They’re (still) partying like it’s 1982 in Dallas, as No. 19 SMU rolled past Temple 45-21 to move to 7-0 for the first time in 37 years.
Shane Buechele threw for career highs of 457 yards and six touchdowns, with most of the damage coming to Reggie Roberson, Jr., as the pair hooked up seven times for 250 yards and three touchdowns. The first score came on a 33-yarder on the game’s opening drive, giving the Mustangs a lead they would not relinquish.
The pair’s longest connection effectively put the game away -- a 75-yard bomb that gave SMU a 17-0 lead with 7:15 to go in the second quarter.
Temple managed to pull within 10 three times -- 17-7, 24-14 and 31-21 -- but each time Buechele answered with touchdown passes. The first came on a 10-yarder to James Proche with 20 seconds left in the first half, the second a 10-yard strike to Kyle Granson at the 8:22 mark of the third quarter, and the third a 60-yard connection to Roberson, putting SMU up 38-21 with 11:54 left in the game.
Buechele’s sixth and final touchdown was a 5-yard toss to running back Xavier Jones, who led all runners with 37 yards on 18 carries.
Temple (5-2, 2-1 American) had a chance to make a game of it in the first half, but a handful of crucial drops halted the Owls’ offense while the Mustangs managed to separate for good. SMU’s biggest advantage of the day was in simple possession of the ball: Temple ran 69 plays on the day, while SMU (7-0, 3-0 American) snapped it 108 times. SMU out-gained Temple 655-273 and held the advantage in first downs 34-15.
While SMU is 7-0 for the first time in nearly 40 years, the Mustangs have already matched their most wins in a season since 2011 and are two wins shy of the program’s high-water mark post-death penalty.
