Rhett Lashlee previews SMU-UCF game

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee met with the media on Sunday to preview the matchup against UCF. Here’s what the coach of the Mustangs had to say.

On having game vs. UCF rescheduled: “We were already prepared to play on Sunday by the time we moved it to Wednesday, so it gave us some time to rest. We were a little bit beat up last week, so an extra couple of days lets us get a little bit healthier. Talking to Gus (Malzahn) and the people down in central Florida, I mean the whole state has been wrecked, and there are a lot more important things than football. Fortunately, the coaches and players at UCF were safe but I know that a lot went on there. So to give them more time to prepare for the game, and to clean up for them and their city, made a lot of sense to me.”

On if he reached out to Malzahn after hurricane: “We did speak. We texted a few times when the game moved to Sunday, and we spoke on the phone Friday just to make sure that everybody was safe. We weren’t really talking much about the game, more about the things that matter, so we were just letting him know that we’re thinking about them.”

On TCU ranked at No. 17, and Maryland receiving votes: “I figured that TCU would have been in the top 15, and I am shocked that Maryland isn’t ranked. I mean they’re 4-1, and their only loss is on the road to No. 4 by a touchdown. I think it just validates what we knew, we played two really good football teams and had our chances to win. We didn’t, but we competed toe-to-toe with both of them. They’re really good football teams, we knew that before and after we played them, but we have a new season now. We have an eight game conference season in a really good league, it’s wide open, and we want to get off to a really good start.”

On showing SMU team that the league is wide open: “In our league, we know that there aren’t any gimmes, it doesn’t shock you any week when Navy beats ECU or Tulane beats Houston. I think they see the scores, and see the parity, and know that it is wide open. I think that they know that we are playing arguably the most talented team in our league on Wednesday night at their place. Just getting off to a good start in conference play is really all we are focused on right now.”

On SMU injury updates: “Not at this time. I think most of the guys would have tried to give it a go if we had to play today. Some guys might be a game-time decision, but I expect most of the will try to give it a go. If they can’t go, then it will just have to be next man up.”

On what he’s seen from the SMU safety group: “It’s a new scheme on defense, we play with three safeties, and so there’s a lot put on the plates of those guys. (Bryan) Massey if I am guessing, is probably at 80% right now. I think he’s pretty good going straight ahead, changing direction, and I think he’s getting there. The rest of the guys seem pretty healthy, I know Isaiah (Nwokobia) has been having a hamstring thing that’s been nagging him, but I think those guys have been doing a good job. I think they’re really starting to get comfortable with what we are doing out there, and I think they’ll get better and better as we go through conference play.”

On last time he played/coached on a Wednesday night: “It was back in 2012 in the Fun Belt. We played on Tuesdays, on Thursdays, on Fridays, so there was a lot of shuffling there. Our players have handled it well, it’s finals week this week, so it was going to be on a bye week, so that puts a little bit more on their plate, but I know they’ll handle it well.”

On plan post-UCF game for SMU: “We won’t have a normal bye week, but we plan on getting back around 3 or 4 A.M on Thursday morning, because we have to get our guys to class. As coaches, we gotta get out and recruit on Thursday and Friday night, like we were going to anyways. We’ll have some light meetings on Friday and then give them Saturday off, like we would playing on a Friday, a week out. Then we’ll come in Sunday afternoon like it’s a Monday, and have a normal week leading up to Friday.”

On how SMU staff is approaching the rest of recruiting cycle: “It’s different than it used to be, just because you don’t know what’s going to happen with the transfer portal at the end of the year. We like our high school commits right now, so we’ll try to hold onto those guys and continue to develop those relationships. We’ll add players if we think they’ll make our team better, but we don’t have a set number that we have to go out and sign. I think we’ll have quite a bit of room to try and continue to add pieces to next season’s team, once we get to that December period.”

On having transfer portal periods: “I think it’s great for everybody. I think it’s great for us as coaching staffs because now we have some sense of clarity and structure to it. If you give people too many options, it becomes a lot harder for them to make the best decision, so it allows them to explore finding a better situation in those windows. Otherwise, if things aren’t going your way, find a way to push through it, go talk to your coach, communicate. Generally if people stick things out, they tend to get solved, but when you have too many options at your disposal, it’s hard to see that.”

The hardest part of simulating UCF in practice for SMU: “It’s gotta be their speed. It’s the fastest team, at least on tape, that we’ve seen so far. We’ve played some fast teams these last two weeks, but I don’t know if they’re as fast as these guys. Speed allows you to correct a lot of mistakes, and they play really hard.”