SMU @ UTEP preview

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our SMU Correspondent, Rick Atkinson, gives you a preview of the SMU Week #6 trip to face off with the UTEP Miners.

SMU @ UTEP Game Info

Date: Saturday, October 7, 2006 @ 8:05 p.m. Central time

Location: Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas (51,500)

No Television

Season Records: SMU (3-2, 1-0 C- USA), UTEP (2-2, 0-0, C-USA)

All-Time Series: SMU leads, 9-4.

Injury/Personnel report
SMU: RB DeMyron Martin, dislocated bone in right foot; out - returns next week.
UTEP: LB Jeremy Jones, broken right leg; out for season.

SMU @ UTEP Overview

UTEP head coach Mike Price is not happy with SMU. And it’s not just because the Mustangs beat the Miners, 40-27, last year, knocking them out of the conference championship game.

Price says his team has been dissed on the cover of SMU’s media guide. A UTEP player is pictured on the ground during the Mustangs’ win in Dallas last year - which knocked the Miners out of the conference championship game.

Teams feature varied approaches to their media guide covers and art can be such a tricky thing to judge, don’t you think? UTEP’s guide, for instance, features Price screaming while wielding a pickax over his head. What’s up with that? Someone could put an eye out – and miss the conference championship game.

This week, SMU comes off a 33-28 win at Tulane and UTEP, a 44-38 dusting of New Mexico State. Comebacks were required by the Mustangs and Miners after both teams gave up 17-0 leads.

The Mustangs are 3-3 in El Paso, last winning there in 2002, 42-35. A win would bump SMU to 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 1986, and mark the first time in 50 years it had two opening conference wins on the road.

SMU’s Phil Bennett has a record of 14-37 in his fifth season of head coaching.

Price’s mark is 18-10 in his third year at UTEP. His overall head coaching record is 147-132.

SMU Offense versus UTEP Defense

Advantage: Even

QB Justin Willis showed he’s a competitor at Tulane, scrambling and finding open receivers late in the game, and scoring a tough one-yard rushing touchdown in the first half. Willis tallied 337 yards total offense, 76 on the ground, and was 23-40-1 for 261 yards through the air.

“It looked like he was having fun out there,” Bennett said Tuesday. “I can still remember looking at him when the game was tight and seeing in his eyes that he liked being in that situation.”

RBs Johnnie Fitzgerald and Fred Turner should see action at UTEP. Bennett decided to hold them out one more week after injuries. It was tough going for Cedric Dorsey, James Mapps and Jessie Henderson, who combined for 22 yards. It may not get much better, as UTEP is tough against the run, averaging 118 yards per game, third-best in C-USA.

LB Troy Callavo leads the Miners in tackles with 38 and DE Alex Obomese has two sacks. S Quintin Demps has three interceptions.

An opportunity for Willis and his band of receivers: UTEP’s pass defense ranks last in C-USA, allowing over 300 yards per game.

UTEP Offense versus SMU Defense

Advantage: UTEP

UTEP, led by QB Jordan Palmer, leads the conference in passing offense with 303.2 yards per game. Anybody who witnessed Tulane’s nearly 400-yard aerial assault on SMU last week knows UTEP could be bad news.

WR Johnnie Lee Higgins, Jr., coming off the Miners’ first 200-plus-yard receiving game in 19 years, leads C-USA in receiving and scoring.

“They move him all over the field,” said Bennett. “You never know where he’s gonna be. This guy’s got ‘playing-on-Sunday’ written all over him.”

“I think you can say the same thing for Jordan,” he said.

Loren Sams, a transfer from Florida State, is a double threat, lining up at both WR and running QB.

SMU continues to lead C-USA in rushing defense, after holding Tulane to a school record minus 33 yards. UTEP’s leading rusher, Marcus Thomas averages 49.8 yards per game.

The Mustangs lead C-USA in sacks, with 16. DE Justin Rogers has five, tops in the conference. DT Adrian Haywood was named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week for his five tackles - three for a loss - and a forced fumble at Tulane.

The game will turn on how well SMU’s pass rush and secondary and can slow down Palmer. Slow down, not stop - one tipped pass at a critical moment may be enough.

Special Teams

Advantage: SMU

Kick return specialist Jessie Henderson busted one for 100 yards when SMU desperately needed it last week - right after Tulane had taken a 21-20 fourth quarter lead. That play earned Henderson C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

UTEP’s Quintin Demps also took one the distance last week, a 91-yard job.

The Mustangs’ Blake Warren is second in C-USA in punt return average at 9.1 yards.

SMU’s Thomas Morstead is 6-8 in field goals with a long of 50 yards. UTEP’s Reagan Schneider, also 6-8, has a long of 49.

Morstead’s punting average is 42.3 yards and Ryan Hotchkiss averages 37.4 for the Miners.

Intangibles

Advantage: UTEP

The crowd will be large and loud - around 50,000. Last week’s Tulane attendance prediction fizzled. This week, you can believe it.

UTEP is coming off consecutive sellouts at home and Price is pushing for another, saying Willis can be rattled. The atmosphere will rival what Willis faced at Texas Tech.

We’ll see.

UTEP is 7-1 when playing in front of 50,000+ at home.

Final Prediction

Mustang Mania lives! SMU- 31 UTEP- 30.

The Mustangs will withstand UTEP’s offensive blitzkrieg and sizzle the Sun Bowl on a special teams play.

At 4-2, it will be SMU’s best record since starting 5-1 in 1986.

(This may cost the Miners the conference championship game in December.)