Friday, November 17, 2006

Living on Tulsa Time

Livin' on Tulsa time
Livin' on Tulsa time
Gonna set my watch back to it
Cause you know I've been through it
Livin' on Tulsa time

-Don Williams

I can't decide, who is the bigger star out of the University of Tulsa. Is it Jeanne Tripplehorn, star of "The Firm," "Basic Instinct" and "Waterworld":


Or is it "Golden Girls'" Rue McClanahan:





I hate the redesigned Dallas Morning News Website. I just wanted to get that out of the way. Belo is lucky its biggest competition for local sports coverage is the Star Telegram and their website hasn’t been redesigned since 1993. Above all, the internet is about convenience. It takes twice as long to get to the SMU page as it used to.

Jean-Jacques Taylor has a column on SMU and Willis in particular .
The future of an entire program and its coach rests with the slender redshirt freshman quarterback from Denton Ryan.

Lead SMU to victories in its final two games against Tulsa and Rice, and SMU will play in a bowl for the first time since 1984. Maybe it's the New Orleans Bowl. Or the Fort Worth Bowl.

It really doesn't matter.

Not when you consider the level of SMU football since the program was eliminated for two years following the 1986 season because of the NCAA death penalty, a punishment so severe it will never be used again – no matter how little institutional control an institution demonstrates.

Winning the next two games will also save Phil Bennett's job.

Perhaps one win will get SMU to a bowl and keep Bennett around for at least another season, but there are no guarantees, especially since Jim Copeland is gone. Like a general manager in pro sports, college athletic directors prefer to hire their own coaches, especially in a revenue-producing sport such as football. New AD Steve Orsini is no different.

Surprisingly, this is the first hint I have seen in print that Phil Bennett’s job might be in jeopardy. I decided in August, I was not going to speculate about Bennett’s job during the season. Sorry.

Bonds and Henderson are probable; Sanders and Haywood are out. Haywood is probably out for the Rice game, too.

I have not talked too much about Tulsa. You can look at their stats forever and you can’t point to any one reason for their success. They do nothing great, nothing bad, they just do it all well and avoid mistakes. It is when they make mistakes that they lose-four turnovers against Rice, for example.

I am still 9-1 on my season predictions. I predicted SMU to win this game, so I am sticking with it. Bennett performs when his back is against the wall and I expect this week to be no exception. The key, Mr. Bennett is to try and score on every possession. You are going to need at least 30 to win, you had better try and get 35.

If it is me, I try not to schedule SMU football and SMU men’s basketball for the same night, but SMU did that. I sure hope Moody is packed. Doherty can do something with this team. SMU is not expected to win Saturday night, but if there is a coach that can pull it off, it is Doherty.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jean Tripplehorn has gotten nekkid on film, so I vote for her. I certainly hope the other one hasn't.

Thanks for the direct reference in the other post. I feel special. jtstang

Anonymous said...

I think Bennett should have put the For Sale sign in his front yard after the Houston loss. He is toast. I cannot believe he does not realize it. My guess is that he will do his best to go out in a blaze of glory - unlike his moronic predecessor.

Look at the wins SMU has this year. Not one against a team that is worth beans. He was given this gift of a schedule, and he has not stepped up and sold himself. A good coach would have achieved.

laurahb said...

Phil Bennet has steered this program in a great direction. SMU does not look like the same second rate team as years past. There is serious buzz about SMU being a contender...and I believe it. Letting PB go at this point would be detrimental to the program and the future of SMU football - Orsini would be crazy to make such a decision.