SMU’s Blake Warren goes horizontal into the endzone for a touchdown to lock-up SMU’s victory over Tulsa on Saturday. The win made the Mustangs bowl eligible, but SMU needs a win over Rice this Saturday to ensure a bowl berth.

Someone forgot to inform the Mustangs that there are two halves to a football game on Saturday.

Just one week after dominating the division champions, Houston, in the first half, and then being outscored by 20 points in the second half, the Mustangs showed up for only one half of football again.

This time SMU chose the second half, and the half they played was nearly flawless.

“[The defense] didn’t execute, I think a bunch of us were trying way too hard,” said senior safety Joe Sturdivant.

Going into the locker room down 24-7 and only running 16 plays on offense, the Mustangs found the spark they needed in the locker room.

SMU received a little motivation from the Golden Hurricane locker room when some Mustang players “heard some of their kids talking ‘they’re sorry…they’re sorry’ and I think it motivated some of our kids at halftime,” said head coach Phil Bennett.

There was also an internal motivator. “Brandon Bonds made an inspiring speech at halftime,” said senior wide receiver Reynaldo Pellerin.

And in the second half, the Mustangs got it all to click.

After allowing 276 yards by the Tulsa offense in the first half, the Mustangs’ defense allowed only 80 yards in the second half. That included only 19 second half rushing yards after a 107-yard first half.

The Mustangs had an offensive turnaround of their own. After gaining 108 yards on only 16 plays in the first half, SMU got the ball more often and moved it effectively. Thirty-seven second-half plays yielded 261 second-half yards. And the yards turned into 27 points.

As the Mustangs were able to get control of the ball, the points came with it.

In the first quarter the Mustangs only had the ball for just under three minutes and scored no points, in the second quarter the Mustangs had the ball for five minutes and scored seven points, in the third quarter the Mustangs had the ball for seven and a half minutes and scored 12 points and finally scored 15 points in the fourth quarter while having the ball for more than 10 minutes.

The Golden Hurricane jumped on the Mustangs early, scoring 10 points before SMU got its second possession.

The second Mustang possession was more productive than the first, going 80 yards in eight plays capped off by a Justin Willis touchdown pass to senior Bobby Chase.

The Mustangs proceeded to give up two more touchdowns before the half ended.

The second half brought around some changes.

It was a “tale of two halves, plain and simple,” said Bennett. “Our kids refused to lose. [Tulsa] got on us the first half.”

The second half belonged to the Mustangs.

SMU had the ball seven times in the second half and scored five times. The final possession was used to run out the clock.

Kicker Thomas Morstead improved to 11 of 15 on field goals, connecting on two crucial kicks from 35 and 47 yards, respectively. Morstead’s two field goals opened up the scoring for the Mustangs in the second half and brought SMU to within 11 points.

The Mustangs went on to score three touchdowns on their next three possessions.

A touchdown pass to Pellerin, a Willis 6-yard run, and a 14-yard run by Blake Warren finished off a 17-point comeback for the Mustangs.

Willis’ 28 touchdowns is a new school record and Warren’s three punt returns moved him into first place all time, and is just 26 return yards from breaking Doak Walker’s record of 750 yards.

“We’ve built ourselves out of pride,” said Sturdivant, “and after [Sunday] we have another fight, everything we do is fighting to the end.”

But as Willis said, “if it ain’t hard it’s not SMU football,” and added if the Mustangs can get to a bowl “it’s a sign of more to come for the SMU Mustangs.”

The Mustangs’ sixth win makes them 6-5 and bowl eligible for the first time since their final record was 6-5 in 1997.

With one game left to play, SMU can secure a bowl bid with a victory in Houston against Rice this weekend.