Weekly USAToday Report on SMU Mustangs

[Water Pony]

Good summary of our situation and recent game:

SOUTHERN METHODIST

INSIDE SLANT
When SMU coach Phil Bennett insists, "This is not the same ol' SMU," he means the Mustangs are a deeper, more talented, more experienced and resilient football team this season.

The Mustangs need to be all that and more right now with everything that's swirling around the program.

On Friday, the Mustangs lost starting quarterback Justin Willis to an indefinite suspension following a fight with another SMU student. The next day, backup quarterback Corey Slater was slow to get the offense moving, and a second-half rally wasn't enough to prevent a hard-fought 24-21 loss at UTEP.

"Our quarterback (Willis) had 12 touchdown passes, and (Slater) had none. That's a big contrast," Bennett said. "I thought Corey started off very slow. Obviously, he wasn't expecting to start and then come Saturday morning he is, but I thought he came back."

Now the Mustangs (3-3, 1-1 C-USA) are waiting to see if Willis will be back this week in time for Saturday's home game against Marshall.

"It's day-to-day," Bennett said. "Hopefully, we're in the process of getting it resolved, but there is no guarantee."

The situation won't be easy to resolve because it's a complicated scenario being investigated by Dallas police as a possible hate crime.

Willis has said the alleged victim stalked him for nine months, and he admitted he struck the alleged victim when the accuser showed up at an off-campus party uninvited on Thursday night and then refused to leave. Willis told the Dallas Morning News he did not use any slur toward his accuser.

"There's nothing behind that," Willis said. "I don't hate anybody. I have no reason to."

Willis said his actions were the result of months of harassment but admitted he was wrong to hit his accuser. Willis said he "overreacted" when the alleged victim smirked at him when asked to leave the gathering.

"I apologize for that," Willis said.

Willis can't practice or take part in team meetings during his suspension but said he has every intention of remaining part of the football team this season and in the future.

"I don't want to play anywhere else," Willis said. "I just want to get back."

NOTES, QUOTES
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: The Mustangs struggled without suspended QB Justin Willis last week, partly because they spent all week working with Willis and didn't lose him until the day before the game. QB Corey Slater did some positive things in his most extended playing time of the season but was intercepted three times. SMU also failed to convert a first down on 11 third-down attempts and gained just seven first downs, one in the first half.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: While SMU leads the conference in rushing defense, allowing just 82.8 rushing yards per game and 2.7 yards per carry, the Mustangs are giving up 273.5 passing yards per game as well as 11 touchdown passes. Somewhere in the middle, SMU is allowing 22.3 points per game and hanging on with the help of 13 takeaways in six games.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We support Justin Willis to the fullest, but at this time, until things are worked out, we have to abide by the rules. Hopefully it will be resolved and hopefully the players will learn from this mistake. Our focus right now has to be to come back together, get ourselves a good game plan and find a way to go out and beat Marshall." SMU coach Phil Bennett on managing the distractions that have come with Willis' suspension.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
THIS WEEK'S GAME: Marshall at SMU, Oct. 14 SMU has shown impressive resilience the past two weeks in a 33-28 win at Tulane and a 24-21 loss at UTEP. What the Mustangs should learn from both games is that it's a lot better to start strong than to try to come from behind in the second half. The uncertainty surrounding the quarterback position doesn't help, so the Mustangs are going to have to look elsewhere to win this game, especially to the running game.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Justin Willis or Corey Slater As of late Tuesday night, SMU had not announced a decision on Willis, who is suspended indefinitely following an off-campus fight. Slater played the entire UTEP game and did some positive things, but he also threw three interceptions and didn't get going until the second half.

TB DeMyron Martin Martin returned last week from a foot injury that kept him out for four games and ran for 55 yards on 17 carries. "I thought having DeMyron back was big. I thought he had some big runs, but unfortunately we got behind and had to throw to get back in the game," coach Phil Bennett said. "I thought he did some things that were good to see."

WR Emmanuel Sanders With an 18-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter last week, Sanders tied a school record by catching a touchdown pass in four consecutive games.

SS Joe Sturdivant Sturdivant led the Mustangs with 16 tackles, two pass breakups, an interception and a forced fumble last week. Sturdivant ranks fourth in the conference with 8.8 tackles per game.

ROSTER REPORT: After Slater played the entire game last week, Bennett is hoping he'll be ready to get off to a faster start this week than he did against UTEP. "He's got a strong arm and he's got a little bit more mobility than you would think," Bennett said. "He's a guy who played a year of junior college football, so he had a little bit more experience at the start of the season than Justin. I think he will tell you, he can be better than what he played. Seven first downs, two of them were touchdowns, that was good. But we had a real lack of consistency, and he's got to get better at that."

The Mustangs have been strong on the defensive line the past three weeks, but they might be going into the Marshall game without starting DEs Justin Rogers (neck) and Cory Muse (knee).