Tulsa suffers a 45-34 loss to SMU on Homecoming

With so many recent games in the series between TU and SMU being so close, there was no way anybody saw this coming.

Tulsa was defeated in every facet of the game by a previously mediocre SMU on Homecoming, as SMU defeated Tulsa 45-34 Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 22,993 at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

It was ugly, literally, from the beginning, in a game that wasn't nearly as close for most of the game as the final score would indicate.

On the first play from scrimmage, SMU star receiver Rashee Rice was wide open on a long pass. After catching it, it looked like it was an easy tackle around 20 yards from the end zone.

But in a snapshot of the game, Rice shed TU tacklers like rag dolls. Rice, who was tied with TU's Keylon Stokes for second in the nation in receiving yards coming into the game, finished with 9 catches for 180 yards and 2 TD's.

The poor tackling would be a killer for Tulsa all game long. Tulsa simply had trouble tackling SMU. Time after time, different SMU players would drag Tulsa tacklers or completely shrug them off.

"Defensively, explosive plays hurt us early," said TU coach Philip Montgomery. "Just comes down to making tackles."

Even after SMU (4-4, 2-2) lost their quarterback Preston Stone, when it was up 21-7 midway through the second quarter, the Ponies kept rolling. With their third string QB playing, true freshman Kevin Jennings, the onslaught increased.

Down 24-7 at half, Tulsa scored on the first possession of the second half on a 1-yard run on 4th down by quarterback Braylon Braxton, in then as a situational sub. After a blocked extra point, Tulsa was down only 24-13.

But again, the defense couldn't hold, and it was soon 31-13.

Stone was having an incredible game when he went down after scrambling. Regular starting QB Tanner Mordecai was out with a concussion suffered in the Mustangs' previous game, a 29-27 loss to Cincinnnati.

Jennings led the Mustangs on a long drive that was capped by a 34-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.

Tulsa (3-5, 1-3) scored on a gutty 21-yard run by Davis Brin where he got flipped around, doing a near 360 in mid-air at the goal line, to narrow the margin to 31-20 midway through the third quarter.

Brin was lost for the game on that play due to injury, and when SMU scored again on the next series, it was 38-20. Braxton entered on the next series, and a fumble was returned for a touchdown by SMU.

Down 45-20 with 55 seconds left in the third quarter. Game over. Well, not quite yet.

Braxton's 50-yard strike to Stokes with 14:24 left in the fourth quarter narrowed the margin to 45-27. When Jordan Ford caught a 9-yard TD pass in the flat from Braxton with 8:08 remaining, it was 45-34, and game on.

"Braylon did a nice job," Montgomery said.

Tulsa even had 1st-and-goal at the SMU 8-yard-line on the next possession. But two huge losses on running plays, and a missed 44-yard field goal with 3:55 pretty much sealed Tulsa's fate.

"Hard fought game. Just dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first half," Montgomery said. "Had some opportunities late, but just couldn't finish it off."

Braxton finished 8 of 14 for 120 yards and 2 TD passes, while Brin was held to 7 of 16 for 96 yards. For SMU, Jennings was a solid 8 of 11 for 91 yards.

Although Rice won both the stat battle and game against Stokes' team, Stokes was good as usual, catching 5 passes for 122 yards.

"We started off slow. We've got to stop doing that," Stokes said.