Thursday, October 1, 1998
No horsing around
for Mustangs
Winless Southern Methodist
By Paul Arnett
is all business as it
prepares for UH
Star-BulletinSouthern Methodist head coach Mike Cavan was just glad to get out of Dodge.
After his Mustangs blew a 22-point lead to Ole Miss last weekend en route to their second overtime loss of the season, the Dallas media weren't particularly hospitable to Cavan and Co.
The problem with claiming you have arrived -- which SMU did in 1997 after its first winning season since 1986 -- is figuring out how to stay.
"When I looked at this at the start of the year I was not looking forward to it," Cavan said of coming to Hawaii. "But now I think it's a good break for us to get away from the atmosphere that we were in there."We had to get away from all the negative things that have gone on at school and in Dallas. It's not a very positive attitude. So maybe this will really help us."
Cavan swallowed a good dose of reality after losing to Rice, 23-17, in OT to open the season. The Mustangs followed with losses at home to Tulane (31-21) and at Arkansas (44-17) before last week's demoralizing 48-41 defeat to Mississippi at the Cotton Bowl.
"Losses are tough, no matter what kind they are," Cavan said, then smiled. "They are all pretty tough, they really are.
"We knew going into the season what kind of schedule we had. Arkansas is a real, real good football team. We had a chance to win our opening ballgame (at Rice), but we missed the field goal.
"And we had a chance to win last week (SMU led by 22 points with nine minutes left), but things haven't exactly been working out for us. So we have to start now."
SMU arrived in Honolulu yesterday. The Mustang players are excited to be in Hawaii, but Cavan won't let them lose sight of why they're here -- to win a Western Athletic Conference game.
Prior to this year, the Mustangs hadn't lost their first four games since they finished 0-9-1 in 1960.
SMU has worked hard to overcome the two-year NCAA death penalty imposed in 1987 for a variety of recruiting violations in football.
In 1989, SMU hired Forrest Gregg to help restore the program to its glory days. But it didn't happen under Gregg or Tom Rossley. Enter Cavan, whose rescue efforts at East Tennessee State and Valdosta (Ga.) State gave him the opportunity to turn around another program.
He did an admirable job as a rookie coach in 1997. The Mustangs finished 6-5 and were looking for bigger and better things down the road. Over the summer, one national sports magazine even said that SMU would be a good fit in the Big 12 if it continued to improve.
"We've still made a lot of progress (despite opening the season 0-4)," Cavan said. "We're improving each week and that's the main thing. I would be overly concerned if we were not improving."
Freshman quarterback Josh McCown is one Mustang on the fast track. He will start his third consecutive game since replacing Chris Sanders.
McCown has completed 31 of 59 passes for 471 yards and six touchdowns. But he also has thrown five interceptions. His favorite targets are Albert Johnson and Damond Blueitt. Johnson has 17 receptions for 321 yards and six touchdowns. Blueitt has six catches for 142 yards.
SMU has three rushers with more than 100 yards. Rodnick Phillips leads that group with 422 yards on 89 carries. He has scored four touchdowns. Kelsey Adams has added 232 yards on 42 carries for an offense generating 328.8 yards a game.
"This is a conference game," Cavan said of Saturday's matchup with Hawaii. The Mustangs practiced yesterday and today at Aloha Stadium. "This is an important game for us and Hawaii.
"Both of us are in a very exacting situation. Both of us need to win, which makes it key for both teams. Maybe we can get this thing turned around because we have another difficult trip to Wyoming next weekend."
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
