McDermott Earns Awards After Leading SMU To Big Win
DALLAS (SMU) – On the heels of his 358-yard, two-TD performance in SMU’s 38-17 win over UCF, J.J. McDermott has earned a trio of honors. The senior signal caller has been named C-USA Offensive Player of the Week by the league’s media, the Rivals.com C-USA Player of the Week and one of eight Manning Award Stars of the Week.
Facing the nation’s No. 2 pass defense, McDermott completed 20 passes and threw for two scores, breaking UCF’s season-long streak of not allowing a TD pass. It was McDermott’s third straight 300-yard passing game, tying the SMU record, and his three-game total of 1,064 yards set a new SMU record (was 1,049 by Chuck Hixson in 1968 – at Ohio St (417), N.C. State (323), TCU (309)). McDermott moves to 5-0 as a starter, and with his effort, SMU is off to a 5-1 start for the first time since 1986 and has now won five straight, its longest streak since 1997.
Also earning honors on Monday was SMU punt returner Richard Crawford, who returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown against UCF, tying the SMU record for longest punt return (Val Joe Walker vs. Texas (1951)) and ranking as the second-longest return in C-USA history. It was SMU’s first punt return TD since Emmanuel Sanders’ 79-yard return for a TD versus Stephen F. Austin in 2009. He totaled 141 punt return yards for the game, the second-best single-game effort in SMU history (Cody Cardwell, 169 at UTEP (2002)).
The Mustangs are next in action Saturday, Oct. 22, when they travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., to take on Southern Miss. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
For tickets, click call 214-SMU-GAME (768-4263).
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