Rhett Lashlee talks SMU's loss to BYU

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee met with the media following his team’s 18-15 loss to BYU in Ford Stadium. Here’s what the coach of the Mustangs had to say.

Opening statement: “Good, hard-fought defensive battle. Really disappointed to come out on the wrong side of it. We had plenty of opportunities and thought our kids played extremely hard, extremely hard. Even though we didn’t play well on offense, our guys on offense played really hard and our guys on defense played really well. Got the turnovers we needed and our kicker was excellent, but from a statistical or just looking at it standpoint, can’t be 2-of-5 in the red zone and 3-of-16 on third down and win very often. We had our chances. Proud of our kids, played their guts out. I just didn’t do a good enough job of pushing us through and winning the game and that’s my job.”

On SMU OL and what’s next: “Jakai going down was critical. We got the ball on the 3 and bout went under center, still probably should have, JO’s done it plenty, but called a different play, still should have been fine and we get a hold, which was critical. He was able to come back, Jakai was. I think we had, early in the game, you could tell we were struggling. We gave up some sacks early. We just were doing some things, wasn’t as much physical as it was, maybe mental, some mental busts. Thought Garin did a good job getting the right five in there to settle it down. We’ve got time to evaluate. I still think our Top 8 guys are who they are. We settled down and played better, but the first quarter was really rough. We were going backwards.”

On going with Kevin Jennings at QB for SMU: “Obviously the question is fair and right. We went into the game with the plan of predominantly playing Preston. Told Kevin we planned to put him in the third series, it wasn’t a guarantee. If we would have gone down and scored the first two drives we weren’t going to do that. But we weren’t going to go back and forth, it’s not fair to either one of them. The first two drives were really poor, really poor offensively. So we went to Kevin, which again is part of the original plan, and he gave us a spark. We went down, I think that’s the drive we had fourth-and-1 and didn’t convert. But we moved it, had our best drive yet, so we made the decision to give him another drive and then we went down and got a field goal, got points. At that point, you’re kind of, I don’t think the first two drives were on Preston by any means, but we were moving the football. We still put Preston back in there and, again, we had a protection bust up front. Wasn’t Preston’s fault, we take a sack, we go backwards, we’re three-and-out. You’ve got to look at it at that point and go look, it’s not personal, it’s not on a person, it’s when Kevin was in there the offense was at least moving the football down the field and we were getting either points or opportunities to get points. So, as a staff, we just all made the decision to go with that the way the game was going. We moved the ball, but we didn’t score any points. That’s how it unfolded.”

On how BYU defended SMU’s QBs: “They defended them both the same. Now, what they did that was different is they didn’t run their base defense. They’re a four-down front team, they predominantly odd, odd stack a lot the whole game, a lot of odd pressures. The first couple of drives we were a little unsettled because it just wasn’t what we prepared for. Our guys settled down, our coaching staff did a good job, I just didn’t do a good enough job adjusting. That’s why we moved the ball, we didn’t finish drives. We didn’t move it great, but we moved it. We just didn’t finish the drives. Give them a lot of credit for having a good plan, it worked.”

On Kevin Jennings’ play vs. BYU: “Overall he made plays. He was confident throwing it. I’ll have to look at the film and see. I think the first four drives he was in we went down and either got points or got fourth-and-1 inside the 10. It was just the feel that we were moving the ball the best in that moment. We still made plenty of mistakes and even on the last play of the game I think we had RJ and just didn’t get to him. Some of that is just experience, some of it is playing. I was proud of how he battled. He made a lot of really big plays for us, especially when things weren’t going well.”

On what BYU did to SMU’s offense: “They did a lot to nullify our weapons on the outside. Again, they played more of an odd stack, a little bit of bear front, those are just not their predominant fronts. They did that some on third down. They were playing a lot of, three or four different variations of zone, loose zone so we couldn’t run vertically down the field. Makes sense. So we adjusted, we were able to start hitting guys over the middle of the field and run the ball, but even then when you spit a run there’s plenty of people there. It’s the same story we’ve seen before, people don’t let you be explosive you’ve got to grind out drives. Credit them, they were going to bend and not break, not give us big plays. They pressured more than they have, but that’s fine, that’s normal for people to decide to do that. I think you saw we moved the ball, but we would always get stuck once we got inside the 20, or sometimes not even that far, and have to settle for field goals. Credit to them, great game plan and they executed it. We didn’t adjust and execute well enough and that’s on me.”

On how he’d describe the game: “Frustrating. We had our chances. It’s hard to win. We knew it was going to be a game like that. Every game we play, this year, for us to win’s going to be similar. Maybe it’s 18-15, maybe it’s 38-35, doesn’t matter. It’s going to be tight, it’s going to be close. You’re not going to roll people. That’s not what happens most weeks when both teams show up and play hard and play physical. It’s frustrating because we had our chances with some good field position off turnovers, we didn’t score touchdowns. Even the fourth-and-1 play early in the game, I thought we had a chance for a touchdown there and we didn’t get it. It’s frustrating because we get the pick down to the 3 and then we get the hold. We didn’t have undisciplined penalties tonight, but we had some critical holds in either the return game or on offense. I guess it’s 5-7 on penalties, but that really, really hurt us. It’s hard when you’re going backwards. It’s frustrating because our guys played hard and they played physical. There’s no question we were just as physical as them and we played just as hard as them. Credit Kalani with that great call on fourth-and-1 late in the game. To go for it there is gutsy and they executed a great play and got it and they won the game.”

On defense’s identity: “I think that’s our defense, you know? I think they’re going to battle. I think they’re going to get after people and cause turnovers. I thought they played really well. We didn’t score enough points. … That’s the identity we think our defense will have, so I’m proud of that. Tonight we didn’t score enough points on offense and the guy calling the plays is sitting right here and he didn’t get the job done.”

On redzone issues: “I’ve got to see, I need to look at it. Right now it’s a blur from the backend trying to recount every drive. The one that’s obvious, we get the ball on the 3 and we go backwards and then we fumble the next play. That’s pretty self-inflicted. Should I have put them in different situations, give them different calls? Maybe that was it. Maybe we didn’t execute on a few of them. Typically when the field shrinks, you need to be able to run it in. We were able to run it forward, but not far enough to get it in.”

On what stands out that needs to be fixed for SMU: “We obviously haven’t played well enough to win this game tonight, so there’s a lot we’re going to evaluate. What we’re not going to evaluate our kids’ effort, we’re not going to evaluate their togetherness because I think it was there tonight and I expect them to respond that way. We’re going to evaluate everything, like we do any time we lose a game. We’re going to see what we can do better with this team in all three phases and we’re going to try to get prepared to win a game here in two weeks. It’s disappointing because it’s disappointing to lose. It’s disappointing to lose when you feel like your guys gave everything they had and the game was right there in the balance and we could have made a play and won it and they could have made a play and won it, and they did. So it’s disappointing. We’re going to look at the film and we’re going to do everything we can do to improve it. There’s not one thing I can put my finger on other than the clear obviousness that we got inside the 30-yard line and didn’t score touchdowns and it’s really that simple.”

On Collin Rogers: “He was great. He hit five field goals. Two of them were 50, I believe, especially in the first half which was kind of into the wind the way it was in pregame. The last game, it was clutch. We had to have it to tie the game and give ourself a chance and he made it. Really proud of him. I thought he really started kicking the ball well the second half of last year and even in the conference championship game which led him to being an all-conference kicker. I think his only miss of the year is over 50 right now. He’s kicked the ball really well the first three games.

“Even when you are moving the ball and scoring touchdowns and doing the things that we need to do better, you’re going to have clutch kicks you need in games to win. It was good for him to get that confidence tonight. He’s so far proven to be a very consistent guy for us. He was tonight. He was five-for-five. He was great tonight. He’s always had a big leg. Hopefully tonight gives him confidence that through the next nine-plus games he’ll continue to be pretty consistent for us.”

On if he’d rather have a game next week or a bye for SMU: “I’d rather have another game next week. It’s not very fun getting your tail kicked. It’s not very fun when you feel like, as a competitor, everyone whether you’re a football player or a basketball player or a golfer and you have not your best night. I didn’t have a very good night tonight. And I hate it for our kids because they fought their tail off. Yeah, I’d love to get back there quickly. The reason football’s the best game in the world, the best game in the world, everyone else can argue and that’s fine, everybody gets their own opinion, it’s because it teaches you live. Sometimes you give everything you’ve got and you lose. Sometimes it’s because you could have done something better. Sometimes it’s because the other team, BYU played a great game too. It was a grinder. It was there, back-and-forth. Give them a lot of credit. I’d love to play again, but I don’t get to for 14, 15 days. We’ve got a lot to work on.”