Southwest Roundup : Born Again SMU Gets First Win

Southern Methodist won its first game since the Mustangs served a two-year “death sentence,” scoring 17 points in the final 5:05 to edge Connecticut, 31-30, Saturday night at Dallas.

Michael Bowen caught Mike Romo’s five-yard touchdown pass with no time remaining to cap the fourth-period rally.

SMU’s fans swarmed onto the field after the score to congratulate their team. Officials didn’t even try to line the teams up for the extra-point attempt.

The victory was SMU’s first since 1986. The school didn’t field a football team for two years because of NCAA sanctions. The Mustangs (1-1) have 72 first-year players on their 88-man roster.

Connecticut of the Yankee Conference, venturing west of the Mississippi for the first time ever, dropped to 1-1.

Bowen caught seven passes for 73 yards in the fourth quarter alone as the Mustangs of the Southwest Conference rallied from a 30-14 deficit.

Texas Tech 27, New Mexico 20--The Red Raiders’ defense topped running back Dion Morrow on consecutive runs from the one-yard line late in the game to preserve the win at Lubbock, Tex.

Texas Tech (2-0), coming off a victory over nationally ranked Arizona, rallied from a 20-17 fourth-quarter deficit. But New Mexico (1-2) marched from its own 20 to a first-and-goal at the Texas Tech six.

Texas A&M; 44, TCU 7--The No. 22-ranked Aggies turned Horned Frogs’ mistakes into 31 points behind Lance Pavlas’ passes and Darren Lewis’ runs for the win at Ft. Worth, Tex.

Four recovered fumbles and an intercepted pass led to the Aggies’ point landslide against the Frogs.

Arkansas 26, Tulsa 7--Quinn Grovey ran 12 yards for a touchdown and the Razorbacks’ defense stopped the Golden Hurricane for a win at Fayetteville, Ark.

Grovey’s score capped a 73-yard drive that began after Tulsa cut the lead to 13-7 on a two-yard pass from T.J. Rubley to Fallon Wacasey.