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Bowl Booster
SMU’s ‘Meaningful’ 27-13 Win At Tulsa Sets Table For Team’s Goal
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://www.cusa-fans.com/

TULSA - SMU Director of Athletics Steve Orsini was on his usual perch at Tulsa’s Skelly Field on Saturday, a third-story open-air box in the north end zone, where he’d witnessed a last-minute gut-twisting loss to the Golden Hurricane two years ago.

This day, with the Mustangs locked in the same type of game - 7-7 in the third quarter - Orsini peered down at SMU’s offense standing near its own goal line. Kyle Padron, a true freshman quarterback making his first start, was at the helm.

“Come on, Mustangs!” Orsini shouted, leaning over the railing. “You can do it! You can do it!”

On third-and-eight from the sixteen, Padron rifled a pass to Terrance Wilkerson over the middle for 42 yards and a first down across midfield. Four plays later, Padron dumped a pass to Shawnbrey McNeal for a 36-yard touchdown, capping the eight-play, 98-yard drive for the Mustangs’ first lead of the game.

Back up field, Orsini smiled. This was going to be different.


Kyle Padron threw for 354 yards at Tulsa.

Indeed, SMU (4-4, 3-1) went on to dump Tulsa, 27-13, bringing the Mustangs’ bowl dream one step closer.

“I think winning conference games on the road is really a defining time for any team,” said SMU coach June Jones. “To have two of those this year is really, really meaningful.”

Said Padron, “It’s always fun to take one on the road, when you get to quiet their home fans down. We’re coming together. … It’s starting to feel more like a family.”

“This propels us to go back into the rest of the Conference USA [schedule],” said safety Rock Dennis, “and just do what we normally do and that’s try to win.”

With the four-way logjam atop C-USA West gone, only SMU and Houston remain. Should the Coogs stumble this week at Tulsa, the West is there for the Mustangs’ taking.

Wideout Emmanuel Sanders cautioned about the number “6.”

“My freshman year we went 6-6 and became bowl eligible [but didn’t get a bowl],” he said. “So I told the guys we’ve got to go seven. You’ve got to go seven because you never know.”

But know this: 1) SMU looks different with Padron, more complete, 2) the Mustangs’ defense still impresses, and 3) winning-out looks doable with three home games against Rice, UTEP and Tulane, and a road trip to Marshall.

Record-Breaker

The 6-4, 200-pound Padron threw for 354 yards, the best quarterback debut in SMU history. He completed 20 of 30 passes for two touchdowns, with no interceptions and was sacked four times, once each quarter.

“Coach Jones put me in good positions,” Padron said. “The play calling was great today. We executed pretty well. … The guys made plays for me.”

“The [offensive] line played a great game,” Padron said. “I’m thankful to have them.”

Ironically, for all the intricacies of Jones’ Run and Shoot offense, Padron’s scoring passes came as he scrambled, creating on the fly.

Running to his right in the second quarter, Padron found Cole Beasley wide-open down the sideline and Beasley did the rest, adding a nice move near the ten for a 49-yard TD that tied the game at 7-7.

On the 98-yard drive, Padron again scrambled to his right before pulling up and lobbing a pass over a defender to McNeal, who sped untouched several strides before jitter-bugging through tacklers for the touchdown.

“Kyle, he makes the plays,” Jones said. “That’s what you’ve got to do. To make a couple of those throws when we had to have them, that was pretty awesome.”

Perhaps Padron’s biggest throw came with SMU leading, 20-13, facing third-and-four with three minutes left from the ‘Cane’s 37-yard-line.

Padron coolly tossed a dart to Sanders down the left sideline to Tulsa’s two, effectively ending the game. Zach Line bulled to pay dirt on the next play.

Padron said injured quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was a big help. “He’s a coach on the field,” Padron said. “It’s unfortunate he wasn’t able to play. I had Coach Jones, [Assistant Head Coach Dan Morrison] and Bo in my ear. So that’s good to have.”

Jones said a decision on this week’s starting quarterback will come later this week.


Chris Parham (93) chases Tulsa's Jacob Bower

Slow Start

SMU’s first two drives ended in lost fumbles, the second one deep in Tulsa territory. Both involved handoffs between Padron and McNeal.

“The first one,” Padron said, “I didn’t get [the ball] all the way in and I kind of hit [McNeal] on the side, in the ribs. On the second one, I thought I got it all the way in … but I’ll take the blame for that too. We’ve got to work on that in practice.”

Dennis said the way the game started brought back memories of recent tight losses to Tulsa. “When it was 0-0 [after one quarter] and then 7-0, [Tulsa], I was like, “Oh, here we go. It’s going to be another nail-biter.”

Things did get squirrelly in the third quarter on Tulsa’s six-yard-line when SMU picked up the first of three straight false start penalties, each on a different player. Sanders said Tulsa’s defense was calling out snap counts.

What got Jones’ goat, though, was the piped-in music that didn’t stop when SMU tried to run a play. After the third false start, Jones stormed onto the field to make his case, drawing a 15-yard personal foul penalty.

“They can’t play music when the team’s on the line of scrimmage,” Jones said. “I kept telling them and they finally got it cut off after that.”

The four penalties moved SMU back to the 36-yard-line and two plays later Matt Szymanski salvaged a 35-yard field goal for a 17-7 Mustangs lead.

Szymanski also punted for a 48-yard average on seven attempts - even with a 3-yard slice in the second quarter. He boomed four punts over 50 yards, including three straight 62-yarders.

Rockin’ D

SMU’s defense held Tulsa to 322 total yards, 216 through the air. The ‘Cane’s 13 points were a season low, save for a shut-out loss to Oklahoma.

True freshman linebacker Ja’Gared Davis, in his first start, was SMU’s leading tackler, with nine stops. “Coach [Jones] told me to just go out there and play my game, play fast, play hard, hit hard,” Davis said.

Davis, who had a monster hit at TCU, rocked Tulsa’s Charles Clay in the fourth quarter.

“It makes me feel better,” Davis said of the eye-poppers. “It gets me more into the game. And I know it also gets our crowd and my teammates into the game.”

The 6-1, 206-pound Davis said the offense’s strong finish was huge for SMU’s D. “We always knew they had it in them,” he said. “We just knew the defense had to keep doing what we had to do until the offense came along.”


Ja'Gared Davis (56) zeroes in on Tulsa's G.J. Kinne.

Parham made some plays moving down the line to cut down Tulsa runners looking for the corner. “We worked on that a lot this week,” Parham said. “In practice, our scout team did a good job simulating them running down the line. So I knew if I could stay flat, I could go make the play.”

“I was proud of the guys,” Jones said. “The defense really did a great job of holding in there in the first half when we were kind of feeling our way. … [Safety] Bryce Hudman made a lot of plays in the third and fourth quarters.”

Jacob Bower came in for ‘Cane starting quarterback G.J. Kinne in the second quarter and quickly led Tulsa 76 yards for the game’s first touchdown.

“We let them hit a couple of big plays,” said Jones. “That was really about the only time that they made a couple of plays. We just kind of unraveled there for a second, but we quickly got it back and played better.”

Tulsa Tarnished

Front-row fans at Tulsa are extremely close to the field, perhaps four feet from players in the bench areas. Heckling from a handful of young white Tulsa fans turned ugly late in the game when racial slurs were directed at specific SMU players and staff.

The situation got so bad in the fourth quarter that Jones asked a Tulsa policeman on the sidelines for assistance. “There was some stuff behind the bench that I did think was going to get out of hand before long,” Jones said. “I just told him to try to get those guys to either get out of there or I could see something happen.”

The cop stood near the offending fans for a time but soon moved on. Later, the racial comments returned in a big way. Police were called over again and, as the game ended, one miscreant was finally escorted from the stadium.

Tulsa now moves into the top spot in my latest BCS (Brazenly Classless Suckers) standings, leapfrogging Texas Tech for its students’ F-bomb chant directed at SMU players’ parents in Lubbock in 2006.

Up next for SMU: woeful 0-8 Rice and it’s Homecoming for the Mustangs.

Last in total offense in C-USA and tenth in total defense, the Owls straggle to SMU’s doorstep at the perfect time - statement time - and the Mustangs seem poised to deliver.

SMU, 38-13.


Shawnbrey McNeal had 114 all-purpose yards on the day.

Notes:
*Interceptions by Bryan McCann and Chase Kennemer pushed SMU’s C-USA-leading total to 15.
*Margus Hunt’s blocked PAT is his fourth block this season, (two PATS, two field goals), tying SMU’s season-record set by Chad Patton in 1992.
*Aldrick Robinson led SMU receivers with five catches for 104 yards.
*The Mustangs’ 3-1 league mark is their best start since opening 4-0 in 1986.

great write up

Thanks Mr. Pony. Don't forget to post the link so we can give you guys some hits.

Tulsa Tarnished

Front-row fans at Tulsa are extremely close to the field, perhaps four feet from players in the bench areas. Heckling from a handful of young white Tulsa fans turned ugly late in the game when racial slurs were directed at specific SMU players and staff.

The situation got so bad in the fourth quarter that Jones asked a Tulsa policeman on the sidelines for assistance. “There was some stuff behind the bench that I did think was going to get out of hand before long,” Jones said. “I just told him to try to get those guys to either get out of there or I could see something happen.”

The cop stood near the offending fans for a time but soon moved on. Later, the racial comments returned in a big way. Police were called over again and, as the game ended, one miscreant was finally escorted from the stadium.

Tulsa now moves into the top spot in my latest BCS (Brazenly Classless Suckers) standings, leapfrogging Texas Tech for its students’ F-bomb chant directed at SMU players’ parents in Lubbock in 2006.
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I saw June talking to that cop, and he walked over to our bench for less than a minute, and then left.

nice pictures!

Wow. That was a great recap for those who weren't at the game. Nice pictures as well. Our O-line definitely is looking bigger than it has in past years.

As for that guy who got thrown out, its too bad someone didn't beat the faux-hawk off that guy. No class

ALEX LIFESON wrote:Tulsa Tarnished

Front-row fans at Tulsa are extremely close to the field, perhaps four feet from players in the bench areas. Heckling from a handful of young white Tulsa fans turned ugly late in the game when racial slurs were directed at specific SMU players and staff.

The situation got so bad in the fourth quarter that Jones asked a Tulsa policeman on the sidelines for assistance. “There was some stuff behind the bench that I did think was going to get out of hand before long,” Jones said. “I just told him to try to get those guys to either get out of there or I could see something happen.”

The cop stood near the offending fans for a time but soon moved on. Later, the racial comments returned in a big way. Police were called over again and, as the game ended, one miscreant was finally escorted from the stadium.

Tulsa now moves into the top spot in my latest BCS (Brazenly Classless Suckers) standings, leapfrogging Texas Tech for its students’ F-bomb chant directed at SMU players’ parents in Lubbock in 2006.
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I saw June talking to that cop, and he walked over to our bench for less than a minute, and then left.

That is terrible.

Great write-up and pics. Thanks!

Wow didn't know about the racial stuff. You stay classy Tulsa.

As if I needed another reason to dislike that place... inexcusable.

I like to sit behind people like that Can you say sleepy town?

There's no place for racial stuff. Heck the Tulsa players ought to talk to their fans about that. I mean if I'm JJ recruiting against Graham for a top flight African American player, I roll the tape and ask, is that where you want to go? Let Graham explain that away.

Back in 2004 or so I drove to a game in Tulsa. Some of the worst fans. Trashy, trying to start fights, and not even creative in their insults.

Maybe he is still angry from when Willis punched him.