SMU Football Drops Season Opener to Louisiana Tech, 36-6
Sep 1 | Football
Shreveport, La. -- Louisiana Tech scored two defensive touchdowns and capitalized on several SMU miscues as the Bulldogs whipped the Mustangs 36-6 victory in the season-opener for both teams on Saturday night at Independence Stadium.
The first offensive series of the game was a precursor of things to come for SMU on the evening. The Mustangs drove 64 yards to the Louisiana Tech 15-yard line but Chris Cunningham fumbled on a reverse and Louisiana Tech's Curtis Randall scooped the ball up and raced 65 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Bulldog lead.
A roughing the punter penalty against SMU led to another Tech touchdown on its next possession and a Mustang fumble led to a Bulldog field goal. Louisiana Tech's Jason Olford intercepted a Kelan Luker pass and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring early in the fourth quarter.
"We made far too many mistakes to win the game," said SMU head coach Mike Cavan. "We made enough mistakes for two or three games. We just couldn't make anything happen on offense, what we did there was negative.
"The fumble and the roughing the kicker penalty wear huge plays. They changed the momentum. That's 14 points right there."
SMU answered the Randall fumble return TD with a 10-play, 55-yard drive that ended with a Jacob Crowley 37-yard field goal that cut the lead to 7-3. But on the next possession, after the Mustangs held Louisiana Tech on three straight plays, SMU was called for a roughing the punter penalty that gave the Bulldogs a first down. Six plays later, Luke McCown scored on a 11-yard run to make it 14-3.
Crowley's second field goal, a 40-yarder, made it 14-6 early in the second quarter but Louisiana Tech closed the period with 10 straight points to lead 24-6 at halftime.
SMU took the second half kickoff and moved 67 yards on 13 plays but Crowley was wide left on a 32-yard field goal, keeping the deficit at 18 points and again changing momentum.
The Mustangs outgained Louisiana Tech 286-245, had 23 first downs to 15 for the Bulldogs and owned a 33:08-25:26 time of possession advantage but couldn't overcome nine penalties and three turnovers.
Luker, making his first start at SMU, completed 25-of-54 passes for 215 yards. Chris Cunningham was on the receiving end of nine of those passes, a career-high, for 78 yards and extended his streak of consecutive games with a catch to 23.
Keylon Kincade led SMU's ground attack with 66 yards on 14 carries.
Scoring Summary (Final) SMU Mustangs (0-1,0-1) vs. Louisiana Tech (1-0,1-0) Date: Sep 01, 2001 Site: Shreveport, La. Stadium: Independence Stadium Attendance: 22505 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- SMU Mustangs........ 3 3 0 0 - 6 Louisiana Tech...... 14 10 0 12 - 36 Scoring Summary: 1st 08:06 LATECH - Randall, Curtis 65 yd fumble recovery (Scobee, Josh kick) SMU 0 - LATECH 7 03:56 SMU - Crowley, Jacob 37 yd field goal 10 plays, 55 yards, TOP 4:10, SMU 3 - LATECH 7 01:21 LATECH - McCown, Luke 11 yd run (Scobee, Josh kick) 9 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:45, SMU 3 - LATECH 14 2nd 11:17 SMU - Crowley, Jacob 40 yd field goal 13 plays, 56 yards, TOP 4:54, SMU 6 - LATECH 14 07:16 LATECH - Simon, John 13 yd run (Scobee, Josh kick) 1 play, 13 yards, TOP 0:08, SMU 6 - LATECH 21 02:42 LATECH - Scobee, Josh 47 yd field goal 6 plays, 6 yards, TOP 3:18, SMU 6 - LATECH 24 4th 14:57 LATECH - Scobee, Josh 27 yd field goal 7 plays, 18 yards, TOP 2:35, SMU 6 - LATECH 27 12:17 LATECH - Scobee, Josh 24 yd field goal 5 plays, 15 yards, TOP 1:39, SMU 6 - LATECH 30 11:07 LATECH - Olford, Jason 40 yd interception return (Scobee, Josh kick failed) SMU 6 - LATECH 36
Team Statistics (Final) SMU LATECH FIRST DOWNS................... 23 15 Rushing..................... 7 4 Passing..................... 11 9 Penalty..................... 5 2 Rushing Attempts.............. 32 24 Yards Gained Rushing.......... 119 81 Yards Lost Rushing............ 49 25 NET YARDS RUSHING............. 70 56 NET YARDS PASSING............. 216 189 Passes Attempted............ 54 35 Passes Completed............ 25 22 Had Intercepted............. 1 1 TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS......... 86 59 TOTAL NET YARDS............... 286 245 Average Gain Per Play....... 3.3 4.2 Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 2-2 1-0 Penalties: Number-Yards....... 9-66 11-90 Number of Punts-Yards......... 8-275 5-187 Average Per Punt............ 34.4 37.4 Punt Returns: Number-Yards.... 2-29 3-33 Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards. 6-98 2-40 Interceptions: Number-Yards... 1-2 1-40 Fumble Returns: Number-Yards.. 0-0 1-65 Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0 Possession Time............... 33:08 26:52 Third-Down Conversions........ 5 of 18 1 of 13 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 2 1 of 1 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-14 1-9
Individual Statistics (Final) SMU Mustangs Louisiana Tech Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg -------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Kincade, Keylon 14 69 3 66 0 16 4.7 Simon, John 10 50 4 46 1 22 4.6 Briggs, Kris 11 39 1 38 0 7 3.5 Thompson, Frank 1 11 0 11 0 11 11.0 Freeman, Johnni 2 9 0 9 0 9 4.5 Wilson, Danny 6 7 5 2 0 3 0.3 Griffin, Trey 1 0 5 -5 0 0 -5.0 McCown, Luke 4 13 14 -1 1 11 -0.2 Luker, Kelan 1 0 9 -9 0 0 -9.0 TM 3 0 2 -2 0 0 -0.7 Pipkins, Jason 2 2 11 -9 0 2 -4.5 Totals... 24 81 25 56 2 22 2.3 Cunningham, Chr 1 0 20 -20 0 0 -20.0 Totals... 32 119 49 70 0 16 2.2 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- Luker, Kelan 54-25-1 216 0 24 1 McCown, Luke 35-22-1 189 0 34 2 Totals... 54-25-1 216 0 24 1 Totals... 35-22-1 189 0 34 2 Receiving No. Yds TD Long Receiving No. Yds TD Long ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Cunningham, Chr 9 78 0 18 Berlin, Corey 6 53 0 15 Hampton, John 5 37 0 10 Simon, John 4 47 0 17 Cardwell, Cody 3 42 0 18 Daigre, Delwyn 4 37 0 18 Ford, Billy 3 32 0 24 King, Freddie 3 14 0 8 Freeman, Johnni 2 21 0 16 Harris, Ahmad 2 38 0 34 Kincade, Keylon 2 7 0 7 Wilson, Danny 1 3 0 3 Griffin, Trey 1 -1 0 0 Franklin, Erick 1 -1 0 0 Totals... 25 216 0 24 Crowe, Wendell 1 -2 0 0 Totals... 22 189 0 34 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ----------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Walterscheid, A 7 270 38.6 45 2 Upton, Dustin 4 179 44.8 53 1 TM 1 5 5.0 5 0 TM 1 8 8.0 8 0 Totals... 8 275 34.4 45 2 Totals... 5 187 37.4 53 1 Punts Kickoffs Intercept Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg --------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- Cunningham, Chr 2 29 16 3 54 18 0 0 0 Simon, John 3 33 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kincade, Keylon 0 0 0 3 44 17 0 0 0 King, Freddie 0 0 0 1 18 18 0 0 0 Brown, Derron 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 Olford, Jason 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 40 40 Totals... 2 29 16 6 98 18 1 2 2 Davis, Quincy 0 0 0 1 22 22 0 0 0 Totals... 3 33 13 2 40 22 1 40 40 Field goal attempts Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Crowley, Jacob 1st 03:56 37 yds - Good Scobee, Josh 1st 11:44 43 yds - Blocked Crowley, Jacob 2nd 11:17 40 yds - Good Scobee, Josh 2nd 02:42 47 yds - Good Crowley, Jacob 3rd 11:45 32 yds - Missed Scobee, Josh 4th 14:57 27 yds - Good Scobee, Josh 4th 12:17 24 yds - Good
