SMU seems to search out some consistency when it hosts FCS up-and-comer Houston Christian on Saturday night in Dallas.
The Mustangs (1-0) carry momentum into their second sport after a 29-24 comeback win at Nevada of their season opener final Saturday.
SMU obtained 254 yards passing from Preston Stone, with 162 of these going to RJ Maryland. The tight finish had eight receptions, together with the game-winning landing.
Stone hit Maryland for a 34-yard TD cross with 1:18 left to cap the Mustangs’ 16-point fourth quarter, which they entered trailing 24-13.
LJ Johnson Jr. and Brashard Smith rushed for TDs of 1 and 4 yards, respectively, for SMU in its first sport as a member of the Atlantic Coast Convention.
The Mustangs overcame 125 yards on 11 penalties, with 10 of these flags coming over the primary three quarters.
“First sport of the season, they’re all the time loopy and bizarre,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee mentioned Tuesday.
” … Now that we have had summer time, fall camp and an precise sport in an hostile scenario, we all know how our workforce will reply. We simply needn’t put ourselves in these positions any greater than we’ve got to.”
Houston Christian travels to Dallas to kick off its eleventh season since debuting in 2014.
The Huskies posted their first profitable marketing campaign in 2023, going 6-5 beneath head coach Braxton Harris earlier than he left for a similar job at Campbell College.
Jason Bachtel takes over at Houston Christian after beforehand serving because the workforce’s offensive coordinator.
The Huskies have been picked within the Southland Convention preseason ballot to complete seventh within the nine-team league.
Houston Baptist’s assault will probably be led by its working again trio of Jesse Valenzuela, Darrlye Evans and Champ Dozier, who mixed to amass 1,272 speeding yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023. Dozier had the very best yards per sport common, with 73.5 throughout 4 contests.
Bachtel says he desires the Huskies to push the tempo in 2024.
“Offensively, we wish to be a power-spread, energy working workforce and vertical passing,” Bachtel mentioned. “We wish to attempt to snap it 85, 90 occasions a sport. We wish to play as quick as we probably can, get after it and create a enjoyable type of soccer with tough-minded and bodily gamers on either side of the ball.”
The groups have performed simply as soon as, a 63-27 win by the Mustangs in Dallas in 2018.
–Subject Degree Media
