Now We're Talkin' - cusa-fans.com

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Now We're Talkin'
SMU Is 2-0 In Conference Play For First Time Since 1986
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://www.cusa-fans.com/

DALLAS – June Jones' brand of football may just be coming into focus at SMU. That means if you leave your seat for a hot dog, you might miss one of the darnedest plays you’ve ever seen.

There were at least five of them on Saturday in the Mustangs’ rollercoaster 28-21 win over East Carolina before 13,626 fans at Gerald J. Ford Stadium:

*In the first quarter, after SMU stopped ECU on the Mustangs’ goal line three plays in a row, 6-8 defensive end Margus Hunt blocked the Pirates’ field goal try, preserving a scoreless tie.
*Just before halftime, SMU cornerback Bryan McCann scooped up Hunt’s second blocked field goal and raced 65 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
*Early in the third quarter, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell found Aldrick Robinson deep over the middle for a 96-yard touchdown giving SMU the lead for good, 14-7. The play tied the record for longest pass play in school history.
*Minutes later, safety Rock Dennis’ 53-yard interception return for a touchdown put SMU up, 21-7.
*With five minutes to play, Terrance Wilkerson’s 17-yard touchdown catch gave SMU a 28-14 lead, but ECU ran back the ensuing kickoff 77 yards for a TD. (Yes, a rollercoaster goes up and down.)

The overall effect? Maybe a true home field advantage - finally.

“I felt like the crowd was getting into it tonight,” said linebacker Chase Kennemer, SMU’s leading tackler this night with 14 stops, 11 unassisted.

Said McCann, “This is the first time in my four years of playing [here] where I actually felt like we had a crowd presence on third down.”


Bo Levi Mitchell prepares to uncork the 96-yard touchdown pass to Aldrick Robinson

Home Battles

“We probably don’t win that game on the road,” Jones said. “Being at home, you find a way a little bit more to win. We didn’t turn the ball over [passing]. That was positive. … We didn’t play good last week [at TCU], really, and we were right in it until the end. But at home you kind of battle those things a little bit more.”

“It was great for the kids because they’ve battled so hard and tried so hard.”

Jones said big plays are necessary, especially now, for SMU. “That’s what you’ve got to do,” he said, “when you’re struggling to learn how to win.”

“I feel like we’re learning how to kind of stay together as a group. We’re still not playing the way we need to play on offense to be the division leader, certainly, but don’t tell the kids that. They’re 2-0 [in C-USA.]”

The long touchdown pass to Robinson is a June Jones hallmark. “Over 35 years,” he said, “I can’t tell you how many 90-plus, or 89-yard, touchdowns we’ve thrown.”

“[Mitchell] did what he was supposed to do,” Jones said. “He looked the safety to Emmanuel [Sanders] and just took a shot to Al and Al made a great catch and run.”

Mitchell completed 17 of 29 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked three times.

Rock’s Return

Dennis said the last five or so yards of his interception return were tough. “Oh, man,” he said, “I was so tired coming around that end.”

“It was amazing,” he said of the play. “Words can’t describe it because I haven’t taken a pick back [for a touchdown] in a long time.”

“I was worried at first because if a lineman would have gotten me, everybody would have been laughing at me. So that was the first thing in my head after I got around [ECU’s running back.]”

“Taylor Thompson made a good block on the quarterback, so that gave me a cutback lane.”

Dennis said the defense used late special teams’ coach Frank Gansz’ term for reacting to a turnover runback situation, “jazz session,” and everybody was yelling it.

“You apply the same concepts you would blocking on the offensive line,” Dennis said. “You get on the up-field shoulder and go to the next level. Once you see you have the block contained then you push, go to the next level, once you know the ball is past you. And that’s all our defense did.”

“Rest his soul, we miss him,” Dennis said of Gansz. “We still try to use a lot to the stuff he taught us.”

And the first-quarter goal-line stand? “Last year we would have folded,” Dennis said, “but the defensive mentality this year is we’re going to go out there and stop you. They put in a big lineman in the backfield as a key blocker and he got engulfed in the trenches, so that freed up our linebackers to have a lot of running lanes.”

How about ECU’s big linemen? “Their whole team was bigger than us,” Dennis laughed. “People say when they get off the bus, they look like the Green Bay Packers.”


Rock Dennis nears the end zone during his 53-yard interception return

Navy Test

Navy (4-2) will be a challenge, Dennis said. “First, we’re going to have heavy hearts because it’s Coach Gansz and [Gansz’ alma mater] Navy. But it’s going to be a fun game - physical, I know, because they do what they’re supposed to do.”

Last year at Annapolis, the Midshipmen rolled the Mustangs for 404 rushing yards on 77 attempts en route to a 34-7 win. Navy didn’t throw a single pass. Quarterback Ricky Dobbs rushed for 224 yards and four touchdowns in monsoon conditions.

“They’re disciplined,” Dennis said. “Real disciplined. They get to the edge, they cut, they block and they do their assignments really well. As long as we stay disciplined with our assignments, do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll be fine.”

Last Saturday at Rice, the Middies threw three times, completing two, while smashing the Owls for 471 yards on the ground in a 63-14 win. Dobbs ran for 105 yards and four touchdowns before Kriss Proctor came on and ran for 83 yards and three more touchdowns. Running back Marcus Curry added 86 rushing yards.

Rice managed 16 yards on the ground and 241 through the air with two picks.

Said Jones, “We are going to have to execute because we can’t keep giving the ball back to them. It makes for a long day if you give the ball back to them a bunch of times. You may only see it three or four times.”

“So we have to execute probably the best we’ve executed this year to beat Navy. And that means throwing and catching.”

“We preach that we want to stay undefeated at home,” Dennis said, “because if we can do that then we for sure can get to a bowl game.”

The prediction: You thought last week was nuts? Expect more of the same. SMU plays inspired defense and Bo Levi Mitchell’s confidence soars with a second straight home game.

A larger and louder SMU crowd feeds the beast:
SMU 41 Navy 39
“We left yesterday.”
-Frank Gansz

Notes:
*The 96-yard Bo Levi Mitchell to Aldrick Robinson touchdown pass against ECU tied Jeff Courtwright to Craig James against North Texas in 1982 for longest in school history. Mitchell now has 34 career passing touchdowns, tied for fourth in school history with Mike Ford (1977-80).
*SMU kicker Matt Szymanski had his first career fumble recovery on Saturday and is now 18-18 on PAT kicks. His 53-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter was just wide left, but had the distance.
*Philanthropists Madeleine and T. Boone Pickens will present two trained mustangs to SMU at Saturday’s game as part of a “Salute to the Mustangs.” SMU president R. Gerald Turner and June Jones will receive the gift on behalf of the school. Madeleine Pickens is heavily involved with saving America’s wild horses through her National Wild Horse Foundation. (Some SMU fans fear the new mustangs will lead to the end of an almost 80-year-old tradition: the school’s black Shetland pony mascot, Peruna. Unscientific message board polling shows about 70-30 opposition to replacing Peruna. SMU AD Steve Orsini released a statement on Monday saying Peruna “will continue to be our mascot” and “how [the mustangs] will be involved in future game day presentations is yet to be determined.” Stay tuned.


Peruna on Saturday


Shawnbrey McNeal


Bo Levi Mitchell and Emmanuel Sanders




The first block