College football: No. 17 SMU tops Tulane in overtime; No. 14 BYU rallies past Houston

Defensive back Brandon Crossley ended the first overtime possession with an interception and Chris Naggar made a 34-yard field goal to give No. 17 Southern Methodist a 37-34 victory over Tulane on Friday night in New Orleans.

Crossley intercepted Tulane freshman Michael Pratt’s pass to put the Mustangs (5-0, 3-0 American Athletic Conference) into position to win with the field goal.

“It’s good to get a hard-fought win,” SMU coach Sonny Dykes said. “We had our hands full, and we were really fortunate to win. It’s very difficult to be able to win a midweek game on the road, especially with all the problems that we created for ourselves. We just didn’t seem to be in sync on either side of the ball.”

SMU is 5-0 for the second consecutive season, a feat it last accomplished in 1983.

“Being able to accomplish what we have these last two years says we are getting better as a program,” Dykes said. “When you take over a program, you want to always try and get better. It’s a credit to the players for buying in and doing what we are asking them to do.”

The Green Wave rallied to force overtime on Merek Glover’s 27-yard field goal with 1:30 left.

“We went blow for blow with them,” Tulane coach Willie Fritz said. “Unfortunately, they get the last one in. I saw a lot of good things from our guys. Really was impressed with the way we battled and fought back.”

After Tulane (2-3, 0-3) took a 31-27 lead early in the fourth quarter on Pratt’s seven-yard touchdown run, the Mustangs pulled ahead 34-31 lead on Shane Buechele’s 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Danny Gray.

Buechele completed 23 of 37 passes for 384 yards and two touchdowns. He entered the game second nationally in passing yards.

Wideout Rashee Rice had seven receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown, and Gray added five catches for 133 yards and a touchdown and had a 32-yard scoring run. Ulysses Bentley ran for 94 yards and a touchdown in 25 carries.

Tulane scored on its first possession of the game on Pratt’s 31-yard pass to wide receiver Mykel Jones and its first possession of the second half on Stephon Huderson’s 22-yard run

Only family members of players and the Tulane staff were allowed to attend the game at Yulman Stadium because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Southern Methodist will host Cincinnati next Saturday, while Tulane will visit Central Florida.

No. 14 Brigham Young 43, Houston 26

HOUSTON — Zach Wilson threw for four touchdowns and finished 25-of-35 passing for 400 yards as Brigham Young rallied for a win over Houston.

Wide receiver Dax Milne caught nine passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns to help BYU improve to 5-0 for the first time since 2008.

Down 12, Wilson found Milne for a two-yard touchdown pass with 53 seconds remaining in the third. Wilson gave BYU the lead back with an eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Masen Wake with 10:35 left and made it 29-26 with a two-point conversion pass to running back Tyler Allgeier.

Wilson threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Milne with three minutes remaining before Allgeier iced it with a 14-yard touchdown run with 1:40 left.

Clayton Tune finished 21 of 31 for 310 yards and two touchdowns to lead Houston (1-1). Kyle Porter had 20 carries for 94 yards. Tight end Christian Trahan caught three passes for 69 yards and a touchdown, and wide receiver Keith Corbin caught four passes for 58 yards.