'They've Altered Who They Are': How SMU Coach Rhett Lashlee, QB Kevin Jennings View Boston College

For the opening segment of his post-practice press conference on Tuesday, SMU football head coach Rhett Lashlee briefly discussed his relationship with BC football head coach Bill O’Brien and defensive coordinator Ted Roof, including what he sees in this year’s version of Eagles.

According to Lashlee, this BC (2-2, 0-1 AC) squad, which will face the No. 21-ranked Mustangs (3-1, 1-1) on Saturday in Dallas, Texas, will be quite different from the ones he’s coached against the past two years.

“Kind of unique,” Lashlee said of the Eagles. “They’ve kind of altered who they are offensively, which I think just shows you that [O’Brien’s] willing to do what he thinks gives him the best chance to win.”

Those differences in BC’s offensive scheme, Lashlee deduced, has mostly derived from the player snapping the ball — quarterback Mason McKenzie.

“They got a really good quarterback who can throw it, who can run it,” Lashlee said. “They’re running a lot of different flavors of offense than what he’s done the last couple years. I think [O’Brien’s] playing to his strengths, and they really kind of grind out drives, keep the ball away from you.”

In terms of the Eagles’ new style of offense, which has largely centered around letting McKenzie run the ball freely, Lashlee said it mildly reminds him of the way programs like Army and Navy push the ball down the field.

“They’re not like playing Army or Navy, but a similar style,” Lashlee said.

On the defensive side, meanwhile, Lashlee knows a thing or two about the way the unit is coached, as he spent two years at Auburn as a graduate assistant back when Roof was the Tigers’ defensive coordinator.

Those years included Auburn’s 14-0 campaign and BCS National Championship in 2010, in which the Tigers held Oregon to 19 points, which was 30 below the Ducks’ average that season, in the national title game.

“I’ve known Ted Roof for a long time,” Lashlee said. “We won a national title together when he was the defensive coordinator, so he’s a national championship-winning coordinator and a really good friend. … Him and his wife, Pam, had twin boys, and they were probably in the teenage years, or maybe they were [around] 10. They were a little further along than us, so we got some good wisdom from them [for our children].”

In last year’s meeting in Chestnut Hill, Mass., the Eagles got smoked by SMU 45-13, but Lashlee is aware of how much improvement the program has made on both sides of the ball since that point, particularly defensively.

“Ted’s coached a lot of ball, and you can already see they’re better than they were a year ago in both phases,” Lashlee said. “They’ve got an identity, and almost got a good win at home last week, so we’re about to be ready to play.”

This game will also mark SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings’ fourth time playing against BC, as he made his first start against the program as a freshman in the 2023 Wasabi Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park.

“We played them the last three years, and they’re a really hard-fought team,” Jennings, one of the top quarterbacks in the nation, said. “We know they’re gonna come with a lot of physicality and all that. They’re a good team, so as long as we go out there and execute, we know what we can do. I think we’ll be fine, for sure.”

Follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Tiktok for the latest Boston College news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google