– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — Amidst the college football rumor mill churning at hyper speed given the high-profile head coaches at even higher-profile schools, the SMU football decided it needed to take care of its leading man, Rhett Lashlee, and remove any thought of him looking at greener (a.k.a. $$$$$) pastures, securing a two-year contract extension earlier in the week.
On Saturday, the Mustangs got a very, very, very early return on their investment.
T.J. Harden scored on a 1-yard run on the final play of overtime as SMU came from behind to upset No. 10 Miami 26-20 inside Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Harden’s score was the last of four consecutive carries by the running back, and he and the Mustangs’ offense were set up for the win after Ahmaad Moses intercepted a Carson Beck pass just in front of the goal line on the Hurricanes’ first overtime possession.
After having its 20-game in-conference winning streak snapped last week at Wake Forest, SMU records its first home win over a top-10 team since 1974, continuing the resurgence of Mustang football under the Lashlee, the 42-year-old fourth-year head coach who was offensive coordinator at Miami before taking the job in Dallas.
Down 20-17, SMU was handed a lifeline as it was facing a fourth-and-9 from midfield with just 1:08 remaining. Miami called a timeout just before the ball was snapped, but defensive end Marquise Lightfoot carried on and Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty and an automatic first down. A few plays later, Sam Keltner knocked home a game-tying 38-yard field goal with 25 seconds remaining in regulation to force the extra session.
“To lose a game like that, in that fashion, it’s hard,” Beck said. “This team comes and works every single day. We’re so connected. It’s really tough to lose like that on the road.”
Beck had 274 yards passing with touchdowns to Joshisa Trader and Alex Bauman, but threw two interceptions in Miami’s first game outside Florida this season.
The Mustangs had negative yards rushing when they started overtime. The 25 yards on the winning possession put them at 23 for the game.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 42 pictures in total.
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