Craven: SMU is much improved, but wins remain elusive

[caption id="attachment_19553" align="alignright" width="278"]Photo by Jeff Goldberg Photo by Jeff Goldberg[/caption] SMU is in need of a win. No one expected Chad Morris to come in and change the complete culture and direction of the Mustang program without a few recruiting classes, but the success at Houston by Tom Herman puts even more pressure on Morris and SMU to show some improvement. It started well, as an early-season win over North Texas looked impressive for Morris and his club. Looking back on that win now, however, shows it was fool’s gold. Since then, North Texas lost to a FCS school by the widest margin in history and fired head coach Dan McCarney. SMU is on a four-game losing-streak since that 31-13 win over North Texas, which includes a 49-28 loss to Houston, and (wince) an upset at the hands of FCS school James Madison. The issue for SMU is there aren’t many opportunities for the Mustangs to win a game in the American Athletic Conference. The emergence of Memphis and Temple – each of which SMU still faces on the schedule – along with Houston has made the AAC a respectable non-P5 conference this season. Memphis just knocked off an Ole Miss team that beat Alabama earlier in the year, Houston is undefeated and so is Temple. The only remaining team on the schedule with a current record under .500 is Tulane and that game doesn’t take place until the second-to-last game of the season. This week, SMU travels to take on South Florida. USF is 3-3 overall and 1-1 in conference with wins over Connecticut and Syracuse. The Bulls only lost by seven to Memphis a few weeks ago. We’re already seeing improvement on the offensive side of the ball for SMU. Morris is the former offensive coordinator at Clemson and made his name in Texas by leading Lake Travis’ offense to new heights before moving on to the college level. Quarterback Matt Davis is completing over 60 percent of his passes and has an 11-to-2 touchdown to interception ratio. The team is also averaging four yards per rush. The problem for SMU is on the defensive side of the ball. The Mustangs allowed at least 48 points in each of their five total losses this season. In SMU’s lone win, the Mustangs allowed only 13 points. Outside of that, SMU allowed 56 to Baylor and TCU, 49 to East Carolina and Houston and 48 to James Madison. Morris needs more time and a few more recruiting classes, but he also needs a few wins. It is hard to see where those wins come from with the remaining schedule.