BOCA RATON, Fla. _ The ball was just sitting there for Rashaad Smith to pick up and run unhindered. SMU's offense had its share of flubs on the afternoon. Six procedural penalties and a thrown interception.
QB Shane Buechele had missed his targets consistently. But this time, it was a fumble by RB Ke'Mon Freeman, and his mistake left the football on the turf _ and FAU's Smith had the quickest route to it. He picked it up, ran 34 yards to his end zone, completely unhindered.
FAU previously had two touchdowns in 24 seconds. These two touchdowns came within about two minutes. SMU was officially getting blown out _ a fact that didn't change in a 52-28 Boca Raton Bowl loss.
Shane Buechele was 27 of 47 for 304 yards, a touchdown and an interception _ and that's with FAU's top tackler out of the game. Meanwhile, FAU QB Chris Robison was 27 of 37 and 305 yards _ and that's with its two leading receivers not playing.
The two FAU touchdowns in the span of 24 seconds came in the final minute of the first half, and changed the tenor of a game where points appeared to be coming at a premium. James Charles ran in a 15-yard TD, evading two SMU tackles that failed to bring down the running back, despite having him partially wrapped up.
Then on SMU's first play after getting the ball back, Buechele threw a pick to Smith, who zig-zagged around the field until he picked up 22 yards. The very next play, Robison found Brandon Robinson for a 15-yard score.
All of a sudden, it went from a tie game to a doubling-up of the Mustangs.
Xavier Jones had a pair of one-yard TD runs, to finish the year with 23 _ more than 10 FBS teams, including Georgia, Notre Dame, Louisville and Houston. He finished his career with 45, which is just two shy of Eric Dickerson and Zach Line for the all-time record.
Outside of those two second-quarter runs, though, the Mustangs offense hardly got anything going. Proche was targeted 15 times, but made just eight catches. Not through any fault of his own, several of his one-on-one breakaway runs resulted in overthrown passes.
The Boca Raton Bowl won't be what defines this season for SMU. A 10-win season _ the first since 1984, will be how this group is remembered. But SMU did lose its final three road games of the year, and hasn't beat a team currently with a winning record since Oct. 19.
And there wasn't a game this season in which SMU looked as non-competitive as it did in this game. Its two previous losses were one-score games, competitive until the very end. As the rain started driving across the field midway through the third quarter, it was clear SMU had no chance to win the game.
