Sept. 30, 2006
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Justin Willis passed for 267 yards and two touchdowns to lead the SMU Mustangs to a 33-28 win over Tulane on Saturday in the Green Wave's first game at the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina sent them on a season-long road trip.
Willis also ran for 75 yards and a touchdown in front of an announced crowd of 21,565.
Displaced from New Orleans for all of last season because of the deadly hurricane, Tulane (1-3, 0-2 Conference USA) was playing its first game in the Superdome in 22 months. It had played 14 consecutive games on the road since its last home game, a 55-7 loss to Louisville on Dec. 4, 2004.
SMU (3-2, 1-0) won its third straight game.
Willis, who had completed 77 percent of his passes and thrown nine touchdown passes the last two weeks, helped offset the passing of Tulane's Lester Ricard, who overcame a poor first half to go 29-for-48 for 394 yards and three touchdowns.
The Mustangs seemed in command after Willis passed for one touchdown and ran for another to help build a 17-0 halftime lead.
"He's very competitive," SMU coach Phil Bennett said. "He got a little bit hurried. He was excited and I think Tulane had a lot to do with that. They had a good front. But I thought he got back on track and I thought he made some plays."
After Thomas Morstead's 23-yard field goal for SMU made it 20-7 early in the fourth quarter, the Green Wave needed just five plays to drive 90 yards. Ricard threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Preston Brown.
When Morstead missed a 39-yard field goal, Ricard answered with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Damarcus Davis for a 21-20 lead with 7:52 left.
The Green Wave had little time to enjoy the lead because Jessie Henderson returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.
A pass for two points failed, but it didn't matter when the Mustangs sacked Ricard and recovered his fumble at the Tulane 30 on the next possession setting up a 19-yard touchdown pass from Willis to Emanual Sanders with 4:10 remaining.
"Probably even bigger than the kickoff return was the fumble on the next drive when Tulane had the ball," Bennett said. "I think that was the difference in the game."
Ricard's 9-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Williams cut the lead to 33-28 with 2:33 left, but SMU recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.
SMU opened the game's scoring when Willis threw a 6-yard touchdown to Zack Sledge early in the first quarter.
The Mustangs increased the lead to 10-0 when Morstead kicked a 34-yard field goal with 6:35 remaining in the second quarter.
Willis' 1-yard touchdown run gave SMU a 17-0 lead with 45 seconds remaining in the first half.
Defensively, Joe Sturdivant led SMU with 10 stops, while a trio of defenders - Adrian Haywood, Cory Muse and Justin Rogers - added three tackles-for-loss each.
