Buechele, No. 18 SMU ride second-half surge over Temple

PHILADELPHIA — With his team trailing at halftime, SMU’s Sonny Dykes threatened to keep the Mustangs in town a little longer than they would have hoped.

Following a sluggish start, No. 18 SMU looked as high powered as ever in the second half, dominating undermanned Temple and breaking away for a 47-23 victory Saturday.

Tyler Page, who caught two of Shane Buechele’s four touchdown passes, said Dykes told the Mustangs that if they didn’t step it up, “he was going to make us have a practice right there on the field after the game.”

“We responded to that and had a much better second half,” Page said.

The game was pushed back from its original Thursday date while Temple dealt with virusrelated issues. The Owls were missing 15 players who were in COVID-19 protocol.

Buechele was 24 for 35 for 355 yards.

SMU led 20-16 before Buechele connected with Kylen Granson on a 24-yard TD pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Mustangs (7-1, 4-1 American Athletic Conference) scored four touchdowns in the first 7½ minutes of the period.

Temple (1-4, 1-4) scored on the first play of the game, with wide receiver Randle Jones going 75 yards on a screen pass from Trad Beatty.

Page, who came into the game fifth on the Mustangs this year in yards receiving, caught nine passes for 131 yards. Granson finished with six catches for 149 yards.

STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 24 EASTERN KENTUCKY 6

Jaquarion Turner had a career-best 208 yards rushing, Trae Self accounted for two touchdowns and the Lumberjacks won their fifth consecutive game with a win over the Colonels at Richmond, Ky.

Self ran for a 7-yard touchdown and threw a 30-yard TD pass to Xavier Gipson in the first quarter. Zach Nwachukwu’s 22-yard punt return for a touchdown stretched the Lumberjacks’ lead to 21-6 late in the third quarter.

Turner, a redshirt freshman, had 21 carries for SFA (5-3), including a 39-yard run. Self completed 12 of 18 passes for 124 yards.

Dakota Allen was 14-of-36 passing for 158 yards and threw two interceptions for Eastern Kentucky (2-5).

ANGELO ST. 34 ABILENE CHRISTIAN 21

Alfred Grear ran for 247 yards and four touchdowns to lead Division II-member Angelo State won at Abilene. Grear had touchdown runs of 68, 61, 4 and 1 yard, and Zach Bronkhorst tossed a 1-yard TD pass to Justin Pegues as Angelo State jumped out to a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Grear entered the game with a team-high 226 yards rushing and four touchdowns. It was the last game of the fall season for the Rams (2-2).

Abilene Christian (1-4) pulled to 28-21midway through the third quarter, but Grear broke loose for the 68-yard score with 2:10 remaining.