SWC Game of the Week: SMU at TCU

SWC Game of the Week hears you, the loyal readers and devotees of SWC glory. You’re tired of TCU. Well, we, the authors, researchers, fund raisers, SWC fanatics that we are here at SWC Game of the Week promise you this is the last week of TCU. But this week is a big week for our other team, SMU. You see, since the Death Penalty (thank you NCAA) SMU has been searching for winning seasons and respect. TCU since the breakup of the SWC and not being invited with the big dollar boys, has had a chip on their soldier. They seem to think they are better than the other 4 left behinds. They keep jumping conferences to try to prove it. SMU just wants to play TCU, and they have played them well since the “breakup” (We try not to focus on the “breakup,” it’s just too hard.) So as soon as SMU got into CUSA, TCU left for the Mountain West (makes sense right, I mean Ski Vernon, why not Fort Worth?) So, maybe the Ponies can surprise their rivals from Fort Worth. Dallas vs. Fort Worth, Ponies vs. Frogs, Doak Walker vs. Sammy Baugh, ah, the rivalries…

THIS WEEK’S GAME:

This week’s game is SMU at TCU, the State Farm, DFW Battle for the Iron Skillet. See below. SMU entered this season with bowl hopes, finishing last year with 6 wins for only the second time since 1989. The last bowl game SMU played in was the Aloha Bowl in 1984, beating Notre Dame and finishing the season 10-2. TCU and SMU will meet for the 87^th time, with TCU holding a 40-39-7 advantage. SMU won the last meeting in 2005 21-10, TCU’s only lost that year. Last year was the first time since 1925 the two teams did not meet (other than the two season SMU did not field a team.) SMU’s offense revolves around sophomore QB Justin Willis who set a Mustang record last season as a freshman throwing 26 TD passes. Willis was shaky against Texas Tech in the opener but has accumulated 435 total yards against UNT and 339 total yards last week in a loss to Arkansas State. Willis will look for his favorite target Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders caught 10 passes against UNT to become just the 8^th player in SMU history to record a 10 catch game. Doak Walker award candidate DeMyron Martin will try to get the running game going against the Frogs. SMU’s defense returns 7 starters to a defense that ranked 24^th against the run last year, however they must replace 3 starters on the defensive line. Safety David Haynes has made the adjustment from cornerback and recorded a game high 14 tackles against Texas Tech. Finally, punter Thomas Morstead is averaging 47.3 yards a punt this season to rank second in the nation. But, as it is never good to have your safety lead the team in tackles, it is not that great for your best player to be your punter. TCU’s plans for the season have derailed a bit. With the lose to Texas (their shot at the BCS schools) and then a disappointing outing against Air Force, they must now focus on winning the conference and returning to a bowl, just not a BCS bowl. This is TCU’s homecoming, and a rare Saturday game for the Horned Frogs. QB Andy Dalton’s numbers continue to improve as the season wears on, going 29-45 and 320 yards against Air Force with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. TCU tailback Aaron Brown has not played since the 1^st quarter of the Baylor game and his backup Joseph Turner missed the Air Force game due to injury. TCU’s defense is tough at home, not surrendering a touchdown in 6 of 9 games since 2005. TCU has recorded 7 interceptions this year, by 6 different players. One final note, SMU graduated 100% of their players that were freshman in 2000-2001, but everyone knows that is not what it is all about, right?

THE IRON SKILLET:

During the post-World War II college football boom, the SMU and TCU student bodies created a traveling trophy called the Iron Skillet that was presented to the winner of the annual football game between the archrivals. The tradition eventually died, and the skillet was lost. In 1993, however, the tradition was revived as the president of the SMU student body painted the face of the TCU student body president red and blue following the Mustangs’ 21 15 victory in Fort Worth. The engraved skillet is presented to the winning team after each game.

COTTON BOWL MEMORIES:

This week’s Cotton Bowl Memory is the 1949 Cotton Bowl that featured #10 SMU (8-1-1) vs. #9 Oregon (9-1-0). The Cotton Bowl Stadium had been expanded during the past 12 months from 45,507 capacity to 67,435. For this match-up though they had to bring in extra bleachers to accommodate the crowd of over 70,000 fans in the “House that Doak Built.” SMU was appearing in their second straight Cotton Bowl, tying Penn State 13-13 the year before. The Ponies were lead by their Heisman Trophy winning running back, Doak Walker, whose birthday was New Year’s Day. Doak was a local hero, having attended Highland Park High School. SMU coach Matty Bell also had Paul Page, Dick McKissack, passing specialist Gil Johnson in his backfield. There was one more varsity newcomer for SMU named Kyle Rote. Oregon out gained the Mustangs that day by 50 yards, but a late 52 yard drive that ate up the clock late in the game sealed the victory for SMU. Gene (Chicken) Roberts scored the winning touchdown for SMU. Walker had 152 yards running, passing and receiving while Rote totaled 148 yards while not attempting a pass. Both Doak and Rote got off record punts that game, Walker booming a 79 yard punt on 3^rd down and Rote quick kicking from his own end zone that went 84 yards to the Ducks 12 when it stopped rolling.

Editorial Note: This writer grew up with stories of the great Doak Walker from his Granddaddy who was attending SMU at the time. “He could do it all, run, pass, kick, not like these ball players now. Doak did it all!” So, I have a soft spot in my heart for a man I never saw play and is best remembered these days with an award named for him given to the best college football running back each year. Doak Walker was also the first college football player to appear on the cover to Life Magazine. It is true they expanded the Cotton Bowl to accommodate the crowds that Doak was drawing. Thanks Granddaddy for telling me about Doak and trying to teach me to drop kick a football. Ole Doak, he could do it all!

OTHER GAMES THIS WEEK:

Arkansas vs. Kentucky (Kentucky coming off big Louisville win)

Baylor at Buffalo (More scheduling kudos to the Bears, 1-2 Buffalo before it gets cold)

Houston vs. Colorado State (Good match up for the Coogs)

Rice at Texas (To quote JFK: “Why does Rice play Texas?”)

Texas A&M at Miami (Find out if the Ags are for real)

Texas Tech at Ok State (OSU not as good as some forecasts, Tech rollin’)

NOTES FROM LAST WEEK:

Submitted by Jon Johnson (Uncle Jon for those in the Johnson family):
” A fun and interesting little side bar on the "54 Cotton Bowl and the Maegle incident. For years one of the premier high school baseball programs in the state was at Monterey High School here in Lubbock. During that time the coach was Bobby Moegle (note the spelling). He is now retired and has been inducted into the Texas High School Hall of Fame. Anyway, because of the different spellings, I had never connected Bobby Moegle with the Dicky Maegle of the infamous Bama bench incident in the '54 Cotton Bowl. (Incidentally, I remember it well.) At the time of his retirement Bobby was talking about his playing and coaching career in a TV interview and he mentioned that Dicky was his brother. What?! As it turns out, when he started to Rice Dicky Anglecised the spelling of his name, changing the "oe" to "ae". Bobby always retained the old German spelling. Brothers with different last names, both becoming famous Texas sports personalities.”

Have you seen this on U-Tube? It’s the Coog vs. Oregon Duck Mascot Fight.

RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK:

SWC Game of the Week, Week 2:

Texas Tech 59 Rice 24 (Well, Rice gave it a shot, Tech may surprise a few of the Big Boys, they look really good)

Other Games:

Alabama 41 Arkansas 38 (A great game, ‘Bama scores at very end)

Baylor 34 Texas State 27 (Baylor 2-1, learning how to schedule)

Houston 34 Tulane 10 (Houston gets to spend the night in the ‘Dome)

Arkansas State 45 SMU 28 (SMU can’t get it going this year, the year they were going to go bowling)

Texas 35 UCF 32 (Texas was scared, very scared, but no one was arrested in Florida, so they have that going for them)

Texas A&M 54 La Monroe 14 (A&M rolls, will it last?)

Air Force 20 TCU 17 (TCU has a longhorn headache, or maybe someone, longhorn?, stole their MOJO from their hotel rooms?)

STANDINGS:

	Conference:		Overall:
	W	L	W	L
Texas Tech	2	0	3	0
Texas	1	0	3	0
Texas A&M	0	0	3	0
Baylor	1	1	2	1
Arkansas:	0	0	1	1
TCU	1	1	1	2
SMU	0	1	1	2
Houston	0	0	1	1
Rice	0	1	0	3

FINAL WORD:

That’s a wrap for this week. Please feel free to forward to your friends, send me emails of those that should be included that aren’t, and submit your additions to the weekly newsletters (favorite SWC memories, player bio’s, funny old SWC stories, mascot hijinks, etc.) If you are receiving this note and you don’t want to, shame on you, but let me know, I’ll take you off the list.

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