive line. Look for Morris and the Mustangs to try to exploit what seems to be a soft front line. Where Baylor is strong, and the reason the coaches felt comfortable with switching to a 3-4, is the linebacker group. The Bears return all four of their starting linebackers from last year: Taylor Young, Travon Blanchard, Aivion Edwards and Raaquan Davis.

Whether this game is remotely close or not depends on if Matt Davis plays. My gut tells me he will play, based on what Morris said earlier this week.

ΓÇ£We all know Matt, we know what type of competitor he is, and if heΓÇÖs capable of playing, heΓÇÖll be out there without a doubt,ΓÇ¥ Morris said. ΓÇ£If heΓÇÖs ready, itΓÇÖll be hard to keep him out of this ballgame.ΓÇ¥

ItΓÇÖs true that Hicks showed flashes in his debut Saturday, but one canΓÇÖt be comfortable throwing a redshirt freshman to the wolves like this in his first start ΓÇö especially when those wolves are the Baylor Bears.

IΓÇÖve come up with a few points that are essential to SMU shocking the country and upsetting Baylor:

ΓÇó Davis has to play. He is too important to what SMU tries to do on offense.

• The secondary receivers need to pitch in. Sutton can’t catch every ball, especially with the amount of coverage Phil Bennett’s Baylor defense will use on him. Proché, Xavier Castille and Myron Gailliard need to contribute significantly in order to alleviate some of the attention pointed toward Sutton.

ΓÇó The run game has to get going early for SMU. Jones and Freeman have to generate some energy and yards for the Ponies. The offensive line has to get push up front and open up some lanes for the two running backs and Davis, if he plays.

ΓÇó The defensive front canΓÇÖt get pushed around like it did last year. Baylor averaged 8.1 yards per carry against SMU last year. Baylor returned none of its starting offensive linemen from 2015, so the veteran SMU defensive line needs to contain Linwood and get pressure through the all-new offensive line that consists of two true freshmen. Kyran Mitchell returning to the STAR position should help.

ΓÇó The Mustangs have to win the turnover battle. Horace Richardson had two picks last week, and that needs to carry over from last week. SMU will give itself a good chance if it can win the turnover battle. SMU won the turnover battle last week, 3-1, and it resulted in a win. This is key.

Again, if just one of these things goes wrong, it could result in carnage for SMU. It will take a perfect all-around game for the Ponies to pull the upset in Waco. If Davis plays, SMU has a chance. ItΓÇÖs nothing against Hicks. He is going to be a fantastic quarterback for SMU, but making his first start coming on the road in his hometown is a lot to ask. I would certainly hope he proves me wrong. So for my score prediction this week, IΓÇÖll have two: if Davis plays, and if he doesnΓÇÖt.

NateΓÇÖs Take

If Davis plays: Baylor 45, SMU 27

If Davis doesnΓÇÖt play: Baylor 48, SMU 14