Tanner Mordecai Breaks SMU Record with 7 Touchdown Passes

In his first collegiate start, the former Sooner hooked up twice with Grant Calcaterra before tying the AAC mark for TD passes in a single game.

John E. Hoover | Sep 5, 2021

Maybe former Oklahoma quarterback Tanner Mordecai just needed a clear path, with no future NFL players in front of him.

In his first start with SMU on Saturday, Mordecai broke the school record with seven touchdown passes in a 56-9 victory over Abilene Christian.

It was Mordecai’s first start since the 2017 Texas Class 6A Division II state championship game — a span of 1,351 days, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The seven TDs also tied the American Athletic Conference record.

Mordecai came to OU from Midway High School in Waco, TX, in 2018, but was behind Kyler Murray in 2018, Jalen Hurts in 2019 and Spencer Rattler in 2020. With Rattler back for Lincoln Riley’s Sooners in 2021, Mordecai transferred to SMU, where he is reunited with former Sooners tight end Grant Calcaterra, who retired from football at OU because of concussions, then transferred to Auburn, then SMU.

Mordecai’s first two touchdown throws went to Calcaterra as the Mustangs quickly seized a 14-0 lead.

He then threw two TDs to Danny Gray and another to Rashee Rice as SMU led 35-3 at halftime. In the second half, he hooked up twice for TDs with Nolan Matthews.

Mordecai finished the day by completing 24-of-30 passes for 317 yards.

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Published Sep 5, 2021

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.