3 takeaways from Shane Buechele’s nailbiting Week 1 win over Texas St

3) Takeaways from Shane Buechele’s Week 1 performance: The deep ball wins the day

SMU did lose some of their skill position weapons from last year’s team, but most of those departed players were from running back. Wide receiver returned a good bit of talent and experience for the Mustangs this fall. The main names to watch in the receiving corps moving forward should be former West Virginia transfer and senior Reggie Roberson Jr., sophomore Rashee Rice, and junior Danny Gray.

Maybe the most potent of the wide receivers for SMU, that Buechele will have at his disposal, this year is Roberson Jr. The 6-foot and 200 pound former Mountaineer has more than 100 receptions, for 1,635 receiving yards, and 13 touchdown catches in his college career between SMU and West Virginia thus far.

Roberson Jr. added six catches for 99 yards and SMU’s lone receiving touchdown in this win over Texas State. He averaged just shy of 19 yards per catch last year, and now looks to be on a similar pace after the season opener.

As far as Buechele’s job of spreading the ball around in this game went, his mission was accomplished. He completed 26 of his 36 passing attempts in the win, and found eight different pass catchers in the process. There were four SMU receivers that each had for or more receptions on the day.

An area where Buechele really thrived in this game was with his longer passes. Buechele has always had a solid deep ball, but this game really showed his ability in this regard. He averaged more than 10 yards per pass, and had four receivers with at least one catch of 30 yards. The one passing touchdown on the day for Buechele was a 51-yard bomb to Roberson Jr.