By Travis Bremner

Staff Writer

The SMU Mustangs played in their first bowl game since the cheating days of the 80s, but it didn’t show. Former Southlake Carroll quarterback Kyle Padron threw for an SMU record 460 yards as they just annihilated Nevada in the Hawaii bowl, 45-10.

The most surprising thing about this game, rather this beat down, was how the Mustangs sustained drives, on five of their seven scoring possessions they had eight or more plays. It wasn’t turnovers or offensive miscues by the Wolf pack that allowed SMU to score so much, the Mustangs were just better. However, the quick strike early helped SMU’s confidence, and it was all uphill from there. The future looks bright for June Jones and the Mustangs.

Texas A&M and Georgia played a shockingly scoreless game up until late in the second quarter when a scoring frenzy broke out in the Independence bowl. After the Aggies drive down and score a touchdown, two special teams mishaps cause them to lose their 7-0 led going into halftime. First an 81-yard kickoff return and a blocked punt on the ensuing A&M possession led to 14 points in the first half for the Bulldogs. In total, Georgia collected 24 points off the Aggie’s special team squad in their 44-20 victory over A&M.

What this shows me is that Texas A&M isn’t ready to jump back in the same class as Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 yet. Offensively the Aggies can roll with anyone, but on defense and in special teams, as we saw last night, need plenty of work if they wish to be garnered as a top tier program in the Big 12 South.

Bowl picks record this far: 6-5