Hilltop Heartbreak

SMU’s Inspired Effort Fails to Derail Undefeated Tulsa

DALLAS – This big one got away.

The 24-point home ‘dog Mustangs hung with talented Tulsa all night before finally succumbing, 37-31, for their twelfth consecutive conference loss. The defeat effectively ended SMU’s bowl dreams for another season.

Bo Levi Mitchell, who completed 19 of 34 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns, drove the Mustangs 42 yards on nine plays to the Tulsa 26 for a final shot at the upset with a minute left. On third-and-two, Mitchell fired left to a wide open Cole Beasley streaking right to left into the end zone. As Pony fans gasped, then moaned, Beasley, a true freshman who’d had a fantastic game (eight catches, 94 yards and a touchdown), dropped the ball.

SMU cornerback Derrius Bell works against Tulsa's Brennan Marrion as the ball approaches.

On fourth down, Mitchell’s floater to the left flat sailed past the outstretched fingertips of a horizontal Emmanuel Sanders. And that was it.

“We played for sixty minutes,” said SMU head coach June Jones on Monday. “ [It’s] really the first time, I think, we’ve done that. Then we gave ourselves a chance to win at the end and just came up short. I’m disappointed for the players more than anything else. They were trying their hardest and that’s what we asked them to do.”

“We made plays and we hit.” Jones added.

SMU’s defense played valiantly against one on of the top offenses in the nation. Cornerback Bryan McCann had two picks, (one in SMU’s end zone). Defensive tackle Serge Elizee and linebacker Chase Kennemer each had a sack. Linebackers Will Bonilla, Justin Smart, and Pete Fleps led Mustang tacklers, with 11, 9 and 7 stops, respectively.

Chris Butler gave SMU’s running game a spark with nine carries for 95 yards before leaving the game in the second half with a leg injury. (Jones said Butler is still on crutches and out this week.)

“I thought all three backs did a good job,” Jones said. “I think the O-line is finally getting a feel for it.” Andrew McKinney carried nine times for 38 yards and DeMyron Martin came on late for 30 yards on five tries.

Sanders finished with six catches for 132 yards. His career-long 77-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter electrified the crowd and gave SMU the lead again after Tulsa had tied it at 24.

Aldrick Robinson and Terrance Wilkerson also had TD grabs. “Emmanuel and [Aldrick] are really stepping up,” Jones said. “And Terrance has gotten better. He made a real nice catch in his hands. Three weeks ago, he wouldn’t have made that catch.”

When asked what it means for SMU to have exhibited a fine effort against a good team, Jones didn’t go the “moral victory” route.

“Well, I don’t know,” he said. “My stomach stills hurts from losing, so I don’t really think about all that stuff. But I know what it would have done if we had won.”

Did Jones say anything to Beasley about the drop? “I don’t say anything to guys when they fail that way,” he said, “because they put more pressure on themselves and hurt more than everybody else. I just tell them, ‘You did a good job. Just get better from it.’ And the next one, he’ll catch it.”

SMU head coach June Jones makes a point with, from left, Emmanuel Sanders, Terrance Wilkerson and Aldrick Robinson in the first half. Each had a touchdown catch against Tulsa, along with Cole Beasley.

“Everybody knows that one play wasn’t the reason we lost the game. We could have made seven other plays and we would have won the game.”

Things seriously turned Tulsa’s way with ten minutes left to play and SMU leading, 31-24. On a fourth-and-21 from the Mustangs’ 33, Tulsa quarterback Paul Johnson lofted a prayer to the right pylon that landed in Trae Johnson’s gut as he fell backwards into the end zone, with true freshman Keith Robinson defending.

Jones called it “a hell of a catch and good throw.”

On SMU’s next play from scrimmage, Mitchell threw his only interception of the night and four plays and 26 yards later, Tulsa led for the first time, 37-31.

“It’s unfortunate,” Jones said of the pick. “Bo had a guy pushed back in his face ... and he got hit right as he threw the ball.”

Defensive end Youri Yenga blocked the point-after try, giving SMU a boost with 8:40 left. “The kids expected to win,” Jones said. “I mean, you could tell. They were expecting to win.”

Two possessions later, with 3:35 to play, the Mustangs’ final drive began.

Is Jones worried about a mental let-down now that a bowl is no longer a practical goal? “You’re always concerned about it,” he said, “but we do things from within to try to keep ‘up.’ At today’s meeting, I specifically did some things with that in mind - that we have to stay positive and pat the kids on the back for what they did, even though we didn’t finish the way we wanted to.”

“We’ll do some things this week that are different, off-the-cuff, to make sure that we stay ‘plugged in.’”

Next for SMU is high-flying Houston, off to a hot 2-0 start in league play with wins over East Carolina and UAB. Sophomore quarterback Case Keenum leads C-USA in passing (380.0 ypg) and total offense (406.8 ypg). He’s completing 67 percent of his passes.

Keenum was named C-USA’s Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 360 yards last Thursday in the Coogs’ school-record-tying 17-point come-from-behind win over UAB.

It was Keenum’s seventh straight 300-plus-yard performance, which matches former Houston great David Klingler’s1990 mark.

Senior defensive end Phillip Hunt, who had three sacks and eight tackles against UAB, is the league’s Defensive Player of the Week. No one in C-USA has more solo sacks than Hunt, with seven.

Head coach Kevin Sumlin is in his first year at Houston after several seasons as an assistant at Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

Robinson (24) snags a throw from Bo Levi Mitchell (3) in the second quarter, which he turned into an 18-yard touchdown.

SMU Football Notes:

• Last Saturday’s game marked the first time this year Tulsa has failed to score at least 40 points.

• Tulsa’s three first-quarter points were its least first-quarter total since playing SMU last year, when the Golden Hurricane went scoreless.

   

On Deck: SMU (1-6, 0-4) vs. Houston (3-3, 2-0), Saturday, October 19, 2008, 7 p.m.; Gerald J. Ford Stadium (32,000), Dallas; no TV; Radio: KTCK 1310 AM.

Prediction: The Mustangs’ edge may be dulled this week after the huge effort against Tulsa ended in a sixth loss: Houston 38 SMU 24

Did You Know? SMU will retire the No. 17 jersey of former SMU All-American and Dallas Cowboy great Don Meredith at halftime of Saturday’s game. Meredith is making a rare trip to Dallas from his home in Sante Fe, New Mexico, to accept the honor.

Article by Rick Atkinson -
CUSA Fans SMU Correspondent