Memphis Blues

Tigers Pounce Early, Hang On To Beat SMU, 31-26

DALLAS – Two snaps sailed over SMU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell’s head in the first quarter Saturday as Memphis built a 14-0 lead. “It’s frustrating as heck,” SMU coach June Jones said on Monday. “I’ve never had trouble getting snaps and different little things like that, that you take for granted.”

SMU also tried the run against the Tigers on its first two possessions, with little success. Jones said two of those plays should’ve gone for big yards against Memphis’ early 3-2 front, but execution was lacking. More frustration. “Again, when you have ten guys doing it correctly,” he said, “it’s not as good as 11 guys doing it correctly. Just one guy failed to make a mental decision.”

SMU's Emmanuel Sanders, left, receives congratulations from Bradley Haynes after Sanders' 53-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter.

After SMU’s eighth loss in a row, Jones admits this season has been his most frustrating as a head coach. And it’s not just about him. “I feel frustrated for the alumni of SMU, for [AD Steve Orsini], for [Exec. Asst. AD Mike Vaught.] I feel for the other people around.”

“I know my principles and I know what our coaches are doing and I know it wins football games, OK? And we will win.”

Jones said he showed the team eight offensive plays against Memphis, any one of which, if made, would have won the game.

Memphis’ Curtis Steele and Brandon Ross both rushed for over 100 yards, as the Tigers tallied 306 yards on the ground. “Defensively, whenever your kicker has the hardest hit on the field that day, usually, you’re not playing defense the way you should,” Jones said. (Ouch.)

Jones referred to Kellis Cunningham’s head-on collision with Steele on a first-half kickoff return after SMU had cut the lead to 14-7 on Emmanuel Sanders’ 53-yard touchdown catch.

It looked like a game-changer.

SMU held Memphis scoreless the rest of the half and Thomas Morstead booted two field goals to draw the Mustangs to 14-13 at the break.

Jones said those plays can spark the turnaround he’s been looking for. “You saw what it did to the sidelines,” he said. “It shows on the crowd [and] everything else. You need about eight of those.”

Redshirt freshman quarterback Logan Turner was called on when Mitchell sustained a shoulder injury in the second quarter. Turner finished 19-31 for 228 yards, with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. Mitchell was 5-7 for 83 yards, with a TD and no picks.

Trailing, 28-20, with seven minutes left to play, Jones went for it on fourth-and-three from the Memphis 16, passing on the field goal. Turner’s pass to Beasley fell incomplete and the Tigers iced it with a 24-yard field goal with 1:31 left.

Turner’s short touchdown pass to Beasley with 38 seconds left, their second scoring combo of the game, provided the final margin. SMU’s two-point conversion failed, as did two on-side kick attempts. ( Memphis was penalized on the first.)

As for positives, Jones pointed to two long drives engineered by Turner, one with the game on the line, and the play of the offensive line and receiver corps.

What has Jones learned about SMU football that didn’t know when he took the job?

The “little extra” is missing, he said. “Like, I walk through our weight room in the middle of the day. I’ve never walked by a weight room - pros, college, anywhere - and haven’t seen people that aren’t in their classes catching an hour in the weight room.”

“It’s a mindset. It’s a culture.”

“Everybody goes to practice,” Jones said. “Everybody does their four hours. The whole country does that. But you go look at what the winning teams do. They’re spending more than four hours - on their own.”

“The players have to take control of their team to create that atmosphere,” Jones said. “Winning programs have that. We will have that.”

“Everybody has gone through this type of frustration in coaching, but this one for me is probably as frustrating as I’ve had,” Jones said later. He pointed to 3-9 and 5-7 marks at Hawaii as the only things that come close. Jones also noted an NFL season when he was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. “When I fired [quarterback] Jeff George, it was a frustrating year, after that part of it,” he said.

Jones said his coaching staff has seen difficulty before. “Like, [NFL veteran coach] Frank Ganz, for example. The year before [the St. Louis Rams] won the Super Bowl, I think they started out 0-8.” (Ganz was special teams coach for the Rams.)

Justin Smart saves a first-half punt from going into the end zone. The ball was downed on the Memphis one.

UTEP awaits the Mustangs in El Paso. Like Memphis, the Miners have bowl dreams. UTEP needs to win-out over SMU, Houston and East Carolina to get there.

Trevor Vittatoe threw five touchdown passes last week in the Miners’ 37-24 win at Louisiana-Lafayette. “We’ve got our hands full,” Jones said, “because they’ve got a couple of big-play receivers. [Vittatoe] can move around a little bit. He seems to be a pretty accurate deep-ball thrower and they rely a lot on the big play.”

“[UTEP head coach Mike Price] has been running that scheme about as long as I’ve been running what we do,” Jones said. “They’re pretty efficient.”

“It’s always hard to go to UTEP and play. … If you let them get up on you early, the crowd gets into the game and it gets pretty rolling.”

UTEP is fourth in C-USA in scoring offense (33.4) and eleventh in scoring defense (37.7), just above SMU (39.4).

As a reminder, Tulsa hung 77 on the Miners.

SMU Notes:

• Injury update: corner Derrius Bell - out; offensive tackle Vincent Chase - probable; defensive end Adrian Dizer, likely out for season; wideout Terrance Wilkerson – out; Bo Levi Mitchell, possible.

• Jessie Henderson now holds SMU’s single-season record for kickoff return yardage (908), edging out Jonas Rutledge’s mark set in ’02. Henderson is 125 yards shy of the NCAA career mark (2,922) with two games left.

• Redshirt freshman wideout Bradley Haynes had a nice day against Memphis – five catches, 64 yards - in place of the injured Wilkerson.

• Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens was on the sidelines Saturday.

On Deck: SMU (1-9, 0-6) at UTEP (4-5, 3-2), Saturday, November 15, 2008, 8:05 p.m. CT, The Sun Bowl (51,500), El Paso, Texas; TV: none; radio: KTCK-1310 AM.

Prediction: Jones said it: The Sun Bowl ain’t easy. Add to that, the Mustangs’ morale may be slipping and injuries are piling up. UTEP 40 SMU 28.

Quotable Jones

On the future: “I feel very optimistic. This school has a lot to offer – a lot to offer. And when we turn this thing, this is going to be the place to be.”

Article by Rick Atkinson -
CUSA Fans SMU Correspondent