Preview: SMU hosts Prairie View A&M

SMU Football is back inside Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Saturday, hosting Prairie View A&M at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+. It’s the first meeting between the two Lone Star State programs.

Prairie View A&M dropped its home opener last weekend to Abilene Christian, 45-16. SMU went on the road at Oklahoma and fell, 28-11.

Now onto the preview between the Mustangs and Panthers.

SMU trends…

SMU hung around against Oklahoma for almost the entire game until Rhett Lashlee had to get aggressive late, spotting the Sooners a short field for their final touchdown drive. It was a 28-11 loss that cost the Mustangs starting right guard Justin Osborne at least for this week.

Quarterback Preston Stone distributed the ball to double-digit wideouts for a second straight week. Wideout Jake Bailey caught plenty of those passes while the run game was inconsistent. The Mustangs mustered 11 points and missed some opportunities to finish drives. While this won’t be a great test, SMU can build confidence going into TCU by playing a clean, productive game offensively.

Defensively, it’s hard to ask for much more effort than SMU gave in Norman. They frustrated the high-powered Sooners for a good bit of the game. Two of the four touchdown drives were on short fields. Tackling was hit or miss at times, but the effort was able to limit OU’s total output as SMU outgained the Sooners. Cleaning up tackling would be key and leading that charge will be Ahmad Walker and Jonathan McGill, who both had big games against Oklahoma.

On special teams, it’d be nice to see the Mustangs get some confidence in that department as well. Kicker Colin Rogers needs to build confidence while the entire unit needs a good showing this week.

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Prairie View A&M trends…

Quarterback Trazon Connley leads the team in passing with 465 yards and two passing touchdowns, but can also tuck it and run. To give SMU some trouble, him tucking and running would be what Prairie View A&M would like to do.

The reality is though that the Panthers are coming off a beatdown at the hands of Abilene Christian last week and aren’t going to have the horses to run with the Mustangs. The Panthers did rack up 301 yards on the ground so tackling will be key for SMU.

Bubba McDowell is in his second season as head coach of the Panthers. McDowell has a career record of 7-6. He is in his 11th season as a part of the Prairie View A&M coaching staff that included four seasons as an assistant head coach.

Quotable…

“We know that this is their Super Bowl. This a huge game for those guys to be able to come, a lot of Dallas guys, into play on center stage back home. So I think when you have a veteran group of guys, understanding that the preparation has to be the same every single week. You can’t change because you’re playing Oklahoma or TCU, you prepare like you do in NFL, those guys have to do it week-in week-out where every single team can beat you. So I think, as a group, I’d expect us to come out and be focused and ready to play because they have good football team.” -SMU DC Scott Symons on facing Prairie View A&M

“I think that we all can, including us, get caught up and how talented we are because we do have ability but you forget that’s like eight new starters and they’re all coming together. With the injuries on the offensive line that that group hasn’t been able to gel yet. We’re playing a bunch of skill guys, which is awesome, but sometimes you get different depths of routes and you get different ways that guys run things. So just kind of bringing that all together, I think week by week, you are seeing incremental development in that and obviously it’s got to show up on the field when we get to that point, but I do think that we have the tools in place and I think that as we continue to practice and hammer and hone in on those things, Preston being at his best is going to help all those other guys be at their best too.” -SMU OC Casey Woods on SMU finishing drives

SMU must…

Start fast and close this one out quickly. No one wants to be the FBS team that’s let a SWAC team hang around on them into the 2nd half. I don’t expect that to happen, but the easiest way to avoid some drama is to start fast. That’ll allow the coaching staff to dip deep into the roster earlier and try to avoid injuries while getting some key players rest quickly.

Predictions…

Billy Embody: The Mustangs are coming off an emotional, hard-fought football game that can’t guarantee a focused start from the beginning. I expect SMU to roll though overall. This team is just too good to have anything other than a blowout win be the outcome. However it happens, the Mustangs should be able to cook early, play a bunch of players and then turn their attention to TCU. SMU 63, Prairie View A&M 3

Kevin Lonnquist: There are two guarantees about guarantee games. The first guarantee is a big six-figure check the visiting team receives. The second is a big beating. This is Prairie View A&M’s only game in a big-time environment in 2023 and will do its best to play as hard as it can. Those players are on scholarship too. However, the only way SMU doesn’t grab this early and run away from the Panthers is if the team is disinterested and helps with bizarre penalties and a couple of turnovers. SMU should be fine because it’s simply too talented. The Mustangs need a huge lead at the half and start pulling starters sometime in the third quarter. SMU 56, Prairie View A&M 7