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SMU Mustangs (2000: 3-9) The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I-A teams, be sure to order the 2001 Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.
Coach and programSMU is a Division I-A football freeloader and has been since the return of football from the death penalty in 1989. The Mustangs don't compete on the field (3-9 in 2000 and only one winning season since 1986). They don't compete on the same level as other schools for talent. They don't compete financially for coaches.The gap between SMU and the schools that are trying to step up to the big leagues is enormous. Metroplex rival TCU offered former coach Dennis Franchione, now at Alabama, a deal worth more than $1 million per season to stay in Fort Worth. He left, but the school made the offer. SMU coach Mike Cavan earns less than a quarter of that amount. Of course, Franchione's teams did more. The Frogs won two straight bowl games and made three straight bowl trips. The Frogs are where SMU wants to be. The difference is that TCU made the commitment in all areas a long time ago, a commitment that is required to step up as a player in Division I athletics. SMU is not a player. Its overbearing academic restrictions hamstring coaches. The Ponies want to compete in the big time but make their coaches recruit as if SMU were an Ivy League school. SMU football gets no exceptions to its regular admissions policy, meaning the talent pool is considerably cut before coaches even begin recruiting. Not even Duke, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Georgia Tech or Northwestern, schools that far exceed SMU academically, have such restrictive policies. The policies, and the lack of money committed to the program for proper marketing, promotion and personnel, have combined to put SMU in a position where it has to make a decision. Is it time to step up to the plate or is it time to back down? Cavan is caught in the middle. His teams haven’t performed well and his September starts have become an enigma. This season is a hinge year for the Mustangs. They need to show some sort of improvement or the program, once again, will have to start from scratch.
OffenseEver since Cavan has been at SMU, he hasn’t found the kind of quarterback to fit his system. The Mustangs need a steady, accurate passer who doesn’t lose games.This season, Cavan has decided to hand the controls to sophomore Kelan Luker (6-1, 209), who redshirted last season after playing in five games as a freshman. Luker has the chance to be the quarterback Cavan has so desperately wanted. He is an intelligent, strong-armed quarterback who came from a high school system that threw the ball and gave the quarterback a lot of responsibility. Cavan was a quarterback at Georgia, but he is steeped in the running game. He believes the offense should be built around a strong running game and then let the rest of the parts fit in somehow. Junior Kris Briggs (5-11, 224) is the horse for the third straight season. He is a hard runner who is best used between the tackles. Briggs has been hampered by injuries, and SMU has to have him healthy to give young receivers and a rusty quarterback a chance to establish consistency. SMU utilizes positions normally not featured in one-back offenses. The Mustangs like to run the ball, but their best offensive player is junior tight end John Hampton (6-2, 245). A year ago, Hampton caught a team-high 46 passes. This season, he’s one of the nation’s top receiving tight ends. This after not making a catch as a freshman. Junior Chris Cunningham (5-8, 186), also one of the WAC’s best kick and punt returners, is SMU’s most steady receiver. He has 84 catches in his first two seasons and is healthy after playing last season with a knee injury.
Defense and special teamsSMU operates from a 4-3 with speedy defensive ends. Seniors Kevin Aldridge (6-1, 271) Markus Pratt (6-0, 250) and Johnson Patman (6-2, 240) combined for 58 tackles and 10 of SMU’s 23 sacks a year ago.The problem up front comes in the middle, where junior Warrie Birdwell (6-4, 272) normally gets pushed around by bigger guards. Help could arrive in the fall in freshmen Marcus Dineen (6-4, 230) and Marcus Walker (6-3, 278). For all the problems SMU has up front, the Mustangs can thump their chests when talking about their linebacker corps. Junior middle linebacker Vic Viloria (5-10, 237) has started since he was a freshman. Viloria led the WAC in tackles last year with 130. Junior Kevin Garrett (5-10, 196) is the leader of a secondary that has no seniors, but five players who started at least one game last year, including four who started as freshmen. Few receivers can outrun him and his size makes him one of the better cover corners. In the season-opening win over Kansas last year, special teams set the tone. After that game, there were few signs of life on special teams. The Ponies had the second-worst net punting average in the league and gave up too many big plays on kickoff returns.
Bottom lineCavan knows the spotlight is on him this season. The fifth-year SMU coach knows he needs a team as slick as his year-old Gerald J. Ford Stadium. He knows he needs to reverse a trend that has seen the Mustangs lose one more game than the previous season in each of Cavan’s four years on the Hilltop.After an inspiring -- and sweltering -- win over Kansas to open the on-campus Ford Stadium, the Mustangs lost six in a row and Cavan was up to his old tricks. Four of those losses came in September, making the Ponies 2-14 in that month during Cavan’s tenure. That record could get worse this season with the Mustangs playing TCU, North Carolina and North Carolina State in the first four weeks. |
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