SMU Drops Road Contest To San Jose State, 31-14
Oct 11 | Football
SAN JOSE, Calif. (SMU) - The San Jose State Spartans jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead and held on to beat the SMU Mustangs 31-14 on Saturday, Oct. 11, at Spartan Stadium.
The Spartans took the opening kickoff and drove 74 yards to take a 7-0 lead on the Ponies on a two-yard pass from Scott Rislov to Leon Pinky. The Mustangs came back and moved the ball methodically downfield as they looked to even the score. The momentum turned, however, as the Spartans stopped Keylon Kincade on a fourth-and-one inside the SJSU 20 and the Ponies came away without points.
San Jose continued to control play in the opening stanza and capped the first-half scoring on a Jeff Carr 45-yard field goal that pushed the Spartan lead to 24 points as the teams went to the locker room.
SMU staged a second-half rally on a pair of Richard Bartel touchdown passes - a 57-yard toss to Derron Brown and a 31-yard pass to Reynaldo Pellerin. The catch was the first of Pellerin's career.
With the score 24-14 entering the fourth quarter, the Mustangs forced a Spartan punt and looked to close the margin, but the SJSU defense forced SMU to go three-and-out and the Ponies never again threatened.
Keylon Kincade again led the SMU ground attack, netting 91 yards on 27 carries. Bartel was 11-of-20 for a season-high 198 yard, while Brian Bischoff had a team-high 12 tackles and an interception.
