SMU's Ben Hicks won the weekend

SMU and UConn were tied at 28 less than minute into the fourth quarter. After the Huskies knotted the game on the previous possession, SMU sophomore quarterback Ben Hicks responded on a 34-yard dime of a touchdown pass to his favorite target, Courtland Sutton. That sparked a 21-0 run by the Mustang offense in the final quarter to finally close out a UConn team, 49-28, that found ways to hang around all game long. Even after he was briefly benched for three plays at the start of the second half in favor of Wisconsin transfer quarterback, D.J. Gillins, it was hard to imagine a better evening for the quarterback from Hewitt Midway, Hicks. Head coach Chad Morris saw what his signal-caller is capable of when he has time to throw and is able to see his targets run free against a weak UConn secondary. Morris said Hicks’ quick substitution was just to provide a “spark” for his offense that had briefly stalled. The spark happened, but not in the way Morris imagined. After Hicks came back behind center, SMU crossed the goal line on four of its next five possessions. No, UConn isn’t the greatest defense. In fact, the Huskies have yet to hold an FBS opponent to under 38 points. But SMU has played lesser opponents and Hicks never put up the efficient numbers he flashed Saturday night. He finished 27-of-37 for 280 yards and four touchdowns. It was only the second game in which Hicks completed over 60 percent of his passes and tossed no interceptions. For a quarterback who has struggled with consistency and taking care of the football since he was given the keys to the offense his freshman year, Saturday was a big step forward. That was most apparent on SMU’s opening touchdown in which Hicks had around five solid seconds in a clean pocket before firing a pass to Sutton from six yards out. Hicks and the Mustang offense matched UConn’s counter-punches before pulling away late. With his quality showing, Hicks maintains the second-longest active streak in the FBS of games with multiple touchdown passes (eight). He’s in pretty good company with only Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield ahead of him on a 17-game streak. https://twitter.com/TheAthleticCFB/status/914288528862830592