Everything SMU QB Kevin Jennings said after loss to Penn State

SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings spoke with the media following the 38-10 loss to Penn State on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say to reporters.

Q. Hey, Kevin. Jeff with Fox Dallas. How can you bounce back from and use this performance as a positive as you look forward to next year and I saw when you walked off the field you had a big embrace with Coach Lashlee. What did he say to you in that moment?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, he just told me, I mean, we got to move on from this, games like that. It can’t happen, so just move on from it and learn from your mistakes and the things you did bad today. So things I can learn on and things like that, just being better with the ball, going on and just, yeah, that’s about it, really.

Q. Kevin, 106,000 people in the building today. How did you prepare for dealing with the crowd, that environment, and how do you feel that you dealt with it and the impact they played?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, we prepared all week at practice, the two weeks we had to practice and prepare for it, so we were really all right with the sound, but, you know, it was a big impact for sure, though, and they showed out and came out there and just, you know, kind of disturbed our offense a little bit.

Q. Mike Austy with Yardbarker and Sports Now Network. Kevin, in terms of the interceptions, if you could kind of walk us through any of them on what unfolded, what do you think, what were you seeing? Coach actually mentioned on the third one that he felt was on him. How would you characterize those picks and kind of what happened?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, none of them was definitely on him. I mean, I had the ball in my hands. He didn’t have the ball in my hands. I mean, I made mistakes three times and just gave the defense the ball making careless mistakes and, yeah, just not being protective with the ball, and, yeah, that’s really it.

Q. Kevin, Chris from The Athletic. The first drive, the fourth down, you believe run it, you can throw it. You had a guy there. What did you see on that play and do you feel like missing that play kind of got stuck with you a little bit and led to further struggles?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, I mean, saw a guy wide open, missed the pass and just got live with it from there. I mean, tried to bounce back from it. That didn’t really play a major effect in it but just tried to bounce back from it and, yeah.

Q. Travis Johnson with The Associated Press. Guys, Coach Lashlee was just in here and said he thinks that you guys have set up a new chapter for SMU football, one that doesn’t always necessarily start with the death penalty. Do you believe that that’s true and in what ways do you think your success this year set you up for the future? This program, potentially. The guys who will come after you?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, I think it set the bar a lot coming in, you know, teams not planning for us to do nothing throughout the year. I mean, we came in and we showcased what we can do throughout the year and we set the bar for ourself for next year and that’s all we did.

Q. Joey, lone Star Live. Kevin, you mentioned learning from this game. What would you say you did learn and then where do you want to grow for next season?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, just learned a lot, just, of course, not being careless with the ball, trusting my teammates to make plays and not for me to do everything on the field and just trusting my teammates and I’m going to carry on for sure and we’re going to bounce back from this and just learn from the mistakes we had today.

Q. Kevin, Mike with the Yardbarker and Sports Now again. What does it mean for you in this climate of college football in the portal and everything and teams changing every year for after a game like that, Coach already today said you’re starter next year. You’re going in starter next year. What does that mean for you? Because a lot of coaches around the country despite your body of work this year, would not have said that, would have made you maybe compete again or would try to go in the portal and get somebody else to get to another level, but they’re sticking with you right now?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, it definitely means a lot just having the coaching staff having that much trust in me to say that, like you said, it’s rare to come across that, transfer portals, high school kids coming in, things like that, it’s rare for that to happen and I want to thank the coaching staff for that and all the trust they have in me.

Q. Hey, Kevin. Jeff with Fox Dallas. I know we asked you a couple times now about how you bounce back from this, but how do you actually do it? How hard do you take this game in this moment and how do you not let that fester and carry over into next year?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, it’s definitely going to start in the offseason, you know, just what we put in day by day and just going to work and putting our heads down and putting this game behind us. So offseason, fall camp, spring, all of that stuff is going to matter a lot just to put this behind us and to come out next year swinging.

Q. Coach Lashlee was quick to say that the weather didn’t impact the outcome because obviously both sides had to play in it, but, Kevin, how hard was it just to throw the ball in these kind of conditions? And for the rest of you, did the conditions impact any part of your game even though it impacted Penn State as well, did it impact the way you guys were able to perform?

KEVIN JENNINGS: Yeah, I don’t think the weather did nothing to us at all, just had a terrible game. I had a terrible game. Yeah, that’s it.