On this edition of the On The Pony Express Podcast, Billy Embody and Hayden Howerton break down SMU's 29-24 win over Nevada in Week Zero and look ahead to SMU's home opener against Houston Christian on Saturday.
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This is the on the Pony Express podcast part of the on three network check out all the SMU coverage you need at on the pony express calm now here's your host Billy M. but it's all three and welcome in ladies and gentlemen to another edition of the on the Pony Express podcast I am Billy M. body we have got a jam pack show for you guys today we've got Hayden Harroton waiting in the wings right now to break down SMU Nevada and look ahead to this weekend's home opener against Houston Christian while all that more on the on the Pony Express podcast but first got to remind you guys we are presented by our friends at status jet status jet calm everybody went to Reno they had a good time getting there they had a good time getting back had some folks use status status jet to get out there and now it's about planning for the rest of your season use code pony up ACC and reach out to status jet and talk about how they can help you plan the game day get away of your dreams so many great spots to get to we can do the bourbon trail and do Louisville obviously the epic weekend that we're planning around the stamper game and Paso Robles and Palo Alto so many more great spots to get to this season for SMU fans and we are going to work with our friends at status jet to get you guys there safely soundly and at a level of luxury that you'd expect so reach out to status jet calm today they're proud supporters of SMU athletics as well as the on the Pony Express podcast with that out of the way we've got to bring in our friend of the program Hayden Howard and he's got the new digs there wanted to show you guys for the second podcast we're recording together Hayden thanks again for being with us all season long how was this weekend for you and and watching this game now with a little bit of an eye to breaking it down for us yeah for sure man first of all I just want to talk about how hard it is to win in college football especially on the road especially in week zero I think Florida state proved that as they were out physical and outplayed by a Georgia tech team so one of the reasons that that is so difficult is there's not really that much film to study especially when you're getting a program that brings in new coordinators new coaches you know you have about 20 new transfers that are coming in so you're watching not only the previous years film of Nevada you're watching other programs you're watching Wisconsin and you're watching University of Texas you're watching triple the film because you're only looking for a couple of guys in each in each film study but overall from the game again I'm super excited if the guys won you know there's gonna be a little bit of a compliment sandwich here as far as that goes glad to be one and oh but there's definitely a lot to talk about and you've been in on that side of it where you know a game that maybe going in either the team thinks hey this is one where we can either pad stats or we should be able to roll that does got a creep in you know to your mind at some points right and at the same time everything can go wrong or a lot of things can go wrong and the season turned out just just fine for sure I mean unfortunately my first game my senior year was against Abilene Christian it was against my brothers team you know he was he's with the Wildcats still is and it was kind of one of those deals where I was probably a little overexcited to play where I turned out and didn't play that well that game which was really disappointing but ended up that year playing great still ended up as an all-conference player and turned out to have a really great season just got off to a little bit of a slow start you know I did think that the O-line struggled a little bit this weekend there was a variety of factors I think that went into that you know Justin Osborne's very first game at center it's a completely different beast than the other four spots having to get up make all the calls you know make sure that we're all on the same page ID wise you're over communicating especially on the road and then with all that you have to make sure it's great snaps and you're having to worry about that so you're starting with a hand between your legs and all the mental stuff on top of it and it was the first game with helmet communication for both sides of the ball saw I'm interested to maybe hear about how how that played into it or as the returns come you know if plays got in late or if they were looking to see what defenses were doing how that all plays out but you know that offensive line a lot of changes upfront multiple new starters or guys in different roles than than they were last year and I'm interested to see what Gary Justice does we talked about how he's a tinkerer and kind of moves moves guys around in the spring and and does things like that but you know Justin's been working at that center spot for a long time now the new depth chart came out and Jekai Clark at least if you trust depth charts is you know gonna be that starting center he started 40 games at Miami they've moved some guys around I don't know if they're gonna tinker with this a little bit more through Houston Christian but how how important is it for them to figure out that that look and then let it gel and develop right you said it's got to take time to gel and develop I mean this unit didn't have one combo last week that had faced live bullets together it's a little different than when you have guys that are playing next to each other for years or midway through the season where you really know what each other are gonna give you on say an outside zone combo or if I'm the guard my tackles knows that I'm gonna pull them over early on my gap scheme combos so I did see the new depth chart you know going from left to right we've got PJ, Savion, Jekai, Logan and Nate we can trust the depth chart if we want to work frankly I'm fully expecting to see Justin Osborne out there in some role you know and I think we could also see Ben Sparks in there at some point you know and then later in the season I think we'll get some Andrew Shambly as well and then another factor about the game that people don't realize Logan Parr wasn't cleared until a week and a half left in camp there was thoughts that he might not even play the first game and so for him to be out there just speaks volumes to his toughness and how much he wants to help the team but it's tough when you don't go through training camp and you you're barely in shape and then you got to go all the way out to Nevada and a whole other variety of factors I was really surprised that they played them quite honestly and I mean that's not shot at Logan Parr was almost more I guess maybe I was thinking oh it's Nevada they'll be able to play Savion bird or Ben Sparks and you know kind of weather that and just give them a little bit more time but you actually grated out really well and I'm not the biggest PFF guy but he actually grated out pretty well I think it was the top run blocker for the team I could have that wrong but when you look at the two tackles PJ Williams came in with a ton of buzz Nate Anderson was moved there halfway through the camp when Andrew Shambly went down and when Savion was kind of struggling out there on the edge what did you make of their two performances you kind of dove into them a little bit you know I think it was just a fluke for PJ unfortunately I think he's put together such a solid showing during camp that that's what I'm expecting to see this week it just happens man you go out there and you're so fired up for that first game and there's so much expectations on you with frankly all of us talking about how much how great of a camp that he had there probably was a little bit of pressure on him to go out and perform now it's gonna get worse as the season goes on there's gonna be more pressure especially the more that we win but I think PJ is gonna be just fine he's a great player he knows what he's having to do he's probably beating himself up more than anybody else's at this point and then Nate I would just credit that to never play tackle before he's a guard playing tackle so I did that my last preseason game in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals they told me on a Thursday hey you're gonna play tackle on Sunday and went through practice the next day was fine went through the walk through and I'm like I got this and then you get out there man and there's some freakazoids on the edge of that tackle it is a completely different ballgame than playing in the interior you know these guys go to the von Miller Pass rush Academy I mean I mean it's it's a whole deal and then not to mention the guy that he was going against number zero that Henry Ika Ifio guy six year senior defensive end you know he spent a year at Cal he was in a second stint with Nevada he's a really solid player I will say watching that he impressed me he's gonna be probably up there for all Mountain West as far as the defensive ends go but I think Nate'll end up being fine he's a guy that's gonna want to get back to work he's gonna want to get out there this week and get a lot better and I don't want to spend the whole podcast on the offensive line so let's flip over to that defensive line that again came in with a ton of you know just accolades and buzz around that the depth and I rewatching the game I felt like it wasn't as much the defensive line got pushed around I felt like they lost some contain on times against Brendan Lewis I mean Nevada only rushed for a hundred fifty eight hundred fifty yards and most of that was Brendan Lewis the quarterback on quarterback draws I felt like early in the game they were super aggressive they were letting the dogs go and then they they realized okay Brendan Lewis is is trying to play this QB draw game with us it's kind of back off a little bit they they kind of played a little bit more disciplined we saw them pretty much shut them out in the second half if not for the you know Brandon Crosley spit spit gate whole whole another deal yeah I think they went a little bit into contain rush during that probably probably calmed it back down a little bit just to be able to contain the quarterback and then at the end of the game they were able to get it done do you see saw some penalties on on both sides of the trenches I mean that's is that common is that what was kind of your experience with that with like hands to the face or holding or just getting into that game game speed for sure yeah it's always early in the year because during training camp with no officials man you're gonna do whatever it takes to win and that's how competitive I think this SMU football team is that doesn't mean that they're a dirty team or an undisciplined team I just think the guys were so good they were trying to just sneak a little bit of an edge to be able to get it like when I was in college one of the things I did when I was playing center is you get that headcrack going you take your off-hand and you're gonna punch the D linemen straight in the face off the ball it's never gonna get called in the game the referees are never gonna see that but it's just something that you're trying to do to create a little bit of an edge it's not cheating you're just pushing the rules a little bit speaking of getting a good knockback off the ball Anthony Booker tank in the middle on that safety I mean you you I grew up watching the SEC and I remember Terrence Cody in the middle for Alabama and that's kind of what he is and watching him just drive walk that Nevada offensive lineman back I mean that's what he was brought in to do I thought him and Jerry to Harrison Hunt flashed for SMU as well on that defensive line for sure man Anthony Booker Jr. is my MVP of the game I'll go ahead and spoil that for this episode I think he did an excellent job being in four-point stance coming off the ball launching his arms straight up off the ground and buckboarding that center to snap his head back and as soon as that happens the rep is over for a center all you can do is try to replace your hands and just cover him up but book had him so far in the back of the end zone that he just fell off and made that play right there an incredible play from him I'm super excited for him because that flipped the game man we were able to get the ball back right after that put together that big touchdown drive and then the one after is where we threw it to to RJ Maryland who played like an all-American in my opinion everybody has said it you know career high and receptions and receiving yards had a hell of a game and I mean so happy for RJ because all off-season he was another guy that was talked about I mean he was brought to ACC Media Day and technically I mean he's got another year left you could have gone with a J.O. a Jonathan McGill this guy that guy to go and I thought it said so much about what they were expecting from him and after the first half you're like man they've got to find somebody in the passing game and RJ said you know what I've got it and he deserves all the flowers for his performance yeah no doubt I think what Coach Lashley said where he probably under performed a little bit in the first half and I was just able to turn it on in the second I think speaks to the team I think as long as the team is better finishers and their starters we're gonna be able to win a lot of ball games I think we have the horses no pun intended to be able to get it done in these games and that's how SMU has done their seasons with with Coach Lashley they've been strong finishers towards the end of the season minus a couple ball games but I do think we're gonna be able to get over the hump of that this year but kind of going back to the short yardage deal that was my highlight moments of the game you know the safety by Anthony Booker that we've already talked about and then that SMU O line getting us off the two yard line for that 98 yard touchdown drive that was huge and then SMU had two rushing touchdowns you know in the red zone and then they were able to convert multiple short yards third downs I think that was definitely the highlight of this unit for this game and it's something that they can hang their hat on and say hey even though we didn't play as good as we wanted to this shows us that we're gonna be able to be a great offensive line going forward last year I agree with you last year the red zone scoring touchdowns was kind of the the bugaboo I guess at times for SMU especially in some of those big games that they played again so you TCU they came away with field goals instead of touchdowns that's a good sign that they got right down to the one the two punched it in in those situations I thought that was big what did you see from Preston as as far as his bounce back from you start hey Shane Boucher the first the first pass of his career was an interception and you know Preston is second year of the start his first pass this season an interception Shane's career turned out okay Preston bounced back and led them to that comeback in the second half yes sir I've told Shane this before I've eaten that touch that interception from Shane I got bulrush that got tipped y'all can win that one on me there we clip it clip it as far as Preston goes man my two keys to the game were that the SMU offensive line needs to play well and get some confidence unfortunately that didn't happen this week Preston needed to get his confidence back early I don't think that happened either but he was able to have composure you know he was able to take a couple series off you know watch Kevin go to work and then once he got the ball back in the second half he played like a completely different player you know he went out I was able to lead the team on those last two drives and he has a lot to be proud of for that I'm really excited to watch him going forward it speaks a lot to his maturity that he was able to do that especially coming off of a quarterback battle in training camp where Kevin going in the game for most people would be a threat but I think they're so close and they celebrate together and they're a really tightly knit group that shows both of their maturity go into that just a little bit for people that don't understand because on the message board it's you're on the Kevin side you're on the Preston side but I mean these guys they're tight they work way work out together all the time they're they're still a part of a team that has accomplished a lot over their time both being on this campus does one want to play more than the other absolutely but it's not at that point right now with either one where it seems like they've made they've drawn a line in the sand and said it's Preston sorry Kevin you're gonna sit there in every scenario and you know wait your turn and if you don't want to wait your turn they're there is ultimately the portal right so that's something that's really cool and I do think that has been the quarterback culture at SMU I mean I've seen it from When Boo Shell came in and we had Will Brown who had started games the year before and they were super excited for each other it's been the same thing since Tanner Mordecai was here and Preston was sitting behind him and so now that it's Preston's turn to be the starter that's just the culture that we have installed to be excited for your teammates and and even though they are competing at the end of the day whoever plays is going to help the team win you know so it's one of those deals that they're they're obviously wanting to play and go out and and and do what they both did in high school and win a championship but at the end of the day as long as this team wins they're both gonna get rings no one's gonna get a ring bit bigger than the other one you know so they really are all in for the team itself Preston's a great player Kevin's a great player we're gonna see both of them going forward coach Lashley's already made that clear and so they both need to be able to play well this week and get some more confidence in that room I think they have a little bit to go off of this past week but then this next week I think they're going to be able to build on top of that as well speaking of confidence they've got to be feeling pretty good about their running back Breshard Smith there's now without the oar anymore but he was I thought he and people don't realize this when they brought Breshard Smith in they kind of thought they were getting this small gadgety player and I mean he did play wide receiver at Miami he's now playing running back at SMU he's an an elite return man as we saw but he's thick and he ran some people over he kept his legs moving he uh hey like booby miles says roll with it you know you know absorb it and and he was dishing it out there for that for that SMU offense yeah I had that written down too from this game and Breshard really impressed me I was really happy to see that from him obviously former receiver kick returner you said it everybody thinks he's this small twitchy guy and he definitely is but seeing these guys run behind their pads and be able to turn nothing in the positive yardage that's really exciting because you can cover up a lot of you know maybe some mistakes or you didn't get as much of a defender as you want to with a running back that's able to to sit down and he's able to run through those guys rather than trying to dance around in the backfield so he's able to put his foot in the ground to go north and south and that's something I'm really excited about I also want to give a shout out to Jalen Knighton he had some really nice blocks in protection this running back group has obviously started to become more of a physical unit over the last offseason and then this year Knighton had won where he got a knockdown on a pass protection and a third and long got out got the reception and then ended up getting the first down that was an incredible play I think the running back group you know statistically didn't have an incredible game for shard obviously led the way yet under 140 something yards total offense but I felt like pass protection was much improved this year for all three of those guys at least from the small sample size we've gotten game one they were they were out there unafraid to step up in and pick up those guys which helps because if SMU can work in some Matthew Hibner and RJ rotations they can still let them out in the passing game or they could let both of them out in the passing game they don't have to leave one in all the time like I think early in your career I feel like SMU is leaving in the tight end all the time yeah different different ball club for sure you know we had Ryan Becker who was a great blocker we saw him pancake some guys against T.C.U which was badass but now we have a little more of a balanced tight end room you know with RJ and then our other crew that's in there I think we have a little bit of a different room but where we're going to be able to be more balanced in that of sometimes yeah we are going to need to go max protection and be able to take a shot down the field and others we're going to be able to to take the top off the defense we're going to be able to split the middle of the field with our tight ends unless you have anything else on this game can you kind of share with people because I've been a little bit in it it was over a decade ago now unfortunately but how hard it is to win on the road and and just win a football game in general in college with ball if especially if you don't bring your best right off the bat you're immediately in a dogfight right I think a previous year's SMU team would have lost that game to be honest with you I think that this team showed a lot of maturity being able to wake up and get out of that funk you know and still being able to win that game that game at least the first three quarters reminded me of the 2020 East Carolina game where we just came up incredibly flat got down big early and then weren't able to crawl out of that hole I'm grateful that the team was able to be able to get back in the game be able to take the lead late and then just hold on to win but as far as going on the road when I was in college our strength staff was big on you win on the road and you dominate at home win by one win by a hundred doesn't matter you just got a win on the road man and look SMU is returning to the friendly confines of Ford Stadium with a bit of an upgrade there in the Gary Weber end zone complex opening what an insane facility for those who haven't seen it will be having some behind the scene looks on of it on the walking strong podcast with Bill Armstrong but SMU welcomes Houston Christian 7 p.m. central it's going to be on the ACC network extra so it's a part of the ACC network it's streaming I believe you get it with your cable package if you have ACC network and this is a game that SMU won back in 2018 when you were on the team 63 27 starting fast once again is key for SMU you don't want to let a team like this kind of off the mat early for sure yeah we got to get back on track after this past week you know we learned the film you know and now we're going to go out and play Mustang football here and true week one of college football game number two but also the biggest jump in college football happens between the first and second game always every year teams get a lot better between those two weeks it's the biggest jump you know guys are able to get live bullets and they're able to kind of feel out hey I didn't see this weakness during spring or training camp but now i'm going to work on it and coaches are able to see okay this is what we were really good at last week let's go back to the well a little bit and and start using this a little more going forward and for that you want to see Preston start a little bit faster you'd obviously like to see them roll in general and both quarterbacks get a lot of time but Preston starting fast would be a big you know piece to that overall puzzle especially when you think about the next week you're not trying to look ahead but you do have a short week with BYU coming to town for sure I do anticipate Preston going out and starting fast i i know he's a hungry player he knowing him he probably wanted to play on sunday after this past week but but i know he's going to go out and he's going to be excited to play but quarterback is completely different from o-line as your level of activation has just got to be a little bit lower your guards are going to be able to be at 110 out of 100 while your quarterback has to be your field general your guy that's a little more under control he has poise he has posture i do know that Preston has that in him i know that they're going to get more confidence in that room but like we said looking ahead to next week if SMU is able to get up big in the game i anticipate seeing a lot of Kevin of Kevin Jennings which is going to be really great for his development and be able to get some more live snaps under his belt and for SMU they are facing a revamped Houston Christian team as you noted in our notes before this is a a group that it has an undersized defensive line especially for what SMU is going to face the rest of the year 1-300 pounder Zay Smith is a preseason all-conference second-teamer so they do have a guy with some talent in the middle there but this is an opportunity for the big old boys like yourself to get out and get moving in the right direction for sure yeah Zay Smith is who it all runs for up front for the Huskies and he had three and a half sacks last season which isn't a lot but for a for a nose tackle you know he's able to get after the quarterback a little bit he had a strip sack in the finale last season Houston Christian is a completely different ball club than it was when we played him in 2018 they had their first winning season last year and then on the other side of the ball they had the number one rushing offense in the conference so while SMU is not playing the level of competition they're going to the rest of this year it's not going to be a cake walk SMU is going to have to get their hands dirty they're going to have to go to work and they're going to have to be ready to play my last note as far as the key to the game is be the most excited team to play Houston Christian this is their Super Bowl when you're in FCS school going to an FBS whether that's group of five or power five or four now it's their Super Bowl so they're going to go all out because if they win this game they can lose the rest the rest of the year and it's going to be okay because they upset a big team on the road and and this is an opportunity and we've seen it in the past few seasons you know between sunny and red I mean they've just been more talented SMU teams we've generally seen this workout in a way where you see some splash plays it can kind of be almost a little wonky with a big turnover for a touchdown a punt return you know some some splash plays that make this game get out of hand quick how important though is it to get some of the the starters some good quality reps together before it being out of hand if that makes sense it's critical it's just like the preseason in the NFL you have to go out and you have to get your starters quality reps against other good people so that you can be ready when when the real ball starts which that's not a discredit to Houston Christian they're a good football program at least on the rise but when we play BYU next week it's going to be completely different so it's one of those deals where you need to balance health and development of our players you know I in a perfect situation I think SMU has their starters into the into the second half of the third quarter and then they're able to let the young guys develop in in the fourth quarter but obviously you can't get sloppy you need those guys to be able to perform because you're you're gonna have to lean on the guy that's in that second unit that we're not going to anticipate late in the year somebody is going to go down like last year with Preston where we had to lean on a guy like Kevin to go win us a conference championship and those are the games that you really are able to do that because there's not the risk isn't as high but at the same time you're able to learn from it just as much and you have a prediction or any keys to the other keys to the game here as far as a prediction goes I mean SMU is clearly the more talented and the better coach team I do think they're going to have to come out with a higher level of activation and focus than they did this last week regardless of if it's Houston Christian or BYU or TCU or Florida State now typically in college football activation is going to vary that's why upsets happen that's why Florida State goes out and gets out physical by Georgia Tech because they probably thought they were better than they really were and didn't have to play their best game but you have to come out every week being the same nameless faceless opponent you have to come out be the most excited team to play so my overall prediction is 56 to 7 I do think SMU is going to be able to handle Houston Christian relatively easy and like we said I think they're going to be able to rest their starters to prep for the short week next week so that's the only reason I have 56 I would love for SMU to put up a 70 piece or a 69 like they did last year against Prairie View but but we'll see what happens man I'm excited I do think SMU is going to be able to get right back on track and get ready to go yeah I'm going to be right around you I think a bit of go 53 to 6 I don't think they get on the board for a touchdown and again I think you're going to see this one out of hand early I I can't imagine kind of the the general feeling after all right you you went in on the road and you got to win but you just got to have still some of a salty taste in your mouth in a sense you want to get that out for sure I think that speaks volumes though to where we're at as a program I think two years ago when if we would have gone on the road and beat Nevada I think we'd have been like let's go doesn't matter the score or how it went I just think we're more at that point to where playing in a game like that early and not playing our best and still being able to come out with a win speaks volumes to where we're at I mean offense defense special teams played probably be worst half of all I've seen SMU play in the last at least three years and we were only down seven at half time so once SMU gets rolling and they're able to go out and execute at a high level I think we're going to see the team that we've predicted all off season agreed Hayden before we let you go one thing we didn't talk about last time and I do want as we you know do this throughout the year and beyond everybody to continue to get to know you what are you doing back in the DFW area tell us about you know life and and after ball I guess yeah so my wife and I have settled down after my retirement we're living in the Mansfield area now which she's a nurse she kills it she works at a big hospital downtown and then I'm in residential construction now so I'm building homes my dad has built homes his whole life it was a little bit following in his footsteps but it's something that I really enjoy because I get to place my hands on people's future you know I get to build something really cool for them and kind of see that journey for them but that's what I'm up to now but love talking about SMU football love staying involved any way that I can I'll be at every home game this year so if you guys see me on the ball hard say what's up on Saturday I'd love to I'd love to talk with you guys well and David weekly homes built the house that we live in so it's kind of a cool connection there as well so yes sir David and they're they're not sponsoring this podcast in any any form or fashion but I'm really grateful that they've given me such a cool opportunity yeah awesome well cool well Hayden thanks again for jumping on for us it's always a blast and people will love this and we've got so much to learn about this team still it's just one game game two is this week and we'll have plenty more to talk about next week on the pod can't wait to see the Mustangs back in action this week really excited for the rest of this season man and excited to keep working with you yeah thanks Hayden we will catch you guys on the other side of this break with more on the on the Pony Express podcast so stay tuned and we'll be back to wrap things up and welcome back to the on the Pony Express podcast appreciate Hayden for stopping in as always to talk ball with us and before we go any further because there is a new depth chart out for SMU and there's a lot to break down on that front we've got to remind you guys about our good friends AKM turf and greens go to AKM turf and greens dot com take a look at what they did from McKinney Christian Academy completely revamped their entire recess area you see now they have the turf space they have the regular grass space they even built a smaller area for some of the toddlers to play in this is first-class work from our friends at AKM turf and greens go to AKM turf and greens dot com to learn more about how you can handle some bigger projects for your company for maybe a school you're involved with they can do these big projects i mentioned they're doing you know some other bigger projects in the area you can reach out to them info at AKM turf and greens dot com you can also use code pony up for five hundred dollars off your project today this is just one of the many examples we've shown you guys we've also shown you the residential backyard chipping putting greens that they can do they can turf your area into a more traditional look they can do some of those other looks for you with pavers and different just overall stonework on the ground to really dress it up and it's all brought to you by our friends at AKM turf and greens so join some of our on the pony express subscribers who have reached out and one who who's already had their project completed and check them out and revamp your backyard space today SMU did release a new depth chart but before we jump into that I do want to kind of close with some final thoughts on SMU's 29-24 win over Nevada and I think there are some things that when it comes down to the opening game of a college football season for a team and Hayden kind of alluded to it and and might have even said it in a big way is that you're going to one make a big jump from week zero to week one or week one to week two no matter when you kick off your college football season so look for that from SMU although with the opponent it might be maybe a little mask because they take away or they take some of the players out if things get out of hand or whatever but what you also don't want to do in my opinion and others like Ajash Pate friend of the program who said a great he had a great tweet out there was that from his MIMA of course that you know people make observations from week zero or week one but fools make fools draw conclusions or something look I butcher that but the point is don't take one game and immediately have an opinion on a player or coach or a scheme or a this or that for the entire season and let it cloud your judgment of what's ultimately going on and that's the big thing because SMU is going to now face a use to Christian team that's probably going to be overmatched they're probably going to take care of business in a big way based on history in games like this under Rhett Lashley and under Sunny Dikes that's how good SMU's been as of late but then you also have a short week and you're going to turn around and play BYU you're going to have a good idea come week two of where this program is and all of those things that you thought you saw in week zero or things that actually happened might not actually be the overall trajectory of the team of a position group of a player last year season opener against Louisiana Tech's people were talking about how the defense was going to be bad and it was the top 25 defense now you can now get into the hole they played the AAC schedule no that defense was good they they played real well against Oklahoma they got left out the drive by the offense against TCU which that one got out of hand because of that and the rest of the way they were absolute studs even Boston College like they had a tough time containing Thomas Castellanos and it was quite honestly one of their worst games of the year but it wasn't a crazy offensive output from the Eagles in that game and SMU was down two starters so there are things that will happen in games over the course of the year and you look for trends the problem with week zero or with week one is you don't have any trends to go off of so when you look at something and say wow the defensive line was really disappointed in them I've talked to people around the program and if you go back and re-watch the game there's the early going which is this new look group remember they outside of Eliza Roberts they have all new starters on that defensive line they went out and they said go go go and that's what the guys were doing they were getting after it and Brendan Lewis said not so fast slow down you've got to respect me and my quarterback draw and that was about the only thing the Nevada offense had to really respect and that was what they were able to do moving the football they had a big mismatch at receiver caught a touchdown there at the end of the first half gave them the seven point lead but other than that the run game wasn't that impressive they tried all sorts of different backs they weren't consistent they just ended up getting some opportunities because one SMU committed some dumb penalties Brendan Lewis made some key plays so credit to him but they were held to under 300 yards of total offense and you know really in the second half if not for Brandon Crosley's spit gate they're shut out because that they would have been punting if not for that and by the way Rhett Lashley came out and talked about that today with the media and Rhett has a funny way of being respectful of officiating and not going after them when maybe they even deserve it post-game he's pretty good at getting after him in the game but Rhett said quote i don't feel like there's any evidence that he misrepresented our program in that moment i don't know if it went down exactly as they said it was and that's about as towing the line of him like hey this is bs that you're going to get from Rhett Lashley because he does do a good job of being able to not really go after him i think at least in in post-game press conferences and things like that and that's not to say SMU didn't have an undisciplined game and and things like that but you know when you have something like that happen and your character gets called into question even people were going after Jordan Hudson on the board and when we don't know the information rightfully so because we saw it and we didn't really know what was going on and then after the game Rhett said hey he got spit on and you can kind of see it there there's a little head nod from the Nevada player and you know it's i mean that's the worst thing you can do i think in football i mean short of you know giving it to somebody right in the nads i mean that's that's about as low as it gets so you have another example there of when you judge and you look at things and you quickly you know go after somebody rewatch the game one i encourage people to do but this is also why fans are fanatics and and that's that's what it's short for there is that emotion there is that investment and a team like SMU shouldn't have played like they played but after the dust has settled it's probably not as bad as it was and it's probably not as good as it was either you know i mean you look at the the overall game that RJ Maryland had had and he would probably want that first half back but he dominated when he needed to and that's the type of consistency SMU wants is for four quarters to be as good as they can be so when you look at this team that's what they're striving for and they've only had one opportunity to do it they had to go play a team that had a completely different scheme system looks they had all sorts of different players and it's not excuse it's reality and it was the first game with the in helmet communication as well which i think and i'm not going to say anything in particular because it is something that i think teams are working through as far as how can i attack another team and how can i make it help our team and so i'm not going to say kind of what's going on there as as the uh system is being worked out as far as what is best for SMU's offense what's best for SMU's defense all those things but you're going to see that be something that at the end of the year we can look up and say hey what was going on in x-game y-game you know this game and what were your overall thoughts on the system and how that works because it is something that is so different for college teams and because of the way the college game is played it's very different than how the nfl game is played uh with with the in helmet communication so that people want to you know kind of look at that and say oh but it should just help it should be this it should be that it's there's chess matches to it so i'm intrigued to see how it goes over the course of the year but this was the first game for SMU of a new season with some new tools in technology as well as new players that all have to fit into the scheme on both sides of the ball there are some glaring things that i think have to be worked out by SMU i think the wide receiver core needs to abandon the shared rotations i think the tight end room has shown that matthew hibner can get it done retlashly mention that today and his press conference on campus on tuesday that matthew hibner played i think i want to say rj played 40 something snaps maybe 39 and matthew hibner played 36 or it was some really close um mix there between the two and because of that ret said he was rj was fresh enough to be blowing by guys in the fourth quarter at wide receiver there needs to be a little bit more separation in my opinion because i trust based on what i've seen in camp and based on what i've seen over the last two years i trust a romella brinson and a jordan hudson over a key shawn smith and a mochi dixon at this point and so that's something that as we see the season go on i'm ready to turn that page on that position group from being that one a one b in terms of the depth chart two best two receivers have to be on the field and then you've got rj maryland and maybe a slot or second tight end and a running back and that's that's what needs to happen and i feel confident saying that because i've been able to see enough of practice this is a position group that has everybody back except jordan kurley and generally that's a pretty safe bet on that position group as far as who are the guys to step up that's not to say mochi dixon can't do something in a game that's big and helps team win or kishawn smith can't do that but the consistency part for me has been shown up more and more from romello and jordan hudson and the offensive line you look at that they need to gel more they need to settle some things down and that's where we'll get to in a second here with the depth chart the bit the big takeaway is that group and defensively you have a group that again you have the new in helmet communication you have veteran safety group you have veteran linebacker group you have a defensive line group that is deep and talented and they just didn't have opportunities to show that because quick passing game quarterback draws people were saying where's the pass rush well when they're forcing them to pass which smu would like to of course because that means you're ahead then you're going to be able to tee off on guys then you're going to be able to get them in tough situations and we saw as a smith get a sack at the end of the game and i felt like smu's pressure on brendon lewis was not bad early they were getting to him he was just stepping up and escaping and then running and then they started adding on to that and adding quarterback draws i mean they were calling quarterback draws on third and 10 third and 12 they were letting it fly and that's trusting your guys that's being creative i think in your play calling i mean if you ran a half-back draw i've asked him you ran one on third and 10 and you know bands would be oh let's give up give up well brendon lewis was moving his legs pretty well and picked up a couple first downs that just drove people nuts or picked up chunk plays i think there was a second in 20 that they had and he picked up a chunk play and made it manageable i once said they picked it up they just found ways to attack his defense in the right way in a first game and you know at the same token i don't think smu went in there trying to show their hand too much which is why when the offense made changes in the second half that was important to note they schemed up some ways to get rj maryland matched up do some double moves do some different exotic things and i think they changed the way kind of Preston was was playing as far as the play calls for him as well so week zero game one for smu in the books and they win and looking back on it the opening was bad from the offensive side defense was coming out three three solid stops right off the bat and then the fourth was the touchdown that they were gifted on the nine yard line and so i i think this s smu off offense and defense they both got different things to figure out they both got different things to worry about but at the end of the day they went out they got a win and they have an opportunity now to get back on track confidence-wise and then a short week to really get to work and i think with a veteran group like this they can be in a groove and they can get to playing football quicker when you have a group with his may senior sometimes and Hayden kind of talked about it Preston probably wanted to be out there on sunday well smu's gonna have a chance to turn the page quick after he's a christian they'll be back in it on sunday morning working on things and turning the page quickly to that biu team that will ultimately come into forward on that friday night game so lots of things to work on for smu um you know we're really really uh you know watching to see what they do on the offensive line and that brings me to my next point which is the new death chart is out for smu and if you haven't seen it we'll have it up at on the pony express dot com by the time you are watching this podcast but smu did make some changes up front on the offensive line and you look right off the bat uh with this team and they're going to go in to this game with at least if you trust the depth chart new starters and Hayden and i talked about it a little bit you know we'll see what garen justice does as far as tinkering goes uh but it's a group that clearly didn't play well enough on the road and i think they see what the common fan sees from time to time you know there are certain players in certain situations where they're going to go and and and let it play out a little bit more but there are also situations where they need to make a move and and let it play out and so from left to right it's pj williams at left tackle as a starter savion bird or nad Anderson at left guard chikai clarket center with just an ozborn behind him logan part right guard Ben sparks at right guard behind him and then at right tackle they have nad Anderson and Caleb johnson out there with no ore in between there so in my opinion i mean you're looking at this and and somebody either nad Anderson or just an ozborn is going to get another go at right tackle i mean that that's that's probably what's going to happen i i would say just because i you moved nad Anderson to left guard on the depth chart like what where do you go from there i don't think kaleb johnson is the answer and he's just been a guy that that hasn't taken a starting role i mean when Andrew Chamblee got hurt kaleb johnson had worked some right tackle savion birded worked some right tackle and they still moved nad Anderson over there so i i think we'll see kaleb johnson play if things go the right way for us and you this week against usen christian with that depth with that um you know just overall you know beat down that they're aiming to put on that team but you know it's it's going to be a work in progress until Andrew Chamblee comes back i can tell you that much because he's really talented physically looks the part and sivu's going to be in good shape once they get him back in my opinion i mean he's just got too much talent to uh not put it together in my opinion once he's once he's healthy um when you look at the rest of the depth chart the defense is pretty pretty much the same unless i'm missing something glaring uh they they didn't you know plug anyone else in there defensively i think the only change might have been i don't even know if that's uh i i think they pretty much kept everything the same uh for uh this this week on defense i think the only thing might have been an interior guy on the uh defensive line but um uh the mustangs do you have uh let's see yeah Jared Harrison yeah it's the same it's literally the same on defense so kind of on brand there for scott simons not to change anything on the depth chart but offensively they weren't done uh Richard Smith is your starting running back here in that he played really well then it's lj johnson then jaylin nightin and then you have uh at the wide receiver position and we've talked about this getting the best guys out there ramella brinson is over mochi dixon on one side and then kishan smith is over jordan hudson but with an oar so they've switched the sides there and that'll be uh something to really watch uh closely i would say because you've got a a lot of talent uh i think in ramella brinson and jordan hudson kishan and mochi are very talented they just haven't broken through yet and i was a big big uh mochi uh mochi dixon guy last year he was playing with the the hand and he's somebody that i think maybe uc develop as the season gets that gets going a little bit more he's got so much speed i'd love to see him break through but it is going to be interesting to see how that wide receiver rotation goes now that they're going to have a chance to maybe get ramella brinson and jordan hudson on the field at the same time so uh those were the big takeaways on the depth chart uh wasn't anything else that that really um you know popped through there on that front so um they are going to continue to turn over every stone to get this team right they know the talent they have they know the opportunity that they have to make noise and they know how critical these next four weeks after he should Houston Christian are next four games there's a little bit more than four weeks there they're going to have to be ready to play come friday night uh on september uh six or whatever it is and um that's this is the final dress dress rehearsal uh for this opportunity and you know the quarterback situation they're going to continue to play too so more tape is going to be out there for both those guys and as far as a final thought on the quarterback situation because of course we got to have it it's it's not going to be enough to put yourself in position to lead a double-digit fourth quarter comeback it takes guts takes poise it takes confidence to do that and press and did that but the experience of getting there is not long-term going to outweigh the fourth quarter comeback situation like that because you're going to play better teams you're going to be in like you're going to be in tougher environments and it was his first game i'm i'm more there to say everybody played bad and quite frankly Preston's interception didn't help right off the jump just giving Nevada some some some boost but you are going you're not going to be able to go through this six-game development period like he did last year and so him coming out against usian christian and getting back on track is so important this weekend matter whose side you are you are on it's so important for SMU to build confidence with Preston Stone and Kevin Jennings this week and then let the BYU game play out see how it goes and then from there they're going to you know they're in a funk they're gonna have to find some answers and i don't know what those answers look like but this is this offense early on is kind of you know that they didn't make anybody necessarily feel better game after game one with their performance the only thing i feel really good about is one thing that i knew is that RJ Maryland's one of the best tight ends in college football and then the other thing is that Prashard Smith wasn't getting enough credit credit as a running back option so the rest of it is still unwritten for the S.V. offense in 2024 so with that guys going to wrap up this edition of the podcast we'll be there to have your full coverage at on theponyexpress.com so subscribe today get all the breakdown i'm gonna have more thoughts on the depth chart what it means and all that and we also have lastly's press conference for Shard Smith spoke with the media we'll have more practice notes on the side as the team will wrap up practice availability on Wednesday and then they'll lock it down ahead of game time on saturday 7 p.m. central inside Ford stadium the Gary Weber endzone complex gonna be such a treat to get to open that on a game day and it's gonna be blast so hope everybody enjoys the boulevard this weekend and we will have much more coverage for you at on theponyexpress.com so thanks for listening to this edition of the podcast and we'll catch you guys later this week with more coverage of your SMU Mustangs thanks for listening to the on the pony express podcast with Billy and buddy follow us on your socials on x at SMU on three and on instagram at on three SMU and keep it locked to on theponyexpress.com for more coverage
