Maybe the loud music the referees asked officials to stop playing over the sound system at Jones AT&T Stadium on Saturday night during SMU’s huddles was the reason the Mustangs struggled offensively in the game.

SMU head coach June Jones had other thoughts on his team’s 43-7 loss to Texas Tech – particularly with his starting freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.

“Just a few quarterback mistakes,” said Jones, in his first year at SMU with the run-and-shoot offense. “He didn’t do the things he needed to do but at the same time we didn’t give him a lot of help either. The offensive line did some good things at some points but we just didn’t do anything offensively good to win.”

Mitchell was 10 of 19 in the first half, averaging an interception every five passes. He would finish his night just as it started, tossing his fifth interception and last pass to Daniel Charbonnet with under eight minutes to play in the third quarter. Tech would score seven plays later to take a 36-0 lead.

He left the game after the turnover and finished 13 of 24 for 155 yards and five interceptions while backup quarterback Logan Turner came in to get some reps.

Mitchell became the first SMU quarterback to throw five interceptions in a single game since Ramon Flanigan against Wyoming in 1996.

SMU quarterbacks have struggled against Tech in the Mike Leach era. The most yards passing by any Mustang signal-caller since 2000 was Richard Bartel in 2003 (195). No SMU quarterback has ever thrown for more than one touchdown in a game against the Red Raiders. The last five quarterbacks to face Tech – including Mitchell – have all thrown for fewer than 200 yards each in a single game and have combined for a 47.6 completion percentage.

“I won’t be done learning this offense until the end of the year,” Mitchell said. “I’m glad I’ve picked up what I’ve picked up so far. The thing is, you can only learn so much in practice. It’s all about game-time decisions and getting out there and playing the games and going against a defense with another color.”

Jones could not let Mitchell take the heat himself and said it also fell on him not preparing his freshman quarterback well enough for this type of road game. Mitchell led Katy to the Texas 5A Division II state championship a year ago and Jones said Saturday night’s showing was nothing short of a young kid trying to do too much.

“I talked a little bit with him on the sideline already,” Jones said. “In high school, he hadn’t been a real passing quarterback. You scramble around – you run the ball. You can’t throw it back into the middle of the field.

“You see the same things with rookies in the NFL. He’s an 18-year-old kid trying to make something happen and he’s just got to learn to play within himself.”

Penalties and two sacks kept the SMU offense from getting in the end zone twice when the Mustangs were within striking distance and trailed only 15-0 in the first half after giving up three turnovers to Tech. An interception thrown to Darcel McBath at Tech’s 2-yard line was the closest Mitchell came to throwing a pass in the end zone.