New Orleans– In a game that lasted nearly 5 hours, after an hour-long lightning delay in the first quarter, SMU rallied to beat Tulane 27-23. The Green Wave led the entire game until the final 75 seconds, when Mustangs quarterback Ben Hicks connected with James Proche for a 67-yard touchdown.
Tulane got on the board first with a safety, but with about 2 minutes to play in the first quarter, the game was suspended because of lightning in the area. When play resumed a little after 4:00 p.m., the Green Wave got into the endzone on a 10-yard Darius Bradwell touchdown run, making it a 9-0 lead. Bradwell led their ground attack with 72 yards on 13 carries. Tulane added to a 9-7 halftime lead with some help from their defense. Donnie Lewis Jr., came-up with the 49-yard pick-6, pushing the Tulane lead to 16-7.
SMU cut it to a two-point game again, but in the 4th quarter Tulane got some breathing room when quarterback Jonathan Banks trucked over a defender at the goal line for the 3-yard touchdown. That score made it a 23-14 lead. From there though, the Mustangs scored 13 unanswered to come from behind and win it.
Two things that really hurt the Green Wave were penalties and turnovers. Banks threw an interception and had two fumbles that SMU recovered. Then as for penalties, Tulane had 10 for 96 yards.
With the loss, Tulane falls to (2-5, 1-2 AAC), while SMU improves to (3-4, 2-1 AAC). Next-up for the Green Wave is back-to-back road games– first at Tulsa on October 27th, then at USF on November 3rd.
