No.22 SMU overcome first half struggles to beat Missouri State 34-24

DALLAS, Texas — The No. 22 SMU Mustangs (3-1, 1-1 ACC) beat the Missouri State Bears (1-3) 34-24 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium Saturday night in University Park. Senior quarterback Kevin Jennings threw for 464 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in another historic game for the Mustangs quarterback. Jennings became the all-time leading touchdown leader in SMU history in the win while breaking two other records in the process, including the all-time career yardage record and the second-most straight completions in the ACC.

SMU Head Football Coach Rhett Lashlee praised his quarterback and his team's performance after the win.

“It’s good to get a win, it's hard to get a win in College Football. We certainly made it hard on ourselves. I thought Kevin Jennings was fantastic,” said Lashlee in the post-game press conference after the win. “He was awesome, he made us go. They did a nice job of not letting us be explosive, but we moved the ball well. I think we punted one time. Defensively, with the one exception with the run on the opening field we did a good job defensively for the most part all night.”

SMU displayed its offensive explosiveness on the team's return home after a tough top 25 conference loss last week. However, even with the offensive fireworks that saw Lashlee’s team put up close to 600 yards of total offense. SMU had a handful of miscues to open up the game.

The Mustangs found themselves in a two-score hole due to multiple miscues in the opening half. SMU turned the ball over on downs on their first offensive drive before a fumble from senior wide receiver Yamir Knight gave the football back to Missouri State after a defensive stop.

The fumble led to the Bears putting up the first points of the game with a 35-yard field goal to put the visiting team up 3-0 early in the first quarter. However, the Bears would continue to put up points on the scoreboard early. The very next drive, Jennings was picked off by Missouri State senior defensive back Joel Boamah, who rushed into the end zone to put the Bears up 10-0 with two minutes left in the opening quarter.

SMU would piece together its longest drive to end the first quarter, driving downfield in 11 plays for 78 yards as senior running back Kendrick Raphael punched in the Mustangs' first touchdown of the game from a yard out to get SMU on the scoreboard.

The Mustangs would continue to force defensive stops for the remainder of the quarter and after a missed field goal on its penultimate offensive drive of the half. Jennings would drive the offense downfield 87 yards in a minute and change as the fifth-year senior connected with senior tight end Theo Melin Öhrström from 19 yards out to give SMU its first lead of the game in the dying seconds of the second quarter. SMU would take its first lead of the game into the locker room up 14-10 heading into halftime after a rollercoaster opening half.

Jennings spoke on how, despite the early adversity to start the game, the team knew they too had to respond.

“A little adversity came early, but we knew we had to respond and play the full game. That's what we did,” said Jennings after the game. “I feel like we played a pretty good game in the second half and got after it. We just can’t start that slow again. We have to keep the same tempo up the whole game and finish games.”

SMU would keep the hot hand coming out of the locker room as the Mustangs forced a punt to start the half, before again driving downfield in a 10-play, 80-yard drive with Jennings rushing into the endzone from a yard out for his first rushing touchdown of the season to extend the SMU lead 21-10 early in the third quarter.

Nevertheless, the Bears would not go away. After a missed SMU field goal from 42 yards out, Missouri State trudged through the third quarter. The Bears would eventually score their first offensive touchdown of the game to start the fourth quarter as senior quarterback Skyler Locklear connected with senior wide receiver Isaiah Myers from 15 yards out as Missouri State converted on the two-point conversion to hang around and keep the game within a score at 21-18 with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs were able to regain momentum again with a defensive stop before Jennings found Knight for a 28-yard score to push the lead to double digits once again. SMU would hold off a Missouri State response with a takeaway of their own.

The Mustangs intercepted Missouri State senior backup quarterback Henry Belin IV, who attempted to push the ball downfield when senior linebacker Brandon Booker intercepted Belin’s pass for his first takeaway of the season. Booker's interception helped push the Mustangs over the top as Jennings found Melin Öhrström once again from 23 yards out on the first play of the drive to go up 34-18 with four minutes left in the game. The touchdown pass to his senior tight end put Jennings as the all-time leading touchdown leader in program history with 77.

Missouri State would grab a late consolation score when Belin IV connected with senior tight end Dillon Hipp from 18 yards out to cut the lead back to 10 in the final minute of the game. Nevertheless, SMU would hold on and secure the win after a chaotic opening half and pick up its third win of the season.

After the win, despite another offensive game where moving the ball came with ease. Costly miscues and turnovers still popped up. Lashlee harped on that despite the miscues, his team continues to keep believing in each other and that if the Mustangs can find a way to cut out the self-inflicted wounds, it could push them into another territory of how good they can be this season.

“We self-inflict and make things really hard on ourselves, but they keep playing,” said Lashlee. “They keep playing together, and they keep believing. That's why if we can just cut out some of the self-inflicted things, then it would be fun to see how good we could be because they are a close group, they do like each other, they do stick together, and they do respond. That's a great character trait to have in football.”

The Mustangs will remain home and host Boston College next week at 11:00 AM at Gerald J. Ford Stadium as SMU heads full steam ahead into conference play.

Stay up-to-date on SMU athletics by bookmarking SMU On SI.

Add us as a preferred source on Google