SMU Gets Strong Finish to Close Out Big Win Over Tulsa

Ponies rest starters entire second half after blazing start sets up cruise to end, 69-10

DALLAS — It was never close and Preston Stone had a whopping day without touching the field in the second half as SMU rolled up Tulsa, 69-10, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on a cloudy, rainy homecoming.

No one seemed to pay attention to the weather. They never really had time to sit down with Stone hitting Romello Brinson for a 74-yard touchdown down the sideline and it was a track meet without much competition from an over-matched Golden Hurricane team.

Mustangs' coach Rhett Lashlee has been stressing finish for weeks and he finally got a complete effort from nearly the entire roster. It will be interesting to see how many players got in this game where Stone rolled up career numbers in the first two quarters.

Tyler Lavine scored on a 1-yard run, Jaylan Knighton ran 11 yards for another one and  Isaiah Nwokobia got the final touchdown of the first quarter on a 24-yard interception return with 26 seconds left in the first quarter. The game was over right there, for all intents and purposes.

The Ponies' defense came in ranked 13th in total defense in the country and did nothing to lower their rating. Tulsa could only get 247 net yards in the entire game and managed one touchdown after the score was 66-3.

It was 52-3 by halftime and Stone was done for the game, which was obviously the correct call to make. Nothing good could be accomplished at that point. The Ponies added another 17 points in the second half, but Lashlee was probably looking at the defense to finish just as strong as they started, which is what he got.

SMU, now 6-2 on the season (4-0 in the AAC), is going to Houston next Saturday night for a 6:30 p.m. game against a dangerous Rice team. The game will be televised on ESPN2 and you can hear the game on The Ticket 96.7 fm and 1310 am and online at TheTicket.com.

PONY EXPRESS:

SMU COORDINATOR WON'T TAKE CREDIT FOR NATIONALLY RANKED DEFENSE, WORRIED TULSA COULD LOWER THAT RANKING SATURDAY

MUSTANGS' COACH MAY BE THE ONLY LASHLEE WHO MISSED HIS VOICE

LASHLEE MAKES PROPOSAL FOR TULSA GAME THAT COULD BE HUGE FOR PROGRAM GOING FORWARD

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