Four ticks remained before halftime when Theo Melin Öhrström turned SMU’s most frantic possession into its cleanest answer. Kevin Jennings found the tight end for a 19-yard touchdown, giving the Mustangs a 14-10 lead and putting an exclamation point on the work of two receivers who had kept the drive alive.
SMU defeated Missouri State 34-24 on Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas. The passing attack produced two 100-yard receivers, but Yamir Knight and Jalen Cooper did not arrive at those numbers by doing the same job. Knight led the group in catches and yards, then scored a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown.
Cooper repeatedly extended possessions. Öhrström, meanwhile, had a knack for turning a modest workload into points.
The night began badly enough to make all that production necessary. SMU’s first possession reached the Missouri State 30 before an incomplete fourth-down pass ended the opportunity. On the next promising march, Knight caught a pass and lost the ball at the Bears’ 9 after Anthony Mattison forced a fumble. Martavis Blackmon recovered at the 7 for Missouri State.
The Bears converted that mistake into a 35-yard field goal. Then, after Jennings’ interception, Joel Boamah returned the ball 60 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter. Two SMU turnovers had produced a 10-0 deficit, an especially clumsy exchange for an offense that would finish with 592 total yards.
Knight’s eventual production was impressive; it was also attached to a mistake that materially changed the game.
Knight responded with 11 receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown, plus 29 punt-return yards. His influence was easy to spot in the possession log. In the second quarter, an 18-yard catch moved SMU to the Missouri State 15.
On the last drive before halftime, Knight then took a third-and-4 completion 27 yards to the Bears’ 19 with 11 seconds on the clock. Seven seconds later, Öhrström caught the touchdown that put SMU ahead.
Knight’s most consequential catch came much later. With Missouri State having trimmed the margin to 21-18, Jennings found him on third-and-8 from the Bears’ 28 for a 28-yard touchdown. That play restored a 10-point cushion with 5:34 remaining and answered the game’s last serious threat.
Knight could be both the receiver who gave SMU its largest yardage total and the player whose earlier error helped make the finish tense. Football occasionally refuses to provide a clean résumé line.
