SMU Runs Over TCU

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Tanner Mordecai added to his nation-leading total in touchdown passes with four more and SMU overcame his three interceptions in a 42-34 victory over TCU on Saturday in the 100th meeting of the Dallas-Fort Worth rivals.

Ulysses Bentley IV ran for 153 yards and a touchdown and Danny Gray had 130 yards receiving, including a 68-yard catch-and-run for a score during a torrid start for both teams.

After last year’s Iron Skillet game was called off because of COVID-19 issues in TCU’s program, the Mustangs earned consecutive victories over the Horned Frogs for the first time since 1992-93.

Mordecai was 17 of 28 for 245 yards and is up to 20 TD passes for the season. SMU (4-0) limited TCU to a pair of field goals after interceptions that put the Horned Frogs (2-1) inside the Mustangs’ 25-yard line twice.

The third pick by Mordecai was in the TCU end zone on a failed fourth-down try from the 3 on the final play of the first half, when coach Sonny Dykes went for the TD instead of a short field goal in a 21-21 game.

The Mustangs got the ball back in the exact same spot on the first play of the second half when Turner Coxeforced a fumble on a sack of Max Duggan and DeVere Levelston recovered. Bentley scored the tiebreaking TD from the 1 two plays later.

Duggan was 16 of 28 for 276 yards and three touchdowns, and Zach Evans had 113 yards rushing to surpass the century mark for the fourth time in the past five games, but it wasn’t enough to extend a five-game TCU winning streak dating to last season.

The teams scored two touchdowns apiece within the first eight minutes, and Evans put the Horned Frogs up 21-14 with a career-long catch of 46 yards on a screen for a TD. Reggie Roberson scored for SMU less than three minutes later.