SMU needs OT to escape Tulane
NEW ORLEANS — Brandon Crossley ended the first overtime possession with an interception and Chris Naggar made a 34yard field goal to give No. 17 SMU a 37-34 victory over Tulane on Friday night.
Crossley intercepted Tulane freshman Michael Pratt’s pass to put the Mustangs (5-0, 3-0 American Athletic) in position to win with the field goal.
“It’s good to get a hardfought win,” SMU coach Sonny Dykes said. “We had our hands full, and we were really fortunate to win. It’s very difficult to be able to win a midweek game on the road, especially with all the problems that we created for ourselves.
“We just didn’t seem to be in sync on either side of the ball. We did a bunch of things that if you normally do, you lose ballgames. But we were able to win.”
SMU is 5-0 for the second straight season, a feat it last accomplished in 1983.
“Being able to accomplish what we have these last two years says we are getting better as a program,” Dykes said. “When you take over a program you want to always try and get better. It’s a credit to the players for buying in and doing what we are asking them to do.”
The Green Wave (2-3, 0-3) rallied to force overtime on Merek Glover’s 27-yard field goal with 1:30 left.
“We went blow for blow with them,” Tulane coach Willie Fritz said. “Unfortunately, they got the last one in. I saw a lot of good things from our guys. Really was impressed with the way we battled and fought back.”
After Tulane took a 31-27 lead early in the fourth quarter on Pratt’s 7-yard touchdown, the Mustangs pulled ahead 34-31 lead on Shane Buechele’s 10-yard pass to Danny Gray.
Buechele completed 23-of-37 passes for 384 yards and two touchdowns. He entered the game second nationally in passing yards.
SMU’s Rashee Rice had seven receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown, and Gray added five catches for 133 yards and a touchdown and had a 32-yard scoring run. Ulysses Bentley ran for 94 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.
Tulane scored on its first possession of the game on Pratt’s 31-yard pass to Mykel Jones, and on its first possession of the second half on Stephon Huderson’s 22-yard run
“I really appreciate the effort, playing the 17thranked team in the country, but we’re at the point in our program where we want to win those games,“Fritz said. “We’ve just got to play a little bit better in order to do that.”
Saban is negative in follow-up test
Alabama coach Nick Saban posted a negative test for COVID-19 on Thursday, the university said Friday as it continues to try to overturn the SEC’s initial determination that Saban would be unable to coach the No. 2 Crimson Tide in Saturday’s night game against No. 3 Georgia (8 p.m. Saturday, CBS).
The SEC has said that three consecutive negative tests in the wake of a positive test, which Saban registered Wednesday, would constitute a “false positive” and allow the Crimson Tide’s 68-year-old coach to be on the sidelines at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night.
Game at UTEP is pushed back
UTEP’s game against Southern Miss scheduled for Saturday at the Sun Bowl has been postponed after the Golden Eagles reported positive COVID-19 cases within the program. It will be rescheduled to a later date.
4 players opt out at Northwestern
Defensive end Samdup Miller, safety Travis Whillock, quarterback Aidan Smith and tight end Jason Whittaker have opted out of Northwestern’s pandemic-shortened season, the school announced.
With Miller and Whillock deciding not to play, the defense is down two returning starters.