UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas -- What a difference a week made for SMU.

Shane Buechele completed 23 of 28 passes for three touchdowns and exactly 300 yards, Ulysses Bentley IV ran for 149 yards and two scores on 25 carries, and the No. 22 Mustangs notched a 51-37 win against Navy on Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

The Midshipmen scored the final 20 points as Sonny Dykes turned to depth for the fourth quarter. But credit the Mustangs (6-1, 3-1 in AAC) for having a strong second quarter -- one where they scored 31 points and built a comfortable lead.

It was a welcomed change from what SMU experienced last week, when the Mustangs couldn't find an answer for Cincinnati in a 42-13 home loss.

"I thought for a while that's probably as well as we've played," Dykes said. "We had a 38-3 run at one point in the game and really felt like after the first few series we played as well as I've seen anyone play against them until the end.

"Same thing on offense. I thought we executed incredibly well and punted one time until garbage time, which we didn't handle very well."

Tasked with stopping Navy's unique triple-option offense -- which has helped the Midshipmen (3-4, 3-2) achieve 10 bowl games in head coach Ken Niumatalolo's first 12 seasons -- the SMU defense recorded 12 tackles for loss and forced a turnover that resulted in three points. Delano Robinson, Chase Cromartie, Richard McBryde and Trevor Denbow each recorded two tackles for loss.

But things were dicey for a quarter and a half. Fortunately, Bentley was as potent as the Navy offense at large. The Midshipmen tried to catch the SMU defense off guard their first possession with four passes for 54 yards en route to a 13-play, 76-yard drive capped by a 3-yard run by fullback Nelson Smith.

Bentley and Buechele combined to erase a 14-7 deficit on second-quarter runs by Bentley of 4 and 18 yards. Those were the first of seven straight possessions for SMU ending in touchdowns with Buechele throwing for 5-, 42- and 20-yard scores in the span, in addition to 10- and 48-yard runs by Tyler Lavine.

Navy answered with a field goal, four punts and a fumble stripped by Terrance Newman and recovered by Gary Wiley, which resulted in a 35-yard SMU field goal from Chris Naggar and a 31-17 lead as the first half expired.

All told, SMU outgained Navy, 555-430, even after the Midshipmen switched to backup quarterback Tyger Goslin, who helped guide his offense to three fourth-quarter scores.

"We knew coming into this week playing Navy, they'e a hard defensive team," Bentley said. "We just focused on that and running hard."

The win helped SMU forget last week's loss to Cincinnati and elevated the program to a game behind Cincinnati and Tulsa atop the AAC standings. SMU next will travel to Philadelphia to face Temple on Nov. 7.

"Coming into this game, the goal was to finish," McBryde said. "We didn't really do that, but we knew we had to win. We started preparation for this week [back in] Week 1. We worked a little bit on Navy because we barely see that offense in college football, and it's something you have to work on."