UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas _ Memphis used two timeouts to try and ice Chris Naggar on his 43-yard field goal. It was going to be the longest field gal for SMU in the last couple seasons. The longest field goal of Naggar's career.
SMU scored just six points in the second half. But the final three off the leg of Chris Naggar iced a massive 30-27 win for the Mustangs. He wasn't deterred by the attempt to throw him off. His kick sailed well high through the uprights.
And with it, SMU had the biggest win of the season, a 4-0 start, and an early lead in the AAC standings against defending league champion and No. 25 Memphis.
"I had no doubt that it was going in," Naggar said after the game. "He could have called 17 more timeouts, I felt great."
SMU did lose Reggie Roberson Jr. and TJ McDaniel to injury in this game, both to seemingly serious injuries. But Shane Buechele was still great in the final drive, and throughout the day. He had 474 yards in the air. He was second on the team with 27 rushing yards.
SMU raced out to a massive lead, much like it had in its last two games. It was thanks in large part to two huge touchdown throws from Shane Buechele to Reggie Roberson Jr.
The first was a deep air out, and Roberson beat the cornerback with ease. The next was a short throw, but Roberson blew past the defenders with the ball in-hand. Those two came after a Danny Gray TD. It was a 21-point lead after just five minutes had passed in the second quarter.
Roberson Jr. vas vintage. He was at his very best. And then the injury sent his entire season into some form of uncertainty. Dykes said he didn't know the severity of his injury.
"You hate to see that," Buechele said. "With the game that he was having, and just the season he was going to have. I don't know the severity of his injury, I was about to go check on him."
SMU's blowout-to-be wasn't what happened, though, as Memphis stormed back quickly. It closed the first half with a career-long 56-yard field goal from Riley Patterson, after two touchdowns had narrowed the deficit.
This was SMU's first true test of the season. It was able to sneak past an inferior Texas State team despite playing less than its best. It obliterated North Texas. Then it did the same, but worse to Stephen F. Austin.
Memphis is the conference's defending American Athletic Conference champions. And while it may have missed the last two games with a COVID-19 outbreak, it still has a roster worthy of a national ranking.
It appeared SMU would have no ease turning the tide in a rivalry that it wasn't won in since 2013. And it appeared it would be able to shift the dynamic at the top of the conference with a statement.
But the Mustangs' offense didn't have the same pep without Roberson Jr. or RB TJ McDaniel, who was injured on the first play of the game.
In the second-to-last offensive drive for the Mustangs, the offense effectively tried to take the last shot. It let the clock run when it could, attempting to score and have as little time left to play. But three straight passes fell incomplete and Memphis got the ball back with 3:19 to play.
Then after Memphis got the ball back and tried to the exactly the same thing. But SMU DL Junior Aho had the biggest play of his young career, and forced a fumble to get SMU the ball back 85 ticks on the clock.
That was enough to set up that fateful final kick. And it was enough to get SMU a win it's long found elusive.
