UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas — SMU finally did what it was supposed to do on Thursday night. Something it has been trying to do all season.
That is, it soundly beat an American Athletic Conference opponent in a complete showing, putting the game away by halftime and actually looking the part its No. 21 ranking.
Sure, it was a 55-26 win against Tulane — a team that is now 1-6 and has lost its last four games by an average of 25 points.
But a 29-point win in a standalone game on ESPN is something SMU will take against anyone at this point. Especially after it slogged through Navy and got off to a slow start against USF in its first two conference games.
“I thought we played our best half of football, in the first half, all season,” SMU head coach Sonny Dykes said. “We looked fast. We were crisp. And the defense looked really good.”
SMU, from the onset, jumped out in front of Tulane. It scored on each of its first four drives. By halftime, Tanner Mordecai threw for 300 yards.
As Mordecai walked into the end zone at the end of the first quarter for a three-yard rushing touchdown, giving SMU a 17-0 lead, the game already was teetering on the edge of a blowout.
A 22-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Roberson Jr. two drives later, which gave SMU a 31-7 advantage right before the half, officially put the game out of reach as SMU oscillated between backups for the rest of the night.
Mordecai finished with 427 yards passing and accounted for four touchdowns. Danny Gray finished with 140 yards receiving. Grant Calcaterra chipped in 90 yards receiving and converted on multiple third downs.
“There was a better energy,” SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai said. “We were just bouncing around. I feel like everybody was ready to get after it after not playing last weekend.”
There was a feeling, too, that SMU needed a win like Thursday night. Despite a 7-0 start to the season, an unblemished record was lacking a consistent approach. It is why SMU, even as it has its second best start to the season since The Death Penalty, remained No. 21 in the national polls.
And to make matters more urgent, SMU is heading into the toughest part of its schedule. It will play Houston on the road next week, a game that will decide a share of the conference lead. It will then see Memphis on the road and UCF at home before a much anticipated game at No. 2 Cincinnati.
So, a convincing win will calm the waters ahead of a season-defining stretch. Especially as the offense started to round into form and the defense, at least for one night, did not have any glaring holes.
The offense calmly churned out seven third down conversions and two fourth downs, a stat that hampered in the past. It produced over 600 yards of offense.
As for the defense, it came up with stops every chance Tulane had to come within two possessions of the lead. That included thwarting a would-be touchdown from Tulane in the third quarter on a fake field goal attempt. Tulane’s wide receiver Will Wallace had the ball in his hands as he fell near the goal line, but Shaine Hailey knocked it out to save the point.
“Our defense really, to me, that was a game winning effort, [that stop] on fourth down,” Dykes said.
There will be tougher ground ahead. It was a game against Tulane on a Thursday night. But it didn’t change that SMU needed this win, in this fashion.
“I say over and over again, we know we got to play better. Houston is going to be a big challenge for us next week. But we are looking forward to hopefully playing on the national stage,” Dykes said.
And this week brought it one step closer.
