SMU ready to battle Army

SMU coach June Jones and his players know they will face a difficult task when they line up against Army in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. 

Jones hopes his pass-happy offense will match well against Army’s double-flex defense.  Jones has a nice safety valve in running back Zach Line, who leads Conference USA with 1391 rushing yards.  Only Eric Dickerson had more yards for SMU, back in 1981 and 1982.  “Ideally we like to throw the football,” said Jones, “But at the same time over the years we have been able to run the ball pretty effectively.  Zach has done a great job of it this year.  Our line has made the commitment to do it also.  When you have a young quarterback, you tend to rely on that a little bit more.  Zach has been the beneficiary of it.”

Mustang offensive lineman Kelvin Beauchum knows Army will bring their best, “We played Navy, which is a team that is similar, dynamically, to Army, so we know what to expect.  We know it’s going to be a hard-fought game throughout the whole game.  We know what we have to do to accomplish our goal, which is to win the game.”  Linebacker Pete Fleps has similar sentiments, “They’ve got good players that can run that offense very effectively and can take advantage of your mistakes so we’re really going to have to play very assignment-sound defense and really match the intensity and the physical aspect of that offense.  We’ve got a great challenge ahead of us but we’ve had a lot of preparation time so I think we understand our opponent fairly well.  Obviously, it’s going to be a good matchup and we’re looking forward to it.  Whenever you play a service academy, you’re going to get guys who are very disciplined, very tough, and that don’t quit.  They’ll stay with the game and the play until the very end, regardless of score or outcome.  We’ve got to match that and be prepared for that.”