The story has made the rounds about a referee who planned to announce that Southern Methodist had just taken a timeout, but instead told the crowd, "Timeout, Hawaii."  

That would have been a humorous but understandable slip. With June Jones patrolling the SMU sidelines, you would expect to see the coaches wearing floral-print shirts and leis.

And you would expect Mustang quarterbacks to throw for, oh, 500 yards or so.

That hasn't happened just yet. SMU may be sitting atop of Houston in the West Division of Conference USA, but the Mustangs throw for 157 fewer yards per game than the nation-leading Cougars.

No, the Mustangs aren't bringing flashbacks to the Timmy Chang-Colt Brennan era at Hawaii.

Yet.

"[Jones] doesn't have it all in yet," said Marshall coach Mark Snyder. "You're going to see variations of the run-and-shoot, but it's not all there yet. It's going to take him some time, but you'll see variations of it Saturday."

SMU (6-4, 5-1) brings its offense-in-building to Joan C. Edwards Stadium to take on Marshall (5-5, 3-3) in a 4:30 p.m. game Saturday.

Jones' offensive philosophy begins with the run-and-shoot, to which he was introduced when he quarterbacked at Portland State under Mouse Davis in 1975-76. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Hawaii and later toiled in the USFL and in Canada.

His first NFL job came in 1987 as Jerry Glanville's quarterbacks coach at Houston, and Jones eventually rose to head coaching and took the Atlanta Falcons to the 1995 playoffs. But after that gig fizzled, and after Jones served as interim head coach at San Diego, he returned to the college ranks, resurrecting football fortunes at Hawaii.

The turnaround was immediate - 0-12 in 1998 to 9-4 in '99 - and the success was lasting. He went 75-41, and didn't do it on "3 yards and a cloud of dust."

Chang set major-college records for passing yards (17,072), total offense (16,910), completions (1,388) and attempts (2,436). In only three seasons, Brennan threw for 14,193 yards and 131 touchdowns, the latter a record recently eclipsed by Texas Tech's Graham Harrell. Brennan set single-season records for touchdown passes (58), completion percentage (70.4) and efficiency rating (186.0).

The Mustangs are throwing for a relatively pedestrian 271 yards per game this season, but the big games have started to pop up.

Bo Levi Mitchell, given some tough on-the-job training during the Mustangs' 1-11 season of 2008, threw for 353 yards in a 35-33 win over Alabama-Birmingham and followed that with a 424-yard effort in an overtime loss at Washington State, though he threw four interceptions.

Whether Mitchell, who originally committed to Jones at Hawaii, can regain his job remains to be seen. When he left the Houston game with an injured non-throwing shoulder, true freshman Kyle Padron jumped on the opportunity with a vengeance.

A 6-foot-4 native of nearby Southlake, Texas, Padron went 11-of-16 for 141 yards in the Houston game, getting his first TD pass on a 32-yarder to Aldrick Robinson. He threw for 354 yards in a 27-13 win at Tulsa, turning broken plays into TD tosses of 49 and 36 yards. He went 17-of-24 both times in wins over Rice and Texas-El Paso, throwing for four scores total and rushing for two.

His efficiency rating is 170.98, which would rank him second in the nation if he qualified. Individuals must play three-quarters of their team's games to make the NCAA rankings.

The story has made the rounds about a referee who planned to announce that Southern Methodist had just taken a timeout, but instead told the crowd, "Timeout, Hawaii."  

That would have been a humorous but understandable slip. With June Jones patrolling the SMU sidelines, you would expect to see the coaches wearing floral-print shirts and leis.

And you would expect Mustang quarterbacks to throw for, oh, 500 yards or so.

That hasn't happened just yet. SMU may be sitting atop of Houston in the West Division of Conference USA, but the Mustangs throw for 157 fewer yards per game than the nation-leading Cougars.

No, the Mustangs aren't bringing flashbacks to the Timmy Chang-Colt Brennan era at Hawaii.

Yet.

"[Jones] doesn't have it all in yet," said Marshall coach Mark Snyder. "You're going to see variations of the run-and-shoot, but it's not all there yet. It's going to take him some time, but you'll see variations of it Saturday."

SMU (6-4, 5-1) brings its offense-in-building to Joan C. Edwards Stadium to take on Marshall (5-5, 3-3) in a 4:30 p.m. game Saturday.

Jones' offensive philosophy begins with the run-and-shoot, to which he was introduced when he quarterbacked at Portland State under Mouse Davis in 1975-76. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Hawaii and later toiled in the USFL and in Canada.

His first NFL job came in 1987 as Jerry Glanville's quarterbacks coach at Houston, and Jones eventually rose to head coaching and took the Atlanta Falcons to the 1995 playoffs. But after that gig fizzled, and after Jones served as interim head coach at San Diego, he returned to the college ranks, resurrecting football fortunes at Hawaii.

The turnaround was immediate - 0-12 in 1998 to 9-4 in '99 - and the success was lasting. He went 75-41, and didn't do it on "3 yards and a cloud of dust."

Chang set major-college records for passing yards (17,072), total offense (16,910), completions (1,388) and attempts (2,436). In only three seasons, Brennan threw for 14,193 yards and 131 touchdowns, the latter a record recently eclipsed by Texas Tech's Graham Harrell. Brennan set single-season records for touchdown passes (58), completion percentage (70.4) and efficiency rating (186.0).

The Mustangs are throwing for a relatively pedestrian 271 yards per game this season, but the big games have started to pop up.

Bo Levi Mitchell, given some tough on-the-job training during the Mustangs' 1-11 season of 2008, threw for 353 yards in a 35-33 win over Alabama-Birmingham and followed that with a 424-yard effort in an overtime loss at Washington State, though he threw four interceptions.

Whether Mitchell, who originally committed to Jones at Hawaii, can regain his job remains to be seen. When he left the Houston game with an injured non-throwing shoulder, true freshman Kyle Padron jumped on the opportunity with a vengeance.

A 6-foot-4 native of nearby Southlake, Texas, Padron went 11-of-16 for 141 yards in the Houston game, getting his first TD pass on a 32-yarder to Aldrick Robinson. He threw for 354 yards in a 27-13 win at Tulsa, turning broken plays into TD tosses of 49 and 36 yards. He went 17-of-24 both times in wins over Rice and Texas-El Paso, throwing for four scores total and rushing for two.

His efficiency rating is 170.98, which would rank him second in the nation if he qualified. Individuals must play three-quarters of their team's games to make the NCAA rankings.

"Honestly, I didn't think I'd see the field this year," Padron said. "Unfortunately, Bo went down, I came in, and it's been a dream come true. I've always wanted to lead my team to a bowl game."

Emmanuel Sanders ranks eighth in receptions per game (7.7) and is ninth in receiving yards (97.7). He's the school's all-time leader with 264 career catches for 3,429 yards and 32 touchdowns, including one against Marshall in the Mustangs' 31-21 win in 2006 at Dallas.

Sanders has a whopping 18 receptions for 178 yards at Washington State.

"He's an unbelievable receiver," Padron said. "Last week, he had a couple of touchdowns, about 140 yards; he's definitely one of our better playmakers.

"He can do it all. He can get open down the field, he can run by people, he can go up for the jump ball, he's an all-around receiver - production guy, speed guy, he can do it all."

Aldrick Robinson (33 receptions, 571 yards, four TDs) is a dangerous deep threat, coming off a 1,000-yard season in 2008. He has two 100-yard games this year and owns two of the three longest pass plays in school history - 94 yards last year against Central Florida and a game-turning 96-yarder in this year's win over East Carolina.

He is one of four state 100-meter track champions on the SMU roster. Another is running back Shawnbrey McNeal, a Miami transfer who has run for 896 yards - 399 more than the Mustangs rushed for all of last season.

And McNeal has turned into a clutch rusher. Four of his six rushing touchdowns have come in the fourth quarter, including critical TDs against Stephen F. Austin, UAB and Rice.

But figuring sacks into the equation, SMU is favoring pass over run by about a 60-40 ratio. That figures to go up in the future, but does that future begin Saturday?

"This is an exciting offense to come and see," Snyder said. "That ball's going to be chucked down the field. So it should be an exciting Saturday."

At 6-4, SMU is likely headed to a bowl but needs another victory to ensure it will get what Jones wants, a return trip to the Hawaii Bowl. He led the Warriors to that game in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006 (along with the 1999 Oahu Bowl) before they landed in the Sugar Bowl in the 2007 season.

There is one problem for the Mustangs, if you can call it that - if they win the Conference USA championship game, the Liberty Bowl gets first shot.

Jones raised a few eyebrows this week when he declared in Dallas, "The conference is going to dictate what [happens], but obviously, I told the guys that we're going to Hawaii, so that's where I want to go."

The Liberty Bowl, which has featured the C-USA champ since the league's inception in 1996, is played Jan. 2 with a Southeastern Conference team. The Hawaii Bowl takes place Dec. 24 and features C-USA against the Western Athletic Conference. Hawaii, 4-6 with San Jose State, Navy and Wisconsin still ahead, likely will not qualify, leaving Jones as the game's top draw.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.