Rhett Lashlee recaps SMU loss to UCF

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee met with the media after the 41-19 loss to UCF. Here’s what he had to say on the third straight loss for the Mustangs.

On the game: “Thought in the first half defensively we played really well. Stopped the run, didn’t give up the big play. Offensively, we were moving the ball really well. Needed more to show for it again. We were not good on 3rd down at all in the first half especially, but really for the game. We had too many mistakes. We dropped way too many balls.

“We had our opportunities to have a bigger lead than 13-10 at half. At the same time, we were ahead. Felt like we were in control and things changed quickly in the second half. Credit them, they came out and they took it to us in the 3rd quarter and got a big margin. We were playing catchup from then on.”

On UCF’s speed getting the best of SMU in the 2nd half: “We did a really good job containing the quarterback really most of the night and really their run game. Statistically, they were almost at 285/300 in the run game. We held them to 160. We did a good job there. A lot of that was late. But… in the 2nd half, they were able to make the big plays whether it be the jet flip, whether it be the play-action throw off of that and those guys were able to catch and run and make really, really big plays. That was the end of us defense. Offensively, we weren’t able to get it into the endzone.”

On SMU’s 4th down decisions: “Well, it was 4th and that much. Probably should’ve ran it. Trying to win a game. The data’s going to tell you you go for it there too, but I don’t really care about that. My gut told me we needed to and we did. Defense got a stop so that really canceled it out. It was a big stop by our D to get no points there. The one going in was 50-50. I really almost kicked it. Hindsight, you get it to 8 and feel better. At the same time, fee like we should’ve picked it up and we didn’t.”

On Plumlee: “Think we did a good job. I think really, we kept him in check the whole game. 32 yards. I feel pretty good about that. The guy was leading the country in quarterback rushing. But, they were able to do some things off of it in the 2nd half. We were overplaying to stop that. That’s what you have to do. You have to take away what someone does well. Credit them, they were able to adjust and throw the little play-action glance behind it and the jet flip. Once again, we lose contain and it goes 60 or 70. Look, that’s the name of the game. You can’t win giving up explosive touchdowns.”

On SMU’s mindset after loss: “It’s been hard. We’ve played really, overall, good football the last two weeks, but we lost. We came out in the 1st half today, played pretty good football. Should’ve had a bigger lead than we did. Probably the 2nd half for the first time, they took it to us. Give them credit. They whipped our tail. They whipped us on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we never got anything going. But, to your point, season’s not over. We’re 0-1 in our league. 

“We really still control just about our own destiny. But, it’s going to be gut check time for all of us. I don’t even know who’s going to be available to play from a health standpoint, doesn’t matter. Whoever we have from coaches to players, we got to dig deep. Nine days from now we get to play at home on Friday night and there’s not going to be a lot of people saying good things about us. 

“There’s not going to be a lot of good things written about us. There’s going to be people trying to divide us from within. We got a team that I believe in and think is together. We’ve got to stay that way. We’ve got to find a way to get a win. One day at a time, one win at a time, see what happens. It’s been done before, but most importantly we got to get back and we got to fix a lot of things and we’ve got to go get a win.”

On if injuries on offense limit SMU play calling: “We believe in all the guys we’ve got. When guys go down, next man’s got to step up. Yea, it hurt not having Kerley. It hurt losing Jake early. We may have lost Beau there late, I’m not sure. Tanner and Rashee played gutsy. I don’t think Slade was able to go tonight either very much. Nobody cares. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We got good kids behind them. They’ve got to step up when they get their opportunity. Whoever’s available, we’ve got to show up, we’ve got to play hard, we’ve got to play together and we’ve got to go get a win.”

On worry offensively not being able to finish: “Obviously it hurt us at Maryland and it really killed us tonight. Again, I thought we had good balance in the 1st half. We had none at all in the 2nd half. We’ve got to be able to finish drives whether it’s running the football or making the throws and catches we weren’t able to make tonight. It was a combination of both. We’ve got to make those plays and we’ve got to put them into position to do those things.”

On Preston Stone getting in for SMU: “Look, I believe in Preston. Don’t get me wrong. I thought he did some pretty good stuff. Led us down and scored. I haven’t looked at the film, Tanner fought his tail off. We dropped a touchdown pass that he scrambles to our back. I don’t know how many other balls we dropped. We were, I believe it was 10-3, maybe it had just gotten 10-10. Rashee never drops a ball, drops one that not only was going to be a big play, but he may have ran for a while. I think we dropped a touchdown pass here and there a couple different times. He was playing beat up and I think he gave us everything he had and I thought he played pretty well. But, it was good to get Preston in there and every bit of experience he gets is important. I thought you saw the moment wasn’t too big for him.”

On SMU timeout to score the last TD: “Probably should’ve called it with 15 seconds left. I didn’t know the ball was going to roll. We’re playing and competing. Not going to apologize for trying to score there. Think anybody else would do the same thing. You’re going to fight till the last second ticks off. What are you telling your kids if you don’t? That’s what I care about. I don’t care what everybody else thinks.”