June Jones’ debut at Southern Methodist University looked worse than it actually was. Sure the score was 56-27, but there were things there that can be looked at as promising.
The mistakes that were made in the game were the type of mistakes that are made by young players. SMU has a lot of those, they are the youngest team in Division I. You have to expect growing pains as Jones brought his Run and Shoot offense with him.
The play of true freshman quarterback, Bo Levi Mitchell, was encouraging. On the night he completed 25 of 42 passes for 244 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. He looked great in the first quarter, where two of the touchdowns occurred.
The mistakes happened as the game wore on and an experienced Rice defense took over. They slowed the offense by taking away the wide receiver screens, which is essential to the style of offense. Mitchell also overthrew several passes. That’s not too bad in your first career college start.
The receiving core of SMU also showed some promise. Emmanuel Sanders has eight receptions for 121 yards and a score. Aldrick Robinson had seven for 91 and two touchdowns.
The routes they were running looked crisp, but they also made mistakes. They dropped quite a few passed and Robinson dropped one when he was all alone streaking down the middle of the field.
It’s not exactly the start that Jones had last season, but that was an older, more experienced team. He may not have them contending this season, but they will be soon.
In two more years, the Mustangs will be contending for the C-USA Title. The Run and Shoot is a hard system to stop. When players have been running it for a year or so, it’s even harder. Sleep on SMU this year, but don’t do it down the road.
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