SMU downs Tulane 37-20; Both Teams Looking Ahead to Bowl Season

SMU and Tulane closed out their regular season schedules on Saturday both eyeing bowl bids this week.

SMU opened the scoring early in the first quarter with a beautiful TD catch from Myron Gailliard and led the whole game ending with a final score of 37-20 over the Green Wave.

Following an athletic interception from Tulane Safety Larry Brooks and a subsequent Tulane fumble, Shane Buechele connected with Kylen Granson to extend the SMU lead to 14-0.

The SMU special teams made a difference Saturday blocking a field goal and later on recovering a muffed punt deep inside Tulane territory.

Xavier Jones showed out with 125 yards rushing on just 18 carries and 2 TDs. Jones averaged an impressive 6.9 yards per carry and scored on a 38 yard TD run to put the Mustangs ahead big mid-way through the 4th quarter.

Shane Buechele only threw for 180 yards but tossed 3 TDs and made some pretty impressive throws throughout the night, most notably his first TD to Gailliard and also his TD toss to Proche in the second half. Shane Buechele impressed with his ability to hit receivers at all levels downfield.

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

SMU Safety Patrick Nelson played well ending the game with 10 tackles (3.5 TFL) and 2 sacks.

SMU gave up lots of chunk plays to Tulane who ended with 465 total yards on Saturday. Tulane hung tough most of the game and actually out-gained SMU by 88 total yards. Tulane RB’s Corey Dauphine and Cameron Carroll both scored for Tulane in an impressive ground attack from the Green Wave rushing attack that totaled 223 yards rushing.

SMU has finished 3rd in the AAC West just ahead of Tulane. Both teams will be watching this week for bowl bids before next week. Unfortunately for SMU it won’t be a NY6 bowl this year as speculated earlier in the season but a 10 win season for the Mustangs is a remarkable achievement considering where the program has been the last few years.

For SMU this is literally the best season they’ve had since the 80’s. SMU ends the regular season tied atop the American Conference in scoring offense with 43 points per game.

Tulane, though they sit 6-6, should be proud of the season they have had. Tulane played a pretty tough schedule especially in the second half of the season. Tulane’s 6 losses came from teams who’s combined record is 56-15, 5 of which were road games.