GAME REPORT: Louisiana Tech 36, SMU 6

[PonyPride]

The SMU football team opened its season with a sense of urgency, eager to knock off Louisiana Tech in its first game as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. And while the Ponies did many things well -- the Mustangs outgained the Bulldogs, 335 total yards to 270 -- LaTech was able to capitalize on numerous SMU mistakes en route to a 36-6 romp over the Mustangs in Shreveport Saturday night.

Sophomore quarterback Kelan Luker, making his first appearance in almost two full years, completed 25-of-54 passes (with one interception) in his first game as the Ponies' starting signal caller. His primary target was junior wide receiver Chris Cunningham, who hauled in a game-high nine passes for 78 yards. But Cunningham also factored in LaTech's scoring, fumbling an end-around hand-off which Bulldog linebacker Curtis Randall scooped up and returned 65 yards for the game's first score with just over eight minutes left in the first quarter.

"We just had too many bad plays," SMU head coach Mike Cavan said. "The fumble recorvery early in the game turned the momentum of the entire game. We just couldn't make anything happen on offense."

The Ponies responded with a scoring drive of their own that ended with a 37-yard field goal from senior Jacob Crowley.

But before the opening quarter ended, LaTech quarterback Luke McCown -- the younger brother of former Pony QB Josh McCown -- extended his team's lead when he took a snap in a shotgun formation and bolted straight up the middle of the SMU defense for an 11-yard touchdown run. McCown finished the day completing 22-of-35 passes for 189 yards, after averaging 315 yards per game last season.

Crowley, who converted just 10-of-21 field goal attempts last year, drilled his second field goal of the game with 11:17 left in the first half, this time connecting from 40 yards out.

But that was the end of the scoring for SMU. LaTech added a 13-yard touchdown run by John Simon and a 47-yard field goal from Josh Scobee before the half ended to make the score 24-6 at the intermission. After a scoreless third quarter, Scobee added a pair of fourth-quarter field goals and Jason Olford returned an interception 40 yards for a score to account for the final tally.

Cavan was right about the mistakes killing the Ponies chances for opening the season with a win. In addition to the turnovers that were returned for scores, the 'Stangs allowed one punt to be partially blocked, forced a shanked punt that was wiped out because of a 15-yard roughing-the-kicker penalty, allowed a lengthy return on a short punt and put the SMU defense in a deeper hole by adding a personal foul at the end of the routine.

That is not the kind of performance this team can afford to repeat with TCU coming to Dallas next week for the season's home opener at Ford Stadium.