Everything Rhett Lashlee said after SMU's 38-28 win over BC

SMU took down BC in a tight, 38-28, win on Saturday afternoon. After the game, Rhett Lashlee had lots to say about his team’s performance:

Opening statement:

All right. Well, really excited to get the win. It was a really good team win. Credit Boston College, they did a really nice job of running the ball and grinding out the clock and just being really hard to get off the field. And I thought Kevin played great. I thought we really played well offensively the first three quarters. A couple of times early in the game, we settled for a field goal we missed and had to settle for another one, but we moved the ball really well, especially when our defense was struggling to get off the field. Then late, I think we only punted twice, I think it was our last two drives, when we didn’t convert a few drives late. Our defense finally stepped up, did what they needed to do. Big, big shout out to our crowd and to our student section. I heard this was a Top 10 largest crowd in the history of SMU tonight. We’ve already set the attendance record for a season and we’ve got a game left. They were there in the fourth quarter when we needed them. It was loud that last drive when we got them in those must-pass situations and our D line went to work. So, just proud of our guys. We knew it’d be hard. It’s gonna be hard to win every week. It’s gonna get harder and harder as the season shrinks and the games mean more. I thought our team showed a lot of grit all night. You know, we didn’t play bad, and they played well, and there were times that we did some things to keep them in it. But, I mean, I thought they played a really good game, BC, and we’re really fortunate to get the win.

On his key takeaways from the game:

“Yeah, they came out and they played, credit them, they played with 5 D linemen, a little bit more than, they’d shown it some, but more than you would think they would against us, just because the way we play, and a little bit more odd front. Fine, you know, at this point of the year, you’ve seen it all. I think early on, it kind of slowed down the run game a little bit for us. So that was some good change up for them. And then it just got to where they were playing one-on-one, and I thought Kevin and our wide receivers had a really good night. We missed a few, and then we were able to, in the third quarter, I think, get our balance going again and run the ball a little bit better. I mean, it was up and down. I thought Kevin was really, really good, especially in the first half, on third down, extending plays and moving the sticks. I thought he took the game over. The interception was on me. It was a really bad call. Put him in a bad situation. We also should have slid out and protected it better, but I put our team in a bad situation with that call based on the way they played it. Still, he had Roderick, the ball sailed on him, he was getting hit as he throws, and it sails. But yeah, we’ve kind of been spoiled. Other than the Duke game in the conference, our games haven’t been as tight late, but this is what I thought every game would be like in the fourth quarter. Y’all remember early in the season I said, ‘Man, all these games are gonna come down to one, two possessions in the fourth quarter.’ And there it was. I think it was gritty because we responded when we needed to. They go down make it 17-14 right before half, and we throw a pick, our defense responds and gets a pick and then we go still three points. I think our team’s done a good job of that this year. And then, to start second half, they go right down and score, and instantly we’re behind, the offense goes right down the field and scores, and we’re back ahead. And now we’re playing with the lead the whole second half. Late, they score to make it 31-28; we aren’t able to possess the ball on offense. The defense gets the stop. That’s good team ball. That’s what championship-caliber teams have to do. So I’m just really proud of our guys with all the pressure, all the things that were going on, against a really good, physical BC team, that’s my takeaway.”

On the defensive line creating pressure on the final drive:

No, I wasn’t because we got a lot of good pass rushers. Not having Elijah hurt us, stopping the run some, because he’s a good all-around player. We did a good job, they were never explosive running the football, but because of the way the game went it was able to stay fairly tight. We got up 17-7 and we were never able to make it a three-score game. Then, late in the second half, we got up 31-21, and we were never able to make it a three-score game. We allowed them to stay within striking distance and play their game plan, which was grind it out, getting third-and-shorts. Thought they did a nice job converting on some third downs. There was a couple in the first half, like a third-and-20, a second-and-goal from the 19. We’ve got to get off the field, but credit them for making some plays. That last drive was the first time we had them in a position where they had to throw the ball, and I thought you saw what we were able to do. So again, just a gritty performance all around.

On in-game decisions throughout the game:

Yeah, I didn’t want to call a time out there, but we were not in a good situation defensively and I had to make a split-second decision. I would have loved to let it go, but if they snap the ball there now, I mean, they’re probably going to get a yard, but we had a problem, so I had to call time out. I didn’t want to. I hate doing that. We have to do that often, at times, and then they came out and got the yard and a half. Of course, now, in hindsight, if we stop them there, it’s a big deal, but it wasn’t a good exchange for us.

Yeah, so, we were up three and they had two time-outs. So, we had to run the ball. I thought one of the biggest plays was Jordan’s play on second down because he can’t run out of bounds there. And you’re in that weird mode of, analytics guys are gonna tell you, ‘SMU is wrong for scoring.’ I don’t really care what they think. But, we weren’t worried about scoring, we were worried about them not getting the ball back in a one-position game. And so, we told Jed, you can’t go out of bounds, all our guys know this, you can’t go out of bounds unless you get in the first down. Well, he didn’t get the first down, but he got us to third and short. We weren’t able to get the tough yard on the next play; I think Junior came up just a little short. But we were able to run it down to, I believe, 12 seconds. And so, if we kick a field goal, and they block it and run back for a touchdown, we lose. And so we didn’t want to give them that option. If we do kick it and make it, we’ve got to kick off to them. We’re only up six; they run it back, and we lose. So you know what, let’s let’s try to convert it. Not necessarily score, if we score, that’s fine. Let’s try to convert it; the ball game’s over. In that case, with that little bit of time, if we score up 10, the ball game is over. But if we don’t get it, and especially by flipping a Jet Sweep that’s going to take 4-6 seconds, they’re going to have one, maybe two plays on a minus-5, [I] like our odds there a little bit better. So that was the whole basis behind it, and it worked out. Key’Shawn got in [the end zone].

On handling the pressure in the moment:

I think you saw tonight how they’re handling it. I mean, I thought, there’s a lot of pressure, more probably put on by themselves. I mean, they just want to win. They want it. And when the game was the tightest tonight, we played our best. And so I think that’s the best evidence I can tell you for how they’re handling it. As far as how I’m handling it, I don’t know. I’m just taking it one minute at a time, but proud of our guys. Job’s not done, but we’re still in control of our destiny, and that’s all that really matters.

On the explosive plays and players on the SMU offense:

We’re scoring points. We’re hard to stop because of those guys. You could see the plays Kevin was making tonight, there’s no guru play-calling going on there, other than we’re putting him in a position to do what he does well and giving him the flexibility and freedom to do it. I think he does a really good job of improvising and valuing the football, and that’s the secret sauce. And then, yeah, Brashard’s a home run guy. I think he was disappointed; we’re kind of disappointed he didn’t score on that one before half. And then we had him open again on the linebacker on the fade, we just didn’t give him a chance like we did on the one we got the PI. That’d have been big, but those guys are playmakers, and so I think that’s what coaching is, is just put guys in position to do what they do best and let them play and don’t put them in a box. There has to be some guidelines, there’s got to be some structure and discipline, but let them go play. It’s a player’s game, and we’re going to trust those guys to the end.

On the composure the team showed tonight:

We had two times tonight that I was, one I was disappointed in, the other one I’m still disappointed in, but I get it. Right after we threw the interception, I think Jakai will be the first to tell you he can’t do what he did. That gave them an extra 15 yards. Luckily, our defense bailed us out. The one later on, on Jordan, I didn’t see everything, but he was defending a teammate. Can’t do that in a moment like that. For whatever reason, every time they were tackling Kevin Jennings, they were trying to twist his ankle. I don’t know why. We told the officials. They can’t see it, and if they can’t see it, they can’t call it, so I appreciate that. But that’s bad ball. And so those guys were standing up for their quarterback. But overall, I do think, look, I’m going to make bad play calls, guys are going to make bad plays, calls are going to go against you. It’s a human game; it’s the human element. That’s the game; we’re going to compete and fight our tails off. But they do a great job of letting me worry about that and playing the next play. I think we’ve got a mature team. I didn’t know it until someone told me, I think we’ve won 18 of our last 20. That’s crazy, but it just shows you that these guys expect to win. I think that’s probably why, in those tight moments, they have that composure.

On Savion Byrd’s injury status:

I don’t know any details. He tweaked his knee a little right before the half. No one’s told me it’s serious, but Garin just felt like he wasn’t all there, and so Chamblee went in, and I think, for the most part, he did a really nice job in the second half. I don’t think we had any major injuries. I’ll get an update, but there’s no one I know of, and we do expect to get Elijah back next week.

On certain wide receivers stepping up tonight:

Well, it’s kind of the way they played us. I mean, they do a good job. They’re multiple all year long, so I wouldn’t say they did, other than playing a little more odd and five-down linemen. They’ve been a lot of quarters, three and man all year, and they played predominantly three-in-man tonight, which is single high. So basically, our outside receivers were one-on-one and they were playing off enough, that’s why you saw us having to kind of dump it down about 10 yards. And then the couple of times they pressed, we had Jordan on the touchdown. We just felt like Kevin was seeing it well, we could get the ball out quickly and we were just basically playing one-on-one on the outside. And so those guys had the match-up. And then, of course, right now Roderick Daniels and Brashard Smith are two of our playmakers, so however we can get them the ball. Probably there were other ways we’d like to get Roderick the ball more. But he does a lot with the touches he gets. We weren’t force-feeding anybody, other than we’re going to hand the ball to 1 a lot. But I thought Jordan Hudson, Key’Shawn Smith, and Moochie Dixon played a really good game tonight.

On the players putting pressure on themselves:

Well, if I said that, I misspoke. I don’t think they’re putting too much pressure on themselves. I’m saying, I think they have higher expectations of themselves than the outside pressure. I think the way they played shows they’re not playing tight. I don’t think they’re playing tight. I think it was a tough matchup for us. We knew coming in Boston College: they’re big, they’re physical, they did it to us in the bowl game last year. They were going to line up, they did it last week against Syracuse and ran for 300 and something yards. So, we held them to 180, which is a lot for us this year, but it’s a whole lot less than last week. So I thought we kept them from being explosive in the run game, but they were able to maintain the ball and we stayed on the field a long time. So it was just a tough matchup. I thought they responded really well. We knew, as a staff, we didn’t over-talk, but you get late in the season and the last three weeks come down to being in contention with a couple of other teams. I mean, they’re the hardest ones to win. First of all, all three of these teams, from BC to Virginia, came into today, and Cal were 5-4. I mean, they all have a winning record, they’re all competing to go to a bowl. They’re pretty motivated. It’s not like we’ve got a bunch of layups left. I thought our guys did a nice job of hanging in there and understanding the only thing we’ve got to do is win. So, I probably misspoke. I thought earlier in the year, we did that, first two or three weeks of the season, I thought we did that. I don’t think we’re doing that. I just think they want it, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

On Kobe Wilson’s performance:

I mean, the only reason, probably, he didn’t break the rock is he’s already broken it this year. Um, 16 tackles are crazy. I thought Isaiah Nwokobia, nine tackles, that big pick. I thought our D-line did a great job, everyone up there. We had to play with three linebackers a lot because of the sets they were in, which is not something we hardly ever do, but we had to put all three linebackers out there. They’re good players, but that just means they’re not rotating the same, so for Kobe to have 16 tackles and probably hardly ever came off the field, that’s pretty impressive.

On last year’s matchup being motivation for this matchup:

We talked about it on Monday. Coach Dunnam did the scout, and he brought it up. You know, we get a chance to run it back and this time we’re not doing it in a baseball stadium in Boston with cold rain, we’re doing it in Ford Stadium. And that’s about the only time [web brought it up]. I mean, they know, they wanted to win. They really wanted to win for a lot of other reasons, but, yeah, I mean, they remembered that, especially that last quarter and a half last year. I think that was the difference. I mean, if you remember last year, we’re in control of the game, even though we’re up 14-10. We throw a ball, Kevin makes an incredible throw, and we drop a touchdown. We go up 21-10 there, who knows? Then, a few plays later, I think we got a kick blocked or partially blocked, and then they just took over the game. And tonight, when it got tight late, we took over the game. So that was a good change. But again, they’re really good. We knew it coming in. We knew it was a tough matchup, and so we’re thankful to try to redeem ourselves from that bowl game last year.

On the balance of success between the offense and the defense:

That’s what you’ve got to do to win consistently and potentially be a championship-caliber team. You’ve got to win in different ways every week. You’ve got to win sometimes when, like I said, I thought, I mean, go back to the Duke game, when we were a turnover machine offensively, we were holding the line on defense. And then you come to tonight where, again, we could have probably finished a few more drives with touchdowns and maybe created the distance we needed, but the offense was moving the ball and scoring and keeping us at least ahead when we were struggling to not only get off the field but keep them out of the end zone. But then it shifts, and now offensively, we’re not able to kind of run the clock out and score and possess the ball, and our defense steps up. Right before half and at the end of the game. I just think it’s just good team ball. And I don’t know, I mean, some years you play it, some years you don’t, these guys have a good knack for it. They know when the moments are big enough, and that’s the grit I’m talking about. When they need to make the plays, they do. They find ways to win. Teams either find ways to win, or they find ways to lose, and our guys have done a nice job of finding ways to win.