UNIVERSITY PARK — In the coming days, Nielsen can tell us exactly how many people actually watched No. 21 SMU’s game against Tulane on Thursday, but in theory, a primetime game on ESPN provided the Mustangs — a team not accustomed to the national spotlight — a chance for a showcase.
With this rare opportunity, would the Mustangs look like the undefeated team they were on paper? Or would the inconsistencies that have sometimes hampered SMU become a point of national skepticism?
On the primetime stage, No. 21 SMU left no doubt about the answer.
The Mustangs came off the bye week, raced out to a dominant first half, and cruised to a 55-26 win over Tulane.
SMU, one of 10 undefeated FBS teams left in the country, moved to 7-0 for the second time in three seasons.
After SMU’s win over Navy on Oct. 9, SMU senior defensive tackle Mike Williams said the Mustangs needed to eliminate slow starts, a part of their game that had made things close against the Midshipmen and Louisiana Tech before.
“We know when we play our best football we can play with anyone in the country,” Williams said.
A game against a 1-5 Tulane team — even one that almost upset undefeated Oklahoma in Week 1 — might not be the best representation of that potential, but the Mustangs looked the part during Thursday’s first half. SMU raced out to a 31-7 lead at the half and had 400 total yards — 269 more than Tulane did. SMU finished with 612 total yards.
“I thought our guys played the best first half of football we’ve played all year.”
The Mustangs’ defense also carried the momentum it had from Navy over the bye week, forcing a three-and-out on Tulane’s opening drive. Tulane went 5-for-17 combined on third and fourth down against SMU’s defense. Oregon transfer linebacker Isaac Slade-Matautia had his second interception of the season, and it was the only turnover the entire game Saturday.
“I thought defensively we had a bunch of key stops when they really had the chance to get back in the game,” head coach Sonny Dykes said.
Next week, SMU will head to Houston where a share of the conference lead will be up for grabs. That game, as well, will be on the national stage, even if it’s ESPN2 this time around. Television information for the games after, including a possible American Athletic Conference title game, has yet to be determined.
At multiple points this season Dykes has said he doesn’t care about how many AP Top 25 votes his No. 21 team gets. But after the win over TCU earlier this year, he also added this explanation for why he feels that way: “I don’t think half the people that vote look at our scores,” he said.
That might be the case, but if an AP voter decided to turn on ESPN on Thursday, they would’ve seen an undefeated SMU team that looked the part.
