Keeping Focus Could Be Big for Ponies Against Temple

It's a recurring theme these days for SMU against lower-regarded opponents

DALLAS — SMU fans might want to get used to hearing repeated coach-speak from coach Rhett Lashlee and his staff. The bottom line is they can't cruise to the finish line AAC Championship Game taking anybody lightly. Temple is a perfect example of that this week.

"It's a chance and an opportunity regardless who we're playing," Lashlee said Tuesday about Friday night's road matchup. "We're going to have to execute and it doesn't matter who we play. If we don't execute, it's not going to go well. Yeah, this Friday is an opportunity for us to do that because it's our next chance and we need to play well."

Offense gets the headlines, but in last week's win over East Carolina, what the Mustangs didn't work the way Lashlee wanted. The defense picked up the slack and made it possible to break the game open late.

"The intention wasn't to go pass heavy," Lashlee said. "We weren't doing anything in the run game. Maybe I abandoned it a little early, but when you go back and watch the film there's really nothing in our run game that tells you we were going to start making yards. It kind of felt like that was the best chance, we had those advantages."

The defense made it work and it may be required again this week. The Owls are sitting at the bottom of the league standings with an 0-3 record (2-5 overall). They do have scholarship players, too, and taking them too lightly can blow up plans for the season.

"We played a complete game giving up one touchdown," Lashlee said. "Just awesome job forcing 11 punts or something and got two turnovers, scored on one. It really helped us create good field position and our punt team did a good job of that. Defensively, really good."

They don't want Temple to feel too good about things. The Owls did give up big plays against North Texas, but they can be dangerous at times.

"Temple did come out against North Texas and played a little bit different than they had all year," Lashlee said. "Half the game they played a completely different defense, so not totally sure what you're going to get. They've got a really experienced coordinator. He knows how to coach ball. The one thing they do, you always hear about 'Temple TUFF,' they do, they do play hard and they do play physical."

Now the Ponies just have to stay focused. They can't afford to slip up at the midway point to what everybody hopes is a big year. Kickoff for the game is 6 p.m. on ESPNU and fuboTV. You can hear the game on The Ticket 96.7 f.m.-1310 a.m. in Dallas-Fort Worth.