LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -Mike Leach on one sideline. June Jones on the other.
For fans who like to see footballs flying, it doesn’t get much better than Saturday night’s game between Leach’s Texas Tech Red Raiders and Jones’ SMU Mustangs.
Both teams like to spread the field with multiple receivers and fire away, though Leach’s 12th-ranked Red Raiders have a big advantage in personnel, starting with All-American receiver Michael Crabtree and record-breaking quarterback Graham Harrell.
“Crabtree’s going to make his plays; Harrell’s going to make his plays,” said Jones, who left Hawaii after last season to take over a struggling SMU program. “It’s just important that defensively we make some plays. And if we make some plays and we can do something on offense to hold court than that’s how we’ve got to compete with them.”
Texas Tech (2-0) is coming off a 35-19 win at Nevada in a game Leach called “streaky” offensively.
ek, Harrell threw two interceptions and completed just 19-of-46 passes for 297 yards. It was his worst game since a 12-3 loss at TCU when he went 23-for-47 and no touchdowns.
And though the lack of rhythm concerns him, Leach trusts the wrinkles will work themselves out.
“Right now we’re a team that’s able to do it for a couple of series, but not the whole game, and we need to develop into a team that can do it the whole game,” he said. “I think that (Harrell’s) had his struggles, but I thought his leadership out there was really good. He did a good job holding things together.”
Eric Morris, one of Harrell’s other targets who returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown against Nevada, said the continuity will come.
“Some of our routes were short, we didn’t get our depth and it was a timing thing,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it was as much (Harrell’s) fault or the receiver’s fault, it was just a combination of not everybody on the same page at the same time.”
Texas Tech’s defense, long maligned as the weaker half of team, was in bend-but-don’t-break mode against Nevada. The Wolf Pack got inside Tech’s 30-yard line 10 times, but came away with only one touchdown and four field goals. The Red Raiders gave up 488 yards and place 96th in the nation in total defense.
ll plenty to work on.”
Jones and the Mustangs (1-1) got their first win last week, snapping an 11-game losing streak when they beat Texas State 47-36. SMU lost Jones’ debut 56-27 to Rice. Freshman Bo Levi Mitchell completed 24 of 37 passes for 370 yards and five touchdowns for the Mustangs last week.
“We’re a long way both offensively and defensively from being where we need to be to beat a team like Texas Tech,” Jones said. “But I know one thing, we’ll improve.”
SMU’s porous pass defense could be in for a rough night. The Mustangs rank 83rd in the nation (245 yards per game) and gave up 232 yards passing to Texas State, an FCS team.
“If you do press (Harrell) he knows where to go with the football,” Jones said. “You get frustrated when you go after him and you don’t get him.
“We can’t worry about the plays they’re going to make,” he said. “We worry about the ones we make and go from there.”
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