Corey Slater

[Roach]

I don't know who is going to start at quarterback against Marshall, or against any other team for the rest of the year. For this point, that doesn't matter.

I want to offer a tip of the hat to Corey Slater. All week, he was expecting and expected to be the backup. Then he finds out Friday that he's starting in a hostile environment against a team out for revenge and with little-to-no time to prepare. He didn't get to practice with the starting offense all week.

He came out and, like the rest of the team, sputtered. I wasn't there, but listened to Rich Phillips and Craig Swann, and it didn't sound pretty.

Like the rest of the team, he could have quit and gone through the motions for the rest of the day. But Slater showed a little spine Saturday, as did the rest of the Ponies. He hung in there, battled hard and let two scoring drives, and from the sounds of it, he made some very good throws. If he is starting Saturday, I plan to stand and cheer for him. If he's not starting, I will have far more confidence than before that we have a capable backup.

Thanks for being prepared, Corey, and for piloting the offense like a real leader.

BEAT MARSHALL!

[J.T.supporta]

Yes, a real leader with 3 INTs BUT he did have 2 TDs...

may your success continue Corey!

[Roach]

Right -- he was far from perfect. All of the Ponies were far from perfect.

Not to make any excuses, but I wonder how many INTs he would have thrown had he not been thrown in there with so little preparation. With the rain and his limited practice time, I expect he was a bit handcuffed. He should work with the first-team offense all week, and presumably will have better timing and chemistry. Whether that would have prevented any of the INTs Saturday, we'll never know. He'll be more ready to play this week, regardless of whether he ends up lining up under center.

Go Ponies!

[SMU_is_bowling]

Roach, you are dead on... pics or not, he came in and did his job as a backup, gave the team a chance to win.

[davidsmu94]

I'd like to think that without one (pick any one) of those interceptions, we would have won the game.

[PonyFan]

Had Slater led our guys to a win Saturday night, he would be enjoying cult hero status right now.

Regardless of which quarterback leads us to the win this Saturday, he (or they) deserve the same treatment after we're back on the winning track.

Go Ponies!

[The Falcon]

As some have mentioned - he hadn't practiced with the 1st team in
prep for UTEP

He had only played in two series during the NTSU game at the Div 1
level.

He was playing in a pouring rain in the 2nd half - with a slick ball.

The SMU team had practiced on doing several things that it could not
do because Willis has skills that are different from Slater's, and it took the
first half for everyone to adjust to the game and a 17-0 score.

In the 2nd half there were several balls dropped and Goode dropped
a sure interception with nothing but green in front of him that might
have won the game.

Corey - you did great - keep it up. Even if Justin comes back soon,
which I hope he does, keep ready. As you found out - you never know
when your number might come up, and it is clear that you can help us.

Go Mustangs!

[mrydel]

Two of the interceptions were forced into coverage. The last one on 3rd and a mile was a deep pass to B. Chase that was perfectly thrown to a receiver perfectly covered. Earlier in the game it is a pass that should not have been thrown but it was in desparation. Chase went over the back of the receiver and almost made a miraculous catch. Slater was uneasy early but recovered. He is not the overall athlete that Willis is but he should be good enough to carry us through the next couple of games if needed, especially if we will establish some running now that Martin is back.

[Cadillac]

He is not the overall athlete that Willis is but he should be good enough to carry us through the next couple of games if needed, especially if we will establish some running now that Martin is back.

I agree with this point. I was trying to claw out of my own skin watching Screech at the start of the game. This was in spite of my over-all interest in seeing him out there, I mean, he's so different than Willis. He brings the long ball, pocket presense QB to this team. It's a classic QB style that you don't see as much in the modern college game. Once he started to click with his recievers, there was a lot of very good things to see from this kid.

If Martin is back 100% this weekend, we should be in for a treat no matter who is passing. But with Screech back there, I can see us punishing the Marshal defense with Martin, punctuated with a few deep strikes to keep the defense honest. Now if we can just pull off some quick timing passes to the TEs, we should be pretty well balanced.

-CoS