For the past two weeks the Mustangs had played only one solid half of football, the first against Houston and the second against Tulsa. On Saturday the Mustangs could only muster up one quarter of consistency, losing to the Rice Owls, 31-27.

The Mustangs came out flat for the second week in a row on Saturday afternoon. Coming into Houston with a chance to do two things SMU hasn’t done in over 20 years, beat Rice in Houston and get to a bowl game. They failed on one, and may have lost their shot at the other.

The Mustangs got off to a ominous start when Bryan McCann fumbled the opening kick-off and gave the Owls a short field to work with, but a the 38-yard field goal attempt went wide right.aSMU continued its first quarter struggle with two more turnovers. Quarterback Justin Willis fumbled once and threw an interception, and Rice gained a 17-point lead.

But the Mustangs did what they have done all season long, comeback.

At UTEP it was too little too late, as SMU fell 24-21, the Mustangs also came back last week against Tulsa after falling behind by 17 at halftime. This time it was too little, too soon, as the Mustangs could only score three-second half points.

“They made more plays than we did, [wide receiver Jarett] Dillard made a couple of great catches, we made plays and played our butts off, but they made plays when they needed to make plays, said defensive end Justin Rogers.

The Mustangs piled up 104 total offense yards in the second quarter, and posted 24 points on the scoreboard to spring a miraculous comeback.

But the Mustangs couldn’t hold on as the Owls took the opening drive of the second half into the end zone.

The Mustangs fought all game, but had chances that could have brought touchdowns that ended in field goals.

At the end of the first half the Mustangs had the ball at the Rice one-yard line, but lost the field position and had to settle for a 33-yard Thomas Morstead field goal.

The Mustangs again had the ball at the Rice one-yard line, this time it was a 25-yard field goal for Morstead.

The Mustangs lost more than a football game Saturday, they lost a guaranteed bowl bid.

In order for SMU to make a bowl game things have to fall into place. SMU’s controlled its own destiny, “this was our shot, and we let it slip away. We had our destiny in our hands and we lost it,” said senior Justin Rogers.

Head coach Phil Bennett did not speak to the media after the game because he went to the hospital to have his shoulder X-rayed after he was trampled on the sideline at the end of the first half. Bennett was examined at half time and wore a sling during the second half.