Something I Have Never Heard an SMU Coach Say

[huskerpony]

"We gave up a lot of yards, but we won the game," coach June Jones said. "We find a way to win games, and that's because of the chemistry and attitude in the locker room."

That is the best thing I have heard said about SMU football since I first showed up on campus. Today you could feel something was different. This team has a different attitude. Even from the beginning of the season. When we fell behind, I was pretty sure we still had a good shot. But that last drive, man. I still had that nagging feeling in my gut. My cousin looked at me and said just two more plays--my response was "you have no idea how many games we have lost in the last two minutes." But you could still feel they had it in them. We were going to stop them. No matter what happens in the coming weeks, I feel like a corner has been turned. Somehow these kids have learned how to win, and I don't think we're going back any time soon.

GO MUSTANGS!

[MrMustang1965]

"We gave up a lot of yards, but we won the game," coach June Jones said. "We find a way to win games, and that's because of the chemistry and attitude in the locker room."

That is the best thing I have heard said about SMU football since I first showed up on campus. Today you could feel something was different. This team has a different attitude. Even from the beginning of the season. When we fell behind, I was pretty sure we still had a good shot. But that last drive, man. I still had that nagging feeling in my gut. My cousin looked at me and said just two more plays--my response was "you have no idea how many games we have lost in the last two minutes." But you could still feel they had it in them. We were going to stop them. No matter what happens in the coming weeks, I feel like a corner has been turned. Somehow these kids have learned how to win, and I don't think we're going back any time soon.

GO MUSTANGS!

huskerpony: you're probably too young to remember (or probably had not been born!) but I remember the days when the Mustangs would WIN games in the last two minutes!

You're right. These Mustangs KNOW how to win!

[huskerpony]

Yeah. I was in school for the Rossley-Cavan era. I think I was probably about 8 last time we were in a bowl.

[HollywoodMustang]

Yeah, I was 1 when we last went to a bowl. I was still on track to be an Aggie like my mom. Thankfully Dad straightened that out.

[mrydel]

The thing is that I have seen "this game" many times in the last few years, and we have lost every time. I almost cried when BUS came up and hugged me. Of course some of that was due to the ribs he broke.

[ponyte]

Actually, we have seen this several times this season. A great defensive play saved the win against UAB. The defense made a great stop against ECU. The defense had to stop Rice late and of course the big stop last night.

It has been so long that we have constantly made the big plays that we tend to miss this season's great defensive stops.

There have been at lest 4. Of course we have the poor performance late in the game against WSU and Navy. So we are not quite there yet. But we are much improved and these kids are finding a way to make the key plays when the game is on the line. A great accomplishment for a defense that was basically dead last a year ago.

[mrydel]

You really needed to be there ponyte. It was amazing how on UTEP's last play, the stadium noise level actually went up a very noticable amount. This was different from those other games. This was something that in the past our fans, including me perhaps, might have sat on their hands, gritted their teeth and hoped for the best. Instead they got louder. They were hysterical. They actually began to believe that we could stop them. I will admit that I had some negative vibes in my head. The more that Vittatoe scrambled the last play the more I thought he would find an open man. And them Thompson just devoured him. I do not know if it was on the TV screen or not, but when we lined up for the victory snap, Shawnbrey was waving his arms in a manner of ecstatic enthusiasm, barely able to control himself to settle down in order for them to take the final snap. Then the game ends, Varsity is sung, the players go to midfield for a prayer, and the students, most of whom (but not all) had stayed, rushed the field. This game was different. This game will make more students stay to see the end. This game may bring a few more Dallasites to the next one. And this game will be one seen as a true turning points in the recovery of SMU football.

[ponyte]

Not taking away from the excitement of the moment (and I wish I had been there). Just noting that in the past, we have seen our D work hard but come up short when the game was on the line. This year, it has been our D that has brought us victory.

As you noted, there may have been bad vibes for many of us based on 20+ years of poor defensive performance late in a game. That has changed this year.

[mrydel]

I am just sorry you could not make it. You would have enjoyed this one very much.

[Dooby]

The thing that is different this year is that the kids walk on to the field and expect to win. They believe that they will make a play, and if they can't, the guy standing next to them will.

And dammit if it didn't carry over to the fans yesterday. How many times have we been in that situation? Countless. This time, I believed SMU was going to make a play.

And they did.