– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — For three months, the SMU Mustangs have made the move up to the big leagues of major conference football look a whole lot easier than it really is, especially inside the friendly confines of Big D. But, finally, reality set in for the men in black on Saturday afternoon, dressed more like the country western villains who huff and puff yet eventually get thwarted on their way to get the gold. That was the case for about 35 minutes, until SMU found its legs on offense on their way to becoming heroes at the end of the film while taking one step closer to unprecedented heights with the program.
Quarterback Kevin Jennings threw for three touchdowns while running back Brashard Smith ran for 120 yards and a score as No. 14 SMU came back from a rare deficit at home in the second half to surge past Boston College 38-28 inside Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Saturday. The game wasn’t sealed until the last of Jennings’ touchdown tosses, a 5-yard pass to Key’Shawn Smith with under 10 seconds remaining to keep the Mustangs undefeated in their inaugural year in the Atlantic Coast Conference and move them within two wins in their final two games to assuring a place in the conference championship game in Charlotte on the first weekend of December.
“I think you saw tonight how [the players] are handling it. There’s a lot of pressure, more probably put on by themselves, and they just want to win. They want it,” said SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee. “When the game was the tightest tonight, we played our best. And so I think that’s the best evidence I can tell you for how they’re handling it.”
The Mustangs’ best was needed after Boston College took the opening drive of the second half down the field for a touchdown to take a 21-20 lead, capped off by a 20-yard scoring run by Eagles quarterback and Texas native Grayson James. It took SMU just six plays and 1:53 to retake the lead, as Jennings threw a perfect lobbed pass to Jordan Hudson for a 38-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs the lead again. Smith ran in the two-point conversion for a seven-point lead.
“Good teams find a way to win,” Jennings said. “We get preached on all week to put our head down, put our blinders on and just look straight.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 42 pictures in total.
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