SMU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell looks for an escape route before getting tackled by Southern Mississippi’s Justin Wilson in the final game of the season last Saturday at Ford Stadium. The Mustangs finished 1-11 for the second season in a row. (Lindsey Perkins)

Another SMU football season is in the books, and it once again leaves a bad taste in fans’ mouths.

After last season’s 1-11 record, the firing of Phil Bennett and the hiring of June Jones brought high expectations. But that was not to be. The season once again made fans ask, what went wrong? And hope for a better year next season.

Jones didn’t have a silent entrance to SMU. He brought in a recruiting class of 28 players, including some who had agreed to play at Hawaii for Jones and moved to SMU with him.

During spring football, two-year starting quarterback Justin Willis was suspended and was not even considered for the starting role. That was a decision that came between two true freshmen, Bo Levi Mitchell and Braden Smith.

Mitchell ended up getting the nod from Jones, with Logan Turner named as backup.

The season got off to a rocky start, and didn’t get much better as the year went on.

Rice: L, 56-27

After getting out to an early 13-0 lead in Houston, the Mustangs scored just 14 points the rest of the game. Meanwhile, the Owls’ offense racked up 56 points, and SMU lost its 11th straight game dating back to 2007.

Mitchell threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions in his collegiate debut.

“It’s all about learning from your mistakes,” Mitchell said after the game. “It’s ignorant to sit there and go out there and make the same mistakes, so we’re not going to do that.”

SMU did make the same mistakes in week two, but managed to get away with it.

Texas State: W, 47-36

Mitchell threw for 370 yards and five touchdowns in his best game of the season. But the defense gave up 465 yards and 36 points to Texas State.

“Glad to get a first win for sure, we’ve got a long way to go though,” Jones said after the game.

And there was a long way to go, with 10 games left, the Mustangs wouldn’t get another win.

Texas Tech: L, 43-7

For the sixth time in seven seasons, SMU played the Red Raiders. And for the sixth time, Tech got the best of the Mustangs.

One week after his best game of the season, Mitchell had his worst. He threw no touchdowns and five interceptions against Texas Tech.

That included his first pass of the game and his fourth pass of the second drive.

“Yeah, [Mitchell] 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 after the game. “I thought the offensive line did some good things but I thought that we didn’t do anything offensively good enough to win.”

The Mustangs had just 61 yards rushing against Tech, but that would be more than their season average.

TCU: L, 48-7

In 2005, the Mustangs shocked TCU, in 2006 the game was close with TCU edging the Mustangs out, in 2008 it wasn’t even a game.

The Horned Frogs would score on their first two drives of the game, getting the ball off turnovers each time: the first off a fumble and the second off an interception.

TCU had a 34-0 lead before the Mustangs finally reached the end zone on a four-yard pass from Mitchell to Cole Loftin.

But TCU would score two more touchdowns to finish the Mustangs off. It was the second game in a row the SMU offense would score just one time.

Tulane: L, 34-27

The Mustangs returned to the place of their last road win in 2006, but did not find the same success.

SMU was down 31-7 at halftime before the offense got going. The Mustangs went on to score 20 points in the second half to get within a touchdown, but they ran out of time.

The leading rusher for the Mustangs was punter Thomas Morstead, who ran for 34 yards on a fake punt on SMU’s first drive.

UCF: L, 31-17

For the second week in a row, the Mustangs played well enough on the road to get a win. But only for a half.

After a strong second half in New Orleans, SMU played a solid first half in Orlando to go into the locker room tied 10-10.

But the Knights scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and another in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

The highlight of the game was a 94-yard touchdown pass from Mitchell to Aldrick Robinson early in the fourth quarter, but Mitchell also threw three interceptions in the game.

Tulsa: L, 37-31

The Mustangs played their best game of the season against the 6-0 Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

SMU led for most of the game, but an interception led to Tulsa’s final touchdown of the game. The Mustangs would have two more possessions to win the game, but they were forced to punt the first time and turned the ball over on downs after a fourth-and-two incomplete pass from the Tulsa 26-yard line.

The Mustangs had a chance on third down of that drive, but Mitchell’s pass tipped off Cole Beasley’s hands in the end zone and forced the fourth down.

Houston: L, 44-38

SMU played a solid three quarters against the Cougars, but it all fell apart in the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs shut Houston out in the first quarter and took a 21-14 lead into halftime and a 35-23 lead into the fourth quarter. SMU could only manage a field goal in the fourth, while Houston scored three touchdowns to get the win.

The game winner came with just 24 seconds left.

Navy: L 34-7

SMU was held to just seven points for the third time of the season on a rainy day in Annapolis, Md.

Mitchell threw for 157 yards, a touchdown and an interception, but got no help from the running game. Bryce Lunday led all rushers with 24 yards, and the Mustangs finished the game with -13 yards on the ground.

Navy didn’t have to even attempt a pass to put points on the board. For the first time in 11 seasons, a major college football team did not throw a pass.

But 404 rushing yards was all the Midshipmen would need to score 34 points, more than enough to take care of SMU.

Memphis: L, 31-26

In SMU’s homecoming game, Mitchell played for just more than a quarter due to an injury after attempting just seven passes, one a 53-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders. Turner came in to finish the game, throwing for 228 yards and two touchdowns.

After Memphis took a 14-0 lead, the Mustangs fought back and cut it to 21-20. But the Tigers would pull away.

“Everybody’s frustrated, but somebody’s got to step up and make a play,” Jones said. “But somebody’s got to make one.”

UTEP: L, 36-10

The Mustangs were without key offensive power for the second straight trip to El Paso. In 2006, SMU played without quarterback Justin Willis. This season they were without top two receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Aldrick Robinson and the offense suffered.

After a Morstead field goal on SMU’s first drive of the game they didn’t score again until a 27-yard pass from Turner to Bradley Haynes with just more than 10 minutes left in the game.

Southern Miss: L, 28-12

The Mustangs defense played their best half of football to start the game against the Golden Eagles holding them to just seven points. With the help of two Morstead field goals the Mustangs were down by one at halftime.

But the third quarter led to 14 points for Southern Miss as the Mustangs were only able to gain six yards in the quarter, put no points on the board and turned the ball over leading to a Southern Miss touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Looking Ahead

The Mustangs return the core of the players, many of whom were freshmen and got valuable playing time this season.

“A lot of people just really, honestly need to step up and say ‘hey let’s go win the ball game,'” Mitchell said after the season finale. “I think there’s too many people that are OK with losing and we got to get rid of that.”

Either way, the Mustangs have back-to-back 11-1 seasons with a different coach, a different offense and a different quarterback. June cameth this season, but it might take another year for the team to catch up.