Everything Rhett Lashlee said after SMU beat No. 22 Louisville, 34-27

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee met with the media on Saturday after his team beat Louisville, 34-27, on the road to move to 5-1.

Opening statement: “It’s really hard to win on the road in conference, so we’re really fortunate to get a road win in conference against a ranked, really good football team, really well coached team by Coach Brohm. Classy team, they play the game the right way. Got a lot of respect for them, but, man, just proud of our guys. We wanted to start fast. We did. And I was proud of our guys taking the lead at half. We knew they’d make a run, and that’s what happens when you’re on the road, they did. Third quarter wasn’t great for us. We moved the ball on offense and didn’t get a lot of points, think we got three, missed one (field goal) and they hit some big plays. But fourth quarter, our guys did what we talked about all week, was finishing each play. Just finish was the mindset of the week. Finish each play. Finish each play, so we can finish the game. We got to the fourth quarter tied, they had the ball our territory, our defense bowed up. I think we got a fourth-and-1 stop. We had the punt. We got another stop. We had a 90ish-yard drive on offense, was big. Was clutch. Kevin made some big plays. I thought. Most importantly, we ran the football on that drive. And then our defense got them on the ground on an explosive late. They made a great call on fourth-and-short, and then we got the big sack. I think three sacks for us, no sacks for them, which is a tribute to our O-line and Kevin for extending some plays. Just fired up to be 2-0 conference going into the bye week.”

On SMU’s 89-yard TD drive: “We played pretty well in the first half on offense. I think we punted once and moved the ball well. We were explosive. We finished more drives. Second half, we were struggling once we got past midfield to finish the drives. Credit them, they made some good adjustments. Some of it was some self-inflicted stuff from us. But we had, we didn’t have a lot of momentum offensively and our guys just locked in. I think we did a better job, our staff made some good adjustments. We struggled a little bit running the ball with the running game, if Kevin wasn’t, and we did, we ran the ball. I think the first two plays, we ran the ball, got a first down, made some plays. Kevin had a big third down and 6 or 7 scramble. And then Brashard finally busted a big run. Junior had a big run. And then LJ came in and finished it off. So I think the balance was key on that drive, which is who we want to be. We just struggled a bit in the third quarter.”

On SMU QB Kevin Jennings: “Awesome, awesome, awesome. I was told he’s the first SMU quarterback since 2014 to have over 200 passing, over 100 rushing. It was 281, he was 22-of-28 for 281 yards. 22-of-28 is super efficient, and we were throwing it down the field a lot more this game. We missed just a couple of them that were close. Had two really close ones to Jordan, one the Key’Shawn, kid made a great play for them. He was efficient starting from the first play of the game. And then, obviously, some big scrambles, some big runs. I mean, the big touchdown run, they zeroed us out on third-and-2 and think we said on the headset, we saw they were zeroing us out, ‘It’s either we’re really going to be short or we’re going to score a touchdown.’ Thank God we scored the touchdown. Just calm. I mean, it got loud in the third quarter when we were struggling a little bit, as it should on the road, and you wouldn’t have known any different. He was like playing with nobody in the stadium. So really proud of him.”

On Preston Stone throwing that TD pass: “No hesitation at all. I mean, who has someone like Preston Stone to step into that situation? We do and just really cool. We had a run play called on the 5, not because Preston was in, but because we were on the 5. We fall started, backed us up. We called RPO. We had a run play with a glance called and as we do a lot, Preston, who hadn’t played much lately, obviously cold, sees they’re pressing side leverage, checks to the fade and one play, one touchdown.”

On Jennings’ growth: “I think he’s gotten better with each game. When he came in at BYU, I don’t think he played bad, but we didn’t win. And then he played really good, efficient ball against TCU. Made the plays that were there. Just kind of like, we kind of say here as our quarterbacks, we want them to be like point guards. We want them to just distribute the ball to their playmakers, run the show. They’re the maestro, if you will. They don’t have to do it all. There’s going to be four or five plays a game that they got to make wild plays. The third-and-6 today, a couple of other scrambles. For most part, just do your job, get the ball where it needs to go, trust your teammates. He did that. Then we played Florida State, thought he was lights out. And then today, on the road, even better. Really proud of him. Think he’s getting better and better each game.”

On SMU’s defense: “I think our whole unit. Like I said, the third quarter, they made a great run. Both sides of the ball, for us, we could have been better. But we got to the fourth quarter and our guys were really intentional on finishing. They believe in what we do and they believe in each other. I think they had the ball, I don’t know, 30, 40-yard line going in to start the fourth quarter and we end up getting a fourth-and-1 stop. We shut them out in the fourth quarter. We got three timely sacks in this game. Got the turnover at the end. I know we gave up two or three explosives we’d like back, but they kept getting them on the ground. I think we held them to two critical field goals in the first half. That’s big in a game like this, with a really good offense, they’re going to move the ball. Get them on the ground, hold them to three, we did that. And then in the fourth quarter, to pitch a shutout when it mattered, that was really huge. I think our D-line started setting the tone. We got after the passer. We were able to stop the run and we made the plays in the back end.”

On how SMU handled momentum swings: “It was like a conference road game in the Power 4. This is how they’re all going to be, but we’ve never been here before. So, for our kids to respond the way they did was awesome because that’s how it goes. When the momentum swings on the road it just feels a lot more dramatic than it is, because the crowd’s against you, right? And so for our guys to just not flinch and just keep playing and the moment never got (too big). You know, a lot of teams that are up 24-11 and a half, 27-20, 27-all going in fourth quarter, all the momentum with the home team, it’s really easy to fold and come in here and go, ‘Man, we played really well. We had our chances. We just, we’ve got to learn to finish on the road.’ And our guys kind of just stood up and said, ‘No. We’re going to finish now.’ So I’m really proud of them.”

On navigating the move up to the ACC: “Our leadership on our team. It’s their team. They did such a good job after that BYU loss. Going for 15 days and a bye week after a losses stinks, so I’m really glad we’re going into this one after a win. But they trusted each other, they trusted the coaches, the staff, they trusted the process and they just went one game at a time and they just knocked off TCU, then Florida State and at Louisville. And look, we haven’t done anything yet, other than put ourselves in position going into the second half of the season to play meaningful games. And you know, again, we still understand the growing pains, like physically week-in, week-out. We’ve played for those 10. We’ve got six more to go. This bye week comes at a really good time because these last three games were really physical for us. But as a coach, I can’t put into words. I can’t be more proud of our guys. They are just, theyre champions and I’m really proud them.”

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On SMU DL depth factoring in: “I think so. I think when we can roll our two-deep and there’s no drop off, that’s a big deal. When we can play four safeties for three spots and not have a drop off and same thing at linebacker with those top three guys. I think it’s the same thing at the skill spots on offense. I think our death did win out, which was a big deal.”

On Collin Rogers’ record-setting day: “Well, I think the next step for him, we’ve got to work on his celebration. These kickers aren’t used to celebrating. He likes to, we’ve got to, got to get him some swag on his celebrations. But the 55-yarder was big, right before half, I believe. So that’s the one that broke Eric Dickerson, Doak Walker and Xavier Jones, that’s some big time company there. He’s been big for us this year. I know we put him in some tough situations. I think that was another 50-yarder was only one he missed. He’s been big for us this year. That’s a weapon offensively when you can be aggressive knowing that once you get past the 40, you’re in scoring range. That’s a big deal in college football. So really proud of him. And he’s just halfway through his junior year. So hopefully he’s going to put some distance on those big names with that record, I think.”

On Isaiah Nwokobia grabbing that interception: “Look, that quarterback’s really good. They know how to dial it up. They put us in a lot of stressful situations. They hit some big plays, but they just kept battling. Kept battling. Thought our defensive line, like I said, in the fourth quarter, really affected the quarterback and we were able to get him on the ground. That’s always scary. I mean, they throw the ball in the end zone with about six guys there. They could catch it, there could be PI and Zay just attacked the ball more than anybody else. I’m proud of him.”

On starting fast lately: “We didn’t start fast the first three weeks. So, that’s probably coaching. Yeah, it’s a coaching problem. But I think our last three games we’ve gone field goal, touchdown, touchdown. So, I don’t know if there’s a common theme. We’ve been saying it since last year, ‘Start strong, stay strong, finish strong. Great, sounds good, got to do it. We started strong, we finished strong today. And while there were some times in the middle, but they’re good. That’s going to happen. We hung in there and reserved the right to get to the fourth quarter and win the game. Look, if you can start fast, especially on the road, it’s a big deal. I think it was big that we went touchdown, they scored, we went right back down and scored. Offensively we got out to a fast start and then that allowed us to play good team ball. And then the second half when we were struggling offensively, our defense had a bunch of stops in a row to kind of hang in there. That’s what good teams do.”