SMU builds big lead, then hangs on for Trust & Will Holiday Bowl victory over Arizona

Flea flicker is a football termed coined 100 years ago, so named because of its resemblance to a dog using its tail to flick off a flea.

SMU has used the play with some success in recent years, so it should have come as no surprise to Arizona when the Mustangs tried a flea flicker two plays into Friday night’s Holiday Bowl.

It went like this: Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings handed off to running back TJ Harden, who flipped it to teammate Derrick McFall on a reverse. McFall then flicked the ball back to Jennings. He threw deep downfield to tight end Matthew Hibner, who rumbled a Holiday Bowl-record 80 yards before being tripped up by Wildcats cornerback Michael Dansby at the 1-yard line.

Surprise, surprise.

Harden scored on the next play and SMU was well on its way to a 24-19 win over the Wildcats before an announced crowd of 30,602 at Snapdragon Stadium. The Mustangs didn’t make it easy on themselves. They didn’t score in the second half, allowing the Wildcats to claw their way back into the game.

No. 21 Arizona scored a touchdown with 33 seconds remaining on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Noah Fifita to tight end Cameron Barmore, but SMU recovered the ensuing onside kick to secure its first bowl victory since 2012.

“You get down on that explosive (play) and score in three plays,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “That’s big. You think of a bowl game and neither one of us had played in five weeks. You expect some rust, and that got us offensively off the floor. But it also gives our defense a shot in the arm. They’re taking the field, and we’re up 7-0, and they play lights out. …”

“We couldn’t play much better in the first half. Nobody’s done that to them on their defense all year.”

Arizona’s pass defense ranks fourth in the nation, but Jennings sliced it up in the first half, completing 18 of 23 passes for 248 yards through two quarters.

Maybe it had something to do with Arizona’s three NFL-caliber DBs — Genesis Smith, Dalton Johnson and Treydan Stukes — opting out of the game. It was backup safety Gavin Hunter who froze on the fake and watched Hibner race past him.

“We’ve carried it most weeks and I know these guys have joked sometimes, ‘Hey, we ain’t running that,’ ” Laslee said of the trick play. “We got to the last game of the year and hadn’t run it this year yet. … So we just made sure to run it second play of the game to make sure we got it off.”

Jennings hit 31- and 21-yard passes later in the quarter, positioning the Mustangs for a 3-yard touchdown run by Harden and a 14-0 advantage. SMU (9-4) added tight end Stone Eby’s 1-yard touchdown run and kicker Sam Kettner’s 24-yard field goal for a 24-0 halftime lead.

At that point, Arizona (9-4) was simply looking to avoid becoming the second team ever shut out in the Holiday Bowl.

The other occasion was in the 2009 game: Nebraska 33, Arizona 0.

SMU, staked to the big lead, also was intent on preventing history from repeating itself. All that was left was for the Mustangs to avoid a collapse. Not that that would ever happen, right?

Oh, wait, it was SMU that was stunned in the 1980 Holiday Bowl. That’s when BYU rallied from a 20-point deficit with four minutes remaining for a 46-45 win with a Hail Mary touchdown pass on the game’s final play.

This was not that, though Arizona made things interesting at the end.

Arizona finally scored with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter on a 28-yard pass from quarterback Noah Fifita to Javin Whatley. A two-point pass attempt failed and it was 24-6.

The Wildcats got the ball back a minute later when Jennings threw one up for grabs deep in his own territory. It looked like a tip drill around the SMU 40-yard line, with the ball being touched three times before Arizona linebacker Riley Wilson cradled it for an interception.

The Wildcats drove the ball into the red zone, but came away empty when they went for it on fourth down and Fifita’s pass fell incomplete.

Arizona cut the lead to 24-12 with 8:40 remaining in the game when Fifita (28-for-43, 265 yards, 3 TD/INT) threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tre Spivey.

Jennings (21-for-32, 278 yards, 3 INT), who passed for 0 yards in the third quarter and only 30 yards in the fourth quarter, struggled to move the offense in the final two quarters. Three second-half interceptions had something to do with that.

“We made it a game in that second half,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said. “One of the things I told the team is the truth is we didn’t play well in the first half to win it, and that starts with me. But I love the way this team responded. I love the heart and fight in this team.”

SMU wide receiver Yamir Knight, who had a game-high seven receptions for 104 yards, was selected the game’s offensive MVP. SMU safety Ahmaad Moses, who had a game-high 13 tackles, was defensive MVP.