The first play of the game for the Mustangs was indicative of the rest of Saturday night’s 43-7 loss to No. 12 Texas Tech.
Unfortunately, that play was an interception as SMU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell over-threw his intended receiver and the ball ended up in Tech’s hands. That led to a Donnie Carona field goal. The Red Raiders never looked back.
After looking better against Texas State, Mitchell appeared to take a step backwards in his progression going on to throw four more interceptions and no touchdowns.
“[Mitchell’s] got to learn how to play the game, and he’s not going to learn standing over there by me,” head coach June Jones said. “Every quarterback that’s ever played the game has had one of those days, and when I thought he’d had enough, I took him out.”
That finally came with three and a half minutes left in the third quarter when backup quarterback Logan Turner replaced him.
“Yeah, he didn’t do the things he needed to do, yet at the same time, I don’t think we gave him a whole lot of help either,” Jones said. “I thought the offensive line did some good things but I thought that we didn’t do anything offensively good enough to win.”
Due to a missed extra point, a failed two-point conversion attempt and a missed field goal, the Mustangs were down 22-0 at halftime. SMU couldn’t get anything going offensively and the defense couldn’t do enough to stop the aggressive Red Raider offense.
Four of the five Tech touchdowns were on plays of more than 40 yards, two of which were passes to Michael Crabtree.
Turnovers have been a big part of SMU football so far this season. Against Rice the Mustangs turned the ball over five times and ended up losing. Against Texas State the Mustangs forced five turnovers and got the win. Once again against Tech, SMU turned the ball over five times- more than enough for the Red Raiders.
“Bo is going to be a great quarterback,” wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders said. “It’s a process, champions aren’t made over night. It’s the progress that feels the best. It’s just growing pains, for all of us, it’s not just Bo Levi Mitchell, it’s this whole team.”
The Mustangs will have a lot to work on before next week’s matchup against TCU in the Battle for the Iron Skillet.
