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• C Blake McJunkin is "still not 100 percent, but hopefully he'll be ready to play" Saturday against Northwestern State.

• Northwestern State, which is coached by SMU alum (and former Mustang safety) Bradley Dale Peveto, has split its first two games, opening the season with a 24-23 home win over Delta (Miss.) State before losing to LSU, 49-3, Saturday in Baton Rouge. Jones said film study has shown NSU is "very athletic and fast, and we need to play better than we did against UTEP" to beat the Demons Saturday.

• RB Zach Line, who didn't practice at all last week until Friday's walk-through and rushed for 114 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 20 carries in Saturday's win over UTEP, practiced with his teammates Tuesday. Jones reported that Line's groin was a little tight, but said Line's hamstring is fine.

• Jones declined to comment on the injuries suffered Saturday by SAM LBs Victor Jones and Randy McKinnon, because of privacy rules, but said neither would play Saturday against Northwestern State. Jones said sophomore Randall Joyner would start at the SAM position, and would be backed up by redshirt freshman Uchenna Nwabuike and true freshman Stephon Sanders. Jones called Joyner "a smart kid who knows the defense, and he has gotten some reps on the outside for emergency situations."

And the QB drama?

ponydawg wrote:And the QB drama?

"Drama" is in the eyes of the beholder. Can't we have "competition" rather than "drama"?

Talent-wise, I assume we should drill NWSU ... but they are supposed to be a fast team, and really fast teams have given us trouble in the past.

We're getting faster as an overall team, but that process is not yet complete. Until it is, a mistake (an interception, a fumble, missed tackle, etc.) against a really fast team can end up in the end zone. I bet this game is closer than it should be.

Horsepower is right, we are probably faster than we were in the past but going from really slow to just slow does not put us in a good position. However, if a team that barely beat DII Delta State (or what they are called) beats us or keep it close we are in for a long season. Maybe Coach Jones is getting us ready for the inevitable. The inevitable being a closer than expected win by SMU.

Bergermeister wrote:

ponydawg wrote:And the QB drama?

"Drama" is in the eyes of the beholder. Can't we have "competition" rather than "drama"?

Competition is what we have on the field and in practice for the QB position.
But here on ponyfans.com......we just have drama....all the time.

If this team gives us a lot of trouble, we may as well just write off the season.

Like someone else said, JJ's not going to say that we're going to blow out this team and already start looking towards the next conference game at Memphis. But let's be honest, this is not a strong opponent. If we barely get by, this is going to be a loooong year.

SMU isn't LSU. And, we are playing at night and starting later to boot.

You still can't go into this game flat, as a lot of D1 teams have been beaten by teams like NW St the last few years. Coach is just trying to get them focused. This is NW States super bowl game this year. We need to be ready and I hope we get the score to a point where we can play a lot of players. It would be great for our team.

westexSMU wrote:This is NW States super bowl game this year.

As PonyFans, I think we should make a concerted effort to not repeat the imbecilic comments made by Gary Patterson. When he made that statement about the iron skillet being SMU's Superbowl, it was both moronic and patently untrue.

I mean really, the iron skillet was our "Superbowl" –– when it actually meant less than any conference game, and even less when compared to playing in a conference championship game or Armed Forces Bowl.

So please, just drop the "we're your Superbowl" nonsense. Like we're good enough to by anyone's Superbowl (especially after just playing LSU).

As they say, imitation in the highest form of flattery. So let's not give Patterson any undue praise.

westexSMU wrote:You still can't go into this game flat, as a lot of D1 teams have been beaten by teams like NW St the last few years. Coach is just trying to get them focused. This is NW States super bowl game this year. We need to be ready and I hope we get the score to a point where we can play a lot of players. It would be great for our team.

You don't think that playing LSU would have been a higher profile game for them?

Dukster wrote:SMU isn't LSU. And, we are playing at night and starting later to boot.

If we cannot beat them handily, we have absolutely ZERO chance of keeping up with UCF, TCU or UH. I beg someone to argue that their talent level is anywhere near that of the upper portion of our conference. If all of their athletes were that fast and that talented, they'd be at FBS schools.

Junior wrote:

Dukster wrote:SMU isn't LSU. And, we are playing at night and starting later to boot.

If all of their athletes were that fast and that talented, they'd be at FBS schools.

Except for those with grade/score issues

LSU was obviously a higher profile game for them, but their Coach played here in the 1980s and I'm sure he will have them ready to play. Its a big deal to them to play here....I also question their overall talent, but I'm sure Virginia Tech also questioned James Madison's talent last year before VT got their [deleted] kicked. If we are ready to play, we shouldn't have a problem. Hope we win big.

We all need to relax. Not blowing out Northwestern State does not mean we have "zero" chance to hang with those teams, just like winning in a rout Saturday offers no assurance that we will hang with them. Not to go all coach-speak, but it really is a one-game-at-a-time deal.

But you're right that we shouldn't call ourselves Northwestern State's Super Bowl ... when everyone knows SMU is TCU's Super Bowl!