The SMU Mustangs fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions, 38-10, on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The Mustangs found their way into the CFP via an at-large bid after falling in the final seconds of the ACC Championship to Clemson. Penn State came into the game with a similar story. The Nittany Lions lost to the No. 1 Oregon Ducks in the Big Ten Championship, 45-37.
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee does not want this disappointing result to dilute a historic first season in the ACC.
“The further [the players] get from this moment they’ll realize what they did this year and what a special year it was,” Lashlee said. “Only one team’s going to hold up the trophy at the end. It’s not going to be us, but what they did was special.”
SMU finished 11-3 (8-0) and on Saturday, Dec. 21, the Mustangs, undefeated in regular season conference play, prepared to play its biggest game in the last 40 years.
Unlike the ACC Championship on Saturday, Dec. 7 where the Mustangs fell 34-31 to the Clemson Tigers, SMU came out of the tunnel with confidence and visible hunger. The defense forced a three-and-out to start the game and the offense easily moved the ball into the red zone. Early in the game, SMU faced a difficult decision at the Penn State 19-yard line. The Mustangs, who were fourth-and-1, decided to run the ball instead of kicking, trying to make a statement out of the gate.
The play was a designed bootleg where quarterback Kevin Jennings faked the handoff to running back L.J. Johnson and scrambled to his right. Jennings sold the fake and had the room to pick up the first down with his legs but he also saw tight end Matthew Hibner open and close to the end zone. Ultimately, Jennings went for the explosive play and left his pass just behind Hibner, causing an incompletion and a turnover on downs.
Leading up to this play, SMU created its only momentum of the game and lost it by a matter of inches, but that’s what happens when an underdog goes into one of the most daunting environments in the country in the College Football Playoff. In a game with 106,013 fans watching, SMU needed to play nearly perfectly to come away with a win and couldn’t afford to miss opportunities like that. SMU never found its footing after that moment.
“The number one thing is you can’t be reckless with the ball, that obviously put us in a hole, put Scott and the defense in a hole early on,” SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods said.
Though that play was only midway through the first quarter, a sense of hesitancy seemed to spread across the team. That feeling radiated to Mustang fans who sat in the stands which were mainly filled with Penn State supporters. SMU senior Claire Dunn, who attended the game, felt the overwhelming pressure placed on the team from the stands. She hoped the slow start for the Mustangs would eventually pick up in the second half.
“Me and the people I was with were the only speck of red in the stadium. It was really loud and kind of overwhelming,” Dunn said. “I had hoped we could pull it back together like we did for the Clemson game and maybe score some more in the second half and that’s exactly what we did. I was proud to at least get a couple points on the board.”
But after numerous errors and mental lapses, the Mustangs got themselves into a hole that they couldn’t climb out of. By halftime, SMU trailed 28-0 to Penn State. SMU drove down the field to start the second half and settled for a field goal to get on the board. Penn State responded the next drive with a field goal of their own. In the fourth quarter, both teams traded touchdowns and kept the deficit at 28 for SMU. The second half went by much faster than the first half due to Penn State leaning on the run heavily as they tried to chew the clock.
For SMU’s final drive, Lashlee gave backup quarterback Preston Stone the opportunity to enter the game as a Mustang one last time. But after discussing the decision together, along with Jennings, everyone agreed that not going into the game was in Preston’s best interest.
“It was his option and, look, I get it. Just like at that point, we didn’t want Kevin to go back in and get hurt. We don’t want him to go into the offseason hurt,” Lashlee said. “Preston’s about to have an opportunity to go play somewhere else, and in fairness to him, it would be a shame to roll him out there for a drive or two that doesn’t have an impact on the game and him get hurt, so it was a great conversation with he and us and we just decided to let Keldric go with it.”
Just minutes after the game finished, Stone announced he would be playing his final season of college football at Northwestern.
After the game, Rhett Lashlee stayed on the field and embraced as many players as possible, knowing that for many starters, this game was their final time putting on the SMU uniform. But one player that Coach Lashlee embraced who is not leaving SMU was Jennings. Lashlee said he told him, “I believe in you. Everyone believes in you.”
The hometown quarterback faced immense pressure on the field, which Lashlee addressed in the postgame press conference.
“He’s a winner. Everyone believes in him. He had two bad games out of 14,” Lashlee said.”That’s pretty good.”
Football analysts, Penn State fans and social media reactions to SMU’s performance ranged from negative to applauding the Mustangs for a strong season. SMU wide receiver and Oak Cliff native Randy Reece posted on his Instagram following the game showing support for Jennings. Both Reece and Jennings graduated from South Oak Cliff High School. Penn State fans like Ben Sonkin commented on the Mustangs’ underdog story in the ACC.
“Your QB had a rough game,” Sonkin said. “I’m glad y’all made it [to the College Football Playoffs] though.”
Although it was a disappointing day for the team, the SMU defense gave a strong performance. They have not been given nearly as much recognition as they deserve this season, especially in this playoff game. Defensive coordinator Scott Symons said he rallied his men and they came ready to play.
“Obviously, you know, [we were] put in some tough situations,” Symons said. “I thought they were resilient in those, but when you look at the stat line overall, it’s kind of what you saw.”
SMU signed coaches Lashlee and Symons to extensions in recent weeks and looks to be on track to retain most of their current staff. The Mustangs also signed a top-five recruiting class for 2025 as players like Kevin Jennings and Isaiah Nwokobia confirm they will remain with the Mustangs for next fall’s season.
