In a season that has been as insane as this, the final seconds at Gerald J. Ford Stadium might not surprise anyone.
With the Mustangs holding onto a 42-40 lead with just seconds remaining, Rice ran one final play, or so SMU thought.
The Owls’ Justin Hill ran for six yards and it appeared the Mustangs had just their second win of the season. The SMU players ran onto the field as the game clock hit zero.
But head referee RG Detillier said Rice was able to call a timeout with one second remaining on the clock.
That decision allowed Rice to lineup for a 31-yard field-goal attempt that Clark Fangmeier was able to just sneak in by the left upright to win the game for Rice, 43-42.
“The clock ran out, believe me,” said head coach Phil Bennett. “The guy kept running, the play went longer than [the refs] thought.”
But in a game when the Mustangs held a 42-27 lead in the third quarter, the game was not lost in the final seconds.
Once again SMU had costly turnovers than led to points to the opponent.
“It’s brutal,” Bennett said. “We had chances to make plays. We didn’t make the plays to win the game.”
Justin Willis threw two interceptions in the first half, both of which were returned for touchdowns. Those two plays nullified the two touchdown passes Willis threw to Zack Sledge. Sledge finished the game with three touchdown catches and now has five in the past two games.
DeMyron Martin found his running game in the first quarter, but then couldn’t continue it through the rest of the game.
Martin, who rushed for 115 yards on five carries in the first quarter, ran for just 22 yards on 11 carries in the last three quarters.
The Mustangs went into halftime down 27-21, but came out in the third quarter and scored 21 points while shutting out Rice to take a 42-27 lead into the fourth.
“Our resiliency has been obvious, but our success has been evident also,” Bennett said. “The whole goal is to win, find a way to win.”
The 16 points the Mustangs allowed in the fourth quarter were enough to lose another close game at Ford Stadium.
Kicker Thomas Morstead continued his unusual inconsistency as he missed field goals from 49 yards and 46 yards away.
“You look at the games, bless his heart, the UTEP game and the Tulane game, he just hit the pole on one and you just never know what play is going to decide a game,” Bennett said.
There were a lot of new faces that found their way on to the field due to a SMU defense that has been marred by injuries and absent players.
“There’s going to be some opportunities for guys who have not played to play, just like [Saturday],” Bennett said.
Bryce Hudman and Damon Hurst did not see playing time due to injuries, Charlie Berry was injured during the game, Serge Elizee has been indefinitely suspended from the team for a violation of team rules, and Ryan Leonard is academically ineligible for the remainder of the season.
The beaten and broken Mustangs will have to put another tough loss behind them as they play UCF next week.
“They will do what we ask them do to, they will follow our example,” Bennett said. “I’m going to come in tomorrow and coach the s*** out of them.”
Kickoff is Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
