Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween

When you google SMU and Halloween, you get this:




Worst costumes of all time.

SMU looks to shake a few ghosts
Before this Halloween night is over, the mask will be ripped off the SMU football program.

SMU will be revealed as a legitimate bowl contender, a program finding its way, or revealed as a sliding team in desperate need of two wins heading into its final three games.


On Halloween, UAB is scared of Justin Willis.
"They spread you out and have a running quarterback," Brown said. "It's Rice all over again."

Uh-oh.

The UAB defense didn't fare well handling Rice quarterback Chase Clement when the teams met earlier this month. Clement ran 57 yards untouched on the first play of the game, threw for 191 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-33 Rice victory.

...

"I think (Willis) had 20 carries last Saturday" in a 38-21 loss to East Carolina, Brown said. "They weren't a bunch of quarterback (running plays). He was scrambling around making plays."

Willis ended up with 29 yards on his 20 carries but he was sacked four times for minus-39 yards, which counts against his final total. Brown said pressuring Willis will be important, but the Blazers also have to make tackles after the pressure.

"I can't tell you how many sacks we've had in the last couple of games where we had somebody and either we miss the tackle or we don't go at proper angles," Brown said. "Then he slips by us and all the sudden we go from a 12-yard sack to a 20-yard completion. We've got to do a better job of that."

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Willis, a redshirt freshman, leads C-USA in pass efficiency. He is 122-of-174 for 1,273 yards with 19 touchdowns and three interceptions. He's rushed for 208 yards on 78 carries with 133 yards in losses.

The only time Willis has been shut down was when he was suspended for the UTEP game after being involved in a fight with another SMU student. Willis was reinstated the next week and, although he didn't start, he led the Mustangs to a come-from-behind 31-21 win over Marshall.

UAB spent extra time working on ways to stop Willis since losing to Marshall 10 days ago. But UAB linebacker Orlandus King said the Blazers have done just as much work on improving their struggling defense.


Preview. SMU is favored and the News predicts a win.

Students get better seats. Interesting. I never realized there is a rule against allowing students on the 50 yard line. That rule is, of course, stupid. But that is OK because SMU student attendance stinks.

I avoid recruiting news, but I thought I would mention that Matt Doherty got another pair of good recruits.

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