SMU surprise of the conference

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

You could make a case for Brigham Young and Wyoming being 2-0. Certainly you could for Air Force.

But Southern Methodist?

The Mustangs, who were picked to finish toward the bottom of the Western Athletic Conference's Mountain Division, are off to an impressive 2-0 start after beating host Arkansas 23-7 last Saturday. It's especially impressive considering SMU had won only two games the previous two seasons.

"The biggest thing is we came through the first two weeks without any injuries," coach Tom Rossley said. "I'm trying to find some wood to knock on."

The Mustangs, who are already 1-0 in WAC play after defeating Tulsa, face a severe test Saturday when they host 1-1 Utah. The Utes bounced back from a season-opening loss to Utah State by beating host Stanford. Rossley admits Utah presents a stiffer test than Arkansas.

"That is a very physical football team," he said of Utah. "They didn't tell us about the strength in this league when we joined it. I thought this was a spread-'em-out league.

"We're more physical than we've been in the past, but I don't know if we can match Utah's strength and power."

Utah coach Ron McBride said he's not surprised SMU is 2-0.

"They deserve to be," he said. "They were much better than Arkansas and they've got some confidence under their belts. They believe they can win."

The return of quarterback Ramon Flanigan from a dislocated hip injury a year ago has been the big difference in SMU's improved play. He threw for three touchdowns against Arkansas and the team has responded to his leadership.

"Flanigan's a special player," McBride said. "He makes things happen and his teammates feed off of him."

Big TCU win

At the other end of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Texas Christian came up with a more impressive win than SMU, beating host Oklahoma 20-7. It helped the Horned Frogs' confidence as well.

"Our kids went up there with the intention of winning the ballgame," said coach Pat Sullivan, whose team was a 9-point underdog at Oklahoma. "We wanted to be physical and we didn't turn the ball over.

"To do those things with as many young people as we played and to perform up there the way we did reinforced by beliefs about this football team."

TCU held Oklahoma to just 95 yards rushing and won the battle of special teams.

"The intangibles were a big part of that win," Sullivan said. "When you're executing and getting good leadership, it increases your chances of being successful."

Pac-10 shootouts

The WAC and the Pacific 10 go head-to-head in four games Saturday and all four could evolve into offensive orgies.

BYU and Washington hook up in a nationally televised game on ABC which figures to produce plenty of sparks. San Diego State faces California and the Aztecs will have two of their key weapons back in running back George Jones and receiver Nate Blackwell, both of whom sat out last week's game with Idaho because of an NCAA-imposed penalty.

San Jose State, which scored 25 points last week in falling to Cal, faces Stanford in what is traditionally a high-scoring affair. And Colorado State meets Oregon, which will have to face the Rams without quarterback Tony Graziani, who was injured last week against Nevada-Reno. But the Ducks still have enough firepower to match CSU.

"We've had a lot of wide-open games in the past and we've had a lot of success," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said. "But as an old defensive coach, I wouldn't mind seeing a little defense played out there."

San Diego State's Ted Tollner is expecting a stiff challenge from Cal's offense, which rang up 45 points on San Jose State.

"Cal's very good offensively," he said. "They're not a one-dimensional team. We have to prepare for a lot of different things."

Extra points

* PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Wyo ming WR Marcus Harris, LB Jay Jenkins and San Diego State K Peter Holt were the WAC Pacific Division Players of the Week for offense, defense and special teams, respectively. In the Mountain Division, SMU QB Ramon Flanigan, TCU DE Matt Harper and SMU P Anthony Scotti were accorded weekly honors.

* KEY INJURIES: Hawaii will prob ably be without starting QB Glenn Freitas when the Rainbow Warriors travel to Wyoming Saturday for their WAC opener. Freitas separated his shoulder and fractured his finger in the second quarter of last Saturday's loss to Ohio. Freshman Josh Skinner, who finished against Ohio, will likely get the starting nod against Wyoming. ... UNLV coach Jeff Horton said nose guard Mac Smith will probably be out for Wisconsin with a sprained knee. Smith was hurt in the fourth quarter of the 65-17 loss to Air Force. ... Fresno State lost two players in its 62-0 drubbing at Auburn. DE Malama Scanlan will have arthroscopic knee surgery and J.D. Martin, his backup, has a sprained knee.

* MILESTONES: New Mexico coach Dennis Franchione picked up his 100th career victory with the Lobos' win over Northern Arizona. ... The largest crowd to ever watch a football game in Nevada will be at Sam Boyd Stadium Saturday when UNLV plays host to Wisconsin. A crowd of 40,000 is expected. ... The WAC is 3-1 so far in head-to-head competition with the Big 12 this season. ... Rice, which plays at Tulane Saturday, has missed six field goals in its last two meetings with the Green Wave. Tulane won both games, 17-15 last season and 15-13 in 1994.