STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Kevin Jennings was stunned, sad and cold. SMU’s quarterback had been pulled from the final minutes of a 38-10 College Football Playoff loss to Penn State having thrown three interceptions — with two returned for touchdowns. Now he had to watch and wait for the clock to run out. It was a nightmare on his biggest stage.
As SMU players walked off the field when the game was mercifully over, head coach Rhett Lashlee stood near the tunnel to encourage as many individual players as possible on their way to the locker room. When Jennings came by, Lashlee hugged him and offered some words of encouragement.
“I believe in you,” Lashlee told his quarterback. “Everybody believes in you.”
It’s similar to what Lashlee tells his own kids before bed. Relationships matter to the coach, the product of an early childhood with divorced parents, and he wanted to do everything possible to keep Jennings’ head up.
The future is still bright for Jennings and this program, even after a game in which everything that could go wrong went wrong.
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With 22 wins over two years and a CFP appearance, SMU redefined the program and changed its identity for future generations. We can stop talking about the NCAA “Death Penalty” from nearly 40 years ago. We can stop talking about the Southwest Conference and what could’ve been. We can stop talking about the build. That’s all been overcome.
“I hope it gives you guys something else to write about,” Lashlee said in the bowels of Penn State’s Beaver Stadium.” We’ve been revived. That’s over, that chapter is closed. We’ve moved on. It’s a part of our history like everybody has their history. This team raised the standard and expectations for SMU football.”
Mustang Family, thank you for your unwavering support throughout our first season in the ACC.
We’ll be back and better than ever in 2025 ✌️ #PonyUp pic.twitter.com/JdGrEiSDA5
— SMU Football (@SMUFB) December 22, 2024
This isn’t an upstart program anymore. It’s one of the best in the ACC, and what should concern the rest of the conference is that SMU’s overall talent floor should only improve from here.
This year’s team was mostly a Group of 5 roster with Power 4 transfers, a team that still went 8-1 against ACC opponents and reached the CFP. The ACC invitation came in September 2023. The fruits of that through recruiting are only starting.
The Mustangs’ 2025 high school class ranks 32nd nationally and fifth in the ACC. That’s up from dead last in the ACC the year prior while they were still competing in the American. They’ve already been a top destination for transfer for years.
“We raised the bar in recruiting, we raised it in operations, we raised it in equipment, video, coaching and playing,” offensive coordinator Casey Woods said. “Our fans raised it, what they’ve invested. Our administration has raised their level. With that comes raised expectations. We set a school record for our attendance. Our fans understand what’s going on.”
Several key pieces at the top will be back. Lashlee signed a contract extension, and keeping defensive coordinator Scott Symons — he also signed an extension — was critical, coming off a season in which he was a semifinalist for the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.
Jennings is the clear No. 1 quarterback after battling for the job throughout the offseason and the first few weeks of this season, and he’ll be a fourth-year junior. He took the job from Preston Stone, who is now off to Northwestern. Jennings’ ceiling is obvious. He completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,245 yards and 23 touchdowns, with 354 yards and five more touchdowns on the ground. He also had 11 interceptions and several fumbles. Lashlee described it as two bad games out of 14.
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“Everyone’s seen what he’s capable of,” Lashlee said. “Now, just like anyone else, you go into the offseason with room to improve. If you’re going to be a special player, you gotta do a lot of special things and value the ball. Nobody cares about that more than him, and I have no doubt he’ll be better for it.”
There will be holes to fill. Gone will be first-team All-ACC running back Brashard Smith, first-team defensive lineman Jared Harrison-Hunte, second-team center Jakai Clark and honorable mention defensive end Elijah Roberts, all former transfers from Miami. Linebacker Kobe Wilson is also out of eligibility.
New faces will have to emerge at receiver, where three of the top four pass-catchers are on their way out. Talented tight end RJ Maryland was getting NFL looks before a season-ending knee injury in October, and he has a decision to make on coming back or going pro. He was still on crutches last weekend, a big loss to the offense in the second half of the season.
But as Jennings will return to lead the offense, first-team All-ACC safety Isaiah Nwokobia will be back to lead the defense. Receiver Jordan Hudson tied for the team lead in touchdowns. The secondary will have a lot of talent coming back. And SMU has already added some key transfers in Arkansas center Addison Nichols (beating out Florida State), Oklahoma offensive lineman Joshua Bates, Miami running back Christopher Johnson and Kansas edge rusher Deshawn Warner, all of whom were four-star recruits who have multiple years of eligibility remaining. There will be more additions before next season kicks off.
Whenever a team changes conferences or plays in a major bowl game for the first time in many years (or ever), there’s external pressure to prove you belong. SMU in particular needed to show outsiders it didn’t simply buy its way into the ACC. In one season, SMU erased the doubt, winning more games than fellow ACC newcomers Cal and Stanford combined. The CFP selection debate won’t end, but there’s nothing SMU can do about that now.
No future is certain — just look at what happened to TCU and Washington after national championship appearances amid talent turnover. Winning 11 games a third year in a row will be tough for SMU with Clemson, Miami and Syracuse on the 2025 schedule. But everything foundationally about SMU football looks to be on the upswing.
“SMU is back in the standard of the national stage playing with power conference schools, and we’re coming and winning with power conference schools,” Lashlee said. “Now we have to see, can we sustain it? Now we have to see, can we take it even further over time? If you told anybody going into Year 1 in the ACC that we’d go undefeated in conference play, play for a championship and be in the College Football Playoff, nobody would believe you. Hopefully, the more distance we get from this (Penn State loss), that’s what is remembered.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t finish the way we wanted, but we’ll be back.”
(Photo: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
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