TULSA (AP) — Freshman quarterback Kyle Padron made his first start a memorable one, turning two broken plays into scoring passes in leading Southern Methodist to a 27-13 victory over Tulsa on Saturday.
Padron, who came off the bench a week ago in relief of injured starter Bo Levy Mitchell, threw for 354 yards, completing 20 of 30 passes. The SMU defense held Tulsa to 322 yards and intercepted two passes.
SMU improved to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in Conference USA action, while Tulsa dropped to 4-4 and 2-2 in losing its third consecutive game.
Padron broke a 7-7 tie in the third quarter when he scrambled and found running back Shawnbrey McNeal in the flat. He twisted his way 36 yards for a score.
Matt Szymanski added field goals of 35 and 31 yards to make it 20-7 at the outset of the fourth quarter.
Tulsa cut the deficit to 20-13 when reserve quarterback Jacob Bower found tight end Jake Collums over the middle from 13 yards out. The conversion was blocked by 6-foot-8 Margus Hunt, his fourth blocked kick of the year.
Tulsa coach Todd Graham went for a fourth-and-18 from the SMU 44 with 5:31 to play. G.J. Kinne’s pass was deflected and SMU drove 56 yards for the clinching score, a 2-yard plunge by Zach Line.
Tulsa dented the scoreboard first on a 13-yard run by Charles Opeseyitan, capping a 76-yard drive in which TU used four quarterbacks. Kinne, the starter, was hammered on the second play, giving way to Bower, who completed passes of 28 yards to Trae Johnson and 28 yards to Demaris Johnson. Option quarterbacks Shavodrick Beaver and A.J. Whitmore each ran a play on the drive as well.
None of Tulsa’s quarterbacks were effective. Kinne completed 2 of 10 passes with two interceptions and generated just 28 yards offense in the first quarter. Bower completed 9 of 22 for 206 yards, while Beaver rushed on all six of his snaps for a total of 20 yards.
