There were many reasons for SMU coaches, players and fans to celebrate Saturday in Fort Worth when the Mustangs knocked off then-No. 20 TCU, 40-33.

But before they could exchange hugs and high-fives, PonyFans had to endure some tense moments. The Horned Frogs roared back to tie the game in the final moments, forcing overtime, but not until junior linebacker Ja’Gared Davis had to be helped off the field.

Linebacker JG Davis forced and recovered a fumble to seal the win over UTEP in the second game of the 2011 season (photo by Travis Johnston).

Davis had eight tackles, half a sack and half of a tackle-for-loss in the game. He also ended a TCU drive when he knocked down a Casey Pachall pass and wore out would-be blockers as he chased kick returners on special teams.

But in the fourth quarter, players, coaches and fans held their collective breath when they saw Davis stretched out on the field, motionless. Members of the SMU medical staff raced out on the field. Minutes later, head coach June Jones joined them.

As it turned out, Davis had a strained hamstring. After a brief stint on the bench, he tried to return with his leg heavily wrapped, but he struggled to move effectively.

Davis said he hurt his hamstring while covering a punt on which he hit TCU returner Skye Dawson. Three days after pulling his hamstring, Davis said (after sitting out practice) that it feels much better.

“I’d say it’s about 75 percent now,” Davis said. “Good time to have a week off. I’m going to get treatment every day. I’ll play (next week against UCF).”

Davis said the pain in his leg was alleviated after Saturday’s game, when he hoisted the Iron Skillet over his head after the Mustangs got their fourth victory in their first five games of the season against their cross-town rivals.

“It didn’t hurt then,” Davis said. “At that time, I could see how excited my teammates were and the fans were. It was a fun time. I was kind of living in the minute.”

The game against the Horned Frogs had a lot of elements rivalry games should have: big plays from both offenses, stout defensive stands and even some fireworks on special teams in the form of Chris Parks’ fumble recovery in the TCU end zone for a touchdown on the first play of the second half. It also had a measure of physical confrontation that underscored the intense emotions felt on both teams. A couple of minor scuffles broke out, plus one larger-scale scrap between the SMU defense and the Frogs’ offense about halfway through the second quarter.

Davis said the teams were “talking noise” to each other, and when TCU running back Matthew Tucker scored on a 1-yard run, players tangled in the end zone, with each team earning a personal foul on the play. Davis said the fact that the Mustangs didn’t back down was an important statement for his team.

“It just said, ‘we’re here and we came to fight,’” he said. “We’re not going to get run over anymore. I think that showed we’ll put up a fight.”

Davis led the SMU defense in 2010 with nine quarterback sacks (photo by Travis Johnston).

Davis said that the Mustangs’ defensive focus was on two areas: stopping the TCU running game and limiting the yards the Horned Frogs got after catching passes from Pachall. The Frogs finished the game with 454 yards of total offense, but take out two plays — Wesley’s 63-yard run and a 55-yard reception by Wesley on a pass from Pachall — and TCU’s offense put up numbers the Mustangs found far more palatable, including just 87 rushing yards (instead of 150).

“(Wesley) is a good running back,” Davis said. “We knew No. 82 (wide receiver Josh Boyce) is a good player and No. 11 (Dawson) is really fast, so we knew they were going to get yards. But we go into every game wanting to stop the run and keep their yards after the catch down, and for the most part, we did a good job of that.”

The victory over the Frogs, Davis said, was an important milestone for the Mustangs, and helped the rivalry grow.

“There’s a lot more intensity when both teams are good,” he said. “It’s more of a rivalry now. To go into a top-20 team’s stadium and get the win … that said SMU is back on the map. It’s great to get the Skillet, and to get it we had to bring our ‘A game.’ To get it back, they have to bring theirs.”

But Davis isn’t ready to look forward to next year’s Battle for the Iron Skillet. Instead, he is focusing on getting healthy for the rest of the season … and allowed himself an extra minute to enjoy Saturday’s victory over TCU. The game, he said, was special — as was the scene afterward, when PonyFans mobbed the players as they left the field and shared the Iron Skillet with their exuberant fans.

“It was an honor to bring that kind of joy to the fans,” Davis said in a rare moment without a smile on his face. “It made the hard work and effort we put in to win that game worth it. To beat TCU — that was the first ranked team SMU beat since ’05, right? — and have those fans there … that was special.”