SMU Football: 3 takeaways from big Week 11 win over East Carolina

SMU football barely held on in an AAC duel against East Carolina. Here are three things we learned from the Mustangs’ close call against the Pirates.

SMU experienced an up-and-down first quarter against East Carolina on Saturday afternoon. The Mustangs scored on their opening possession, driving 75 yards on eight plays in just 2:16 of game play. Shane Buechele capped the drive with a 22-yard scoring strike to Kylen Granson. On the next drive, though, Buechele tossed an interception that gave the Pirates new life. While they didn’t score on the ensuing possession, East Carolina tied things up in the first quarter.

The Mustangs retook the lead and held on to go to the locker room up 28-20. But East Carolina kept punching after halftime, keeping things interesting as they hovered right in SMU’s shadow and stayed within a score through much of the second half.

It wasn’t the type of win that eked-out win that SMU necessarily hoped to play for on Saturday, but they still came out in good shape and improved to 9-1 in the 59-51 victory. Pulling away at the end, they are now a win away from their first season with double-digit wins since 1984.

They will have a chance to get that 10th win in 2019 in two weeks against Navy. As they head into their second bye week, here are three things to take away from this tense high-scoring shootout in Dallas on Saturday afternoon.