Rhett Lashlee disputes 'any evidence' SMU's Brandon Crossley spit at Nevada player

SMU Mustangs defensive back Brandon Crossley was ejected from the team’s win over the Nevada Wolf Pack for what the referees described as spitting on an opponent. Now, head coach Rhett Lashlee is disputing that’s what happened on the play.

As Lashlee explained, when he went back to watch the film of the play, he didn’t see any evidence that Crossley spit on a Nevada player.

CLICK HERE to go to PrizePicks and use code ON3 to receive a guaranteed $50 once you play $5 in lineups!

“I don’t feel like there’s any evidence that he misrepresented our program in that moment. … I don’t know if it went down exactly as they said it was,” Rhett Lashlee said.

Initially following the game, before Lashlee had the chance to watch any film of the play, Lashlee explained, “Officials make calls and we got to live with it and they do a good job running the game.” He also added that the team needs to be more disciplined.

The game against Nevada was a sloppy one for SMU. Part of that could be attributed to it being the first game of the season. However, the Mustangs had 11 penalties for 125 yards in the game. That included the ejection as well as unsportsmanlike conduct penalties relating to an apparent punch being thrown in the first half.

Watch College Football Games Live -Try for Free Fubo! Click HERE NOW

Nevada also struggled with its discipline in the game, accumulating 11 penalties for 81 yards.

After the game, Rhett Lashlee was clearly frustrated with how his team lacked discipline in the game and he called it the worst SMU has ever been in that regard during his time as the head coach there.

“That probably is the most undisciplined game we’ve played since I’ve been the head coach here. Not proud of that. I think we had 11 penalties for over 100 yards that were accepted,” Lashlee said.

“Some really self-inflicted wounds. It made it really hard on our offense for about really the first half to get any kind of momentum or anything going because as soon as we get a first down, it felt like we were in 2nd and 15 or 2nd and 20 and 1st and 20 because of penalties we had. But we found a way to win the fourth quarter, I think, down two scores, ball on the 2-yard line with around two minutes to go. Guys dug deep. So, it’s not always how you win, it’s that we won and we’re 1-0.”

In the end, even with the penalty issues and ejection, SMU was able to win 29-24.