Published: November 17, 2009 12:17 am      

Jones' Mustangs to visit the Thundering Herd

Visiting Marshall this Saturday will be the SMU Mustangs — your Conference USA West Division leaders. Apparently, the Mustangs have been drinking June Jones’ Kool-Aid.

SMU (6-4, 5-1) have made an enormous jump under Jones, who is probably a shoo-in for league coach of the year award in his second season. After back-to-back 1-11 finishes, the Mustangs lead Houston by one game in the West with two regular-season weeks remaining.

Jones, who arrived at SMU last year after a successful stint at Hawaii, has put his stamp on a program that is now bowl eligible for only the third time since 1997.

“He has done a good job,” Marshall coach Mark Snyder said. “They are playing with a lot of confidence and they are finding ways to win football games, some of them unconventional.”

Marshall (5-5, 3-3) will host SMU in its home finale at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Snyder said the Mustangs bear some resemblance to Southern Miss, which beat the Thundering Herd 27-20 last Saturday.

“One of the keys for (attempted) success was matching (Southern Miss’) special teams, because coach (Larry) Fedora does a fantastic job with that,” Snyder said. “They’ve got good players back there, and June does the exact same thing.”

Which falls in line with Snyder’s assessment that the Mustangs are winning by somewhat “unconventional” methods. A bit reminiscent of BeamerBall at Virginia Tech, SMU has blocked nine kicks this season. One provided the first touchdown in a 28-21 win over East Carolina.

SMU had three blocks against Rice, one for a touchdown in a 31-28 win.

“You talk about a difference in football games,” Snyder said. “They are finding ways to win games right now.”

On the injury front, Snyder said Monday that running back Darius Marshall seems to be OK after suffering a left ankle injury against Southern Miss. He said he hopes to know more as the week progresses.

As for tight end Cody Slate, the prognosis is still uncertain, although it still doesn’t look good. An insurance issue has delayed a MRI on Slate’s right knee, which took a direct helmet hit last Saturday.

The same problem held up a MRI on Albert McClellan’s knee injury in August 2007.

Lee Smith, of course, will be the starting tight end in Slate’s absence. Moving up to No. 2 will be redshirt freshman Jamie Hatten.

“Jamie has been getting a lot of reps, thank goodness,” Snyder said. “He has played in just about every football game. He’s got to be a piece for us. This is maybe an opportunity for a guy to step up and show what he can do. Thank goodness we have been getting him in just about every football game.”

Slate did get some good news Monday when he was named one of eight semifinalists for the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top college tight end.

The finalists will be announced next Monday.

Also, senior kicker Craig Ratanamorn was named a Lou Groza Star of the Week. He kicked field goals of 27 and 46 yards and had two PATs to remain perfect in both categories.

— E-mail: gfauber@register-herald.com