From practice — Tuesday

[PonyPride]

• Visibly absent today: FS Chris Banjo, who missed the morning session with the flu. Head coach June Jones said he should be back in a day or two. Jay Scott took his place with the first-team defense.

• Also sitting out: right tackle J.T. Brooks, who missed the Navy game with an ankle injury. Brooks and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm both said Brooks will play this weekend against Houston, and should be back on the practice field shortly. As was the case Saturday against the Midshipmen, Josh Emshoff took Brooks's place with the first-team offensive line.

• Head coach June Jones said the offense certainly can score more, but he is concerned by the fact that the SMU defense has not generated any takeaways in the last two games against Tulsa and Navy.

"The bottom line is that we've got to take the ball away on defense," Jones said. "That's their job. We had no takeaways (the last two weeks). Without takeaways, we could have lost the UAB and Washington State games.

"It's similar to what's going on with the Cowboys — their defense is playing good, but they're not taking the ball away."

• Quarterback Kyle Padron didn't seem surprised at all when asked about his successor at Carroll High School in Southlake — David Piland, who has found himself thrust into the starting role at Houston after the Cougars' top two quarterbacks were lost for the year with injuries.

"Pretty well," Padron said when asked how well he knows Piland. "We were teammates ever since his family moved (to Southlake) from Illinois. He replaced me when I got hurt (as a high school senior), and we have been friends since then."

At UH, Piland has started the last two games, completing 53-of-102 passes (52 percent) for 583 yards (291.5 per game), five touchdowns and three interceptions.

"He has got a really good arm — he can really spin it," Padron said of Piland. "We used to joke about how he could hit you with the ball from 50 yards away."

Padron said that he and Piland have exchanged some messages this season, including after Houston's loss to Mississippi State, when Padron said he sent a text message to Piland telling him to "keep his head up." That friendship, Padron said, is on hold for a week.

"We probably won't talk this week," Padron said, "but we'll be friends again after the game."

Padron and Piland are the latest in a line of Carroll quarterbacks who have gone on to achieve success after high school, a list that also includes former Missouri star and current New Orleans Saints backup Chase Daniel, Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy and Riley Dodge of North Texas. Padron said all of the former Carroll quarterbacks take pride in the legacy of success of the former passers at the school, and said his decision to reach out to Piland is no more than what McElroy did for him.

"Greg and I are friends, and he told me some things to expect, and that's what I have told David," Padron said. "I hope he plays well (Saturday) ... just not too well."

[Harry0569]

Great as always thanks PP. Let's get these guys healed up for the stretch C-USA run.

[Mestengo]

TY

[Sasser Rules]

We appreciate all you do for us, webbies. Thanks for the report.

We really need Brooks back. Navy's DL is so small that his absence didn't get Padron beaten up too badly, but Houston has great athletes who can really close fast if they get past a blocker. Get healthy, J.T.

[smuuth]

Amazing legacy at SLC. Will be interesting to see what happens there as they slide back to normalcy with more frequent losses and fewer transfer-ins for "academic" reasons. I wish the NCAA would start instituting some of the protections for players like the NFL. Too many injuries, especially to skil players and db's. Can't play if you dont have enough guys healthy.