FRISCO, Texas — J'mar Smith threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score, Louisiana Tech's defense scored twice and the Bulldogs rolled to a 51-10 victory over sloppy SMU on Wednesday night in the Frisco Bowl.
Smith completed 15 of 23 passes for 216 yards, and Teddy Veal caught four passes for 84 yards for Louisiana Tech (7-6). The Bulldogs led 42-10 at the half.
SMU (7-6) fumbled on its first offensive snap and turned it over on its first three drives and six times overall.
It was a disappointing debut for SMU coach Sonny Dykes against his former school. Dykes was 22-15 at Louisiana Tech from 2010 to 2012 before leaving for California in 2013. Dykes was fired by Cal a year ago, and spent this season as an offensive analyst at TCU before SMU hired him to replace Chad Morris on Dec. 11.
With most of the staff joining Morris at Arkansas, Dykes elected to coach the bowl game and installed graduate assistant G.J. Kinne as offensive coordinator for the bowl game.
It didn't have the desired effect.
Smith gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard sneak with 7:43 remaining in the first quarter. Louisiana Tech had a short field to work with after Secdrick Cooper returned an interception 31 yards to the SMU 30.
Amik Robertson returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown less than a minute later, pushing the lead to 14-0.
SMU held onto the ball on it's fourth drive, but couldn't reach the end zone and settled for a field goal after stalling at 8.
On the ensuing kickoff, Jaqwis Dancy had a 65-yard return, setting up a 6-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Veal for a 21-3 lead.
Louisiana Tech added returned another interception for a touchdown early in the second quarter. This time, Darryl Lewis had a 23-yard return down the sideline for a 28-3 lead.
Smith added touchdown passes to Veal and Kam McKnight, helping Louisiana set a school record for first-half points in a bowl game.
Trey Quinn scored SMU's touchdown on a on a nine-yard pass late in the second quarter. SMU quarterback Ben Hicks completed 19 of 33 passes for 127 yards.
THE TAKEAWAY
Louisiana Tech: The Bulldogs have won four straight bowl games and scored at least 47 points in their past. Three of those four bowl victories have come in the state of Texas.
SMU: SMU fell to 7-8-1 in bowl games and had its worst bowl loss since it lost the the 1983 Sun Bowl to Alabama 28-7.
SMU Bowl History (7-8-1)
Dec. 20, 2017 Frisco Bowl — Louisiana Tech 51, SMU 10
Dec. 24, 2012 Hawaii Bowl_SMU 43, Fresno State 10
Jan. 7, 2012 BBVA Compass Bowl_SMU 28, Pittsburgh 6
Dec. 30, 2010 Armed Forces Bowl_Army 16, SMU 14
Dec. 24, 2009 Hawaii Bowl_SMU 45, Nevada 10
Dec. 29, 1984 Aloha Bowl_SMU 27, Notre Dame 20
Dec. 24, 1983 Sun Bowl_Alabama 28, SMU 7
Jan. 1, 1983 Cotton Bowl_SMU 7, Pittsburgh 3
Dec. 19, 1980 Holiday Bowl_BYU 46, SMU 45
Dec. 31, 1968 Bluebonnet Bowl_SMU 28, Oklahoma 27
Dec. 31, 1966 Cotton Bowl_Georgia 24, SMU 9
Dec. 31, 1963 Sun Bowl_Oregon 21, SMU 14
Jan. 1, 1949 Cotton Bowl_SMU 21, Oregon 13
Jan. 1, 1948 Cotton Bowl_SMU 13, Penn St. 13, tie
Jan. 1, 1936 Rose Bowl_Stanford 7, SMU 0
Jan. 1, 1925 Dixie Classic_West Virginia Wesleyan 9, SMU 7