After a 42-31 Conference USA game victory over Rice last weekend, the SMU Mustangs stampede home to Gerald J. Ford Stadium to take on C-USA competition, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday.
Both teams are coming off of wins last weekend.
Last Saturday, Tulsa’s powerhouse defense embarrassed the Memphis Tigers 48-7, with four turnovers for 13 points in the first half at the Tigers’ Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Tulsa’s win over Memphis was its first road win since Rice nearly a year ago on Oct. 3, 2009.
It was also the third time this year that the Tulsa offensive racked up more than 40 points.
Hurricane quarterback G.J. Kinne completed 18 of 31 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns for the win.
Kinne, a junior, transferred to Tulsa from the University of Texas in 2008. Last season, Kinne completed 61 percent of his passes for 2,732 yards and 22 touchdowns. He also had 95 consecutive pass attempts before throwing an interception against SMU last year.
At the SMU vs. Rice game last Saturday, SMU quarterback Kyle Padron completed 24 of 32 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns on Rice turf.
Padron completed 395 total offensive yards against the Owls (371 passing, 24 rushing), ranking 11th all-time in a game for SMU.
This earned Padron Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. He was also named one of the Manning Award’s five national Stars of the Week.
This is the 18th time that Tulsa and SMU will compete. SMU defeated the Golden Hurricane 27-13 in Tulsa’s last season.
Padron made his quarterback debut last year against Tulsa. He completed 20 of 30 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns for the best quarterback debut in SMU history.
“This is the best SMU team that we’ve played. We have to go in there and make sure that we take care of the football and know that it’s going to be a big challenge for us,” said Tulsa head Coach Todd Graham in a press conference on Monday.
The Golden Hurricane is currently 3-2 on the season and 1-1 on conference play. The Mustangs are tied with the University of Houston atop the C-USA West Division 2-0, and are also 3-2 on the season.
Kick off is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
