DALLAS (AP) — With every win, SMU is getting closer to making the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game in its league debut. That could also lead to a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff.
The 14th-ranked Mustangs are certainly handling themselves well after their long-desired move into a power conference.
Kevin Jennings threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns and Brashard Smith ran for 120 yards with a score as SMU beat Boston College 38-28 on Saturday, going ahead to stay after the Eagles had opened the second half with a touchdown.
“I think you saw tonight how (the players) are handling it. There’s a lot of pressure, more probably put on by themselves, and they just want to win, they want it,” third-year coach Rhett Lashlee said. “When the game was the tightest tonight, we played our best. And so I think that’s the best evidence I can tell you for how they’re handling it.”
SMU (9-1, 6-0 ACC) is the only of the 17 ACC teams without a league loss, while No. 12 Miami and No. 17 Clemson both have one. The conference champion is guaranteed a spot in the playoff.
Jennings was 24-of-35 passing and his 38-yard TD to Jordan Hudson, who caught the ball in stride behind the secondary inside the 5, put the Mustangs ahead to stay with 8:52 left in the third quarter as they won their seventh game in a row. Smith’s run for the 2-point conversion made it 28-21.
“Good teams find a way to win,” Jennings said. “We get preached on all week to put our head down, put our blinders on and just look straight.”
Boston College (5-5, 2-4) took a 21-20 lead with that eight-play, 83-yard drive out of halftime capped by new starting quarterback Grayson James’ 20-yard TD run after two 19-yard completions to Reed Harris. The FIU transfer completed 18 of 32 passes for 237 yards.
Smith became the 12th SMU player with a 1,000-yard rushing season. His 4-yard TD run before halftime came a play after he drew a pass interference penalty near the goal line on third down and ended a 92-yard drive.
Collin Rogers made three field goals for SMU after missing wide left on a 24-yard kick the opening drive of the game. His 41-yarder on the last play of the first half gave SMU a 20-14 lead after an exchange of interceptions.
James had a 13-yard TD pass to Kamari Morales with 1:03 left in the first half, after a 32-yard completion on third-and-20, and a 19-yarder on fourth down. But two plays after BC got the ball back, when Carter Davis had an interception with a 26-yard return plus a 15-yard penalty to the SMU 15, James was picked off in the end zone by Isaiah Nwokobia.
“I think it was gritty, because we responded when we needed to,” Lashlee said.
First-year Boston College coach Bill O’Brien’s decision earlier in the week to start James prompted second-year starter Thomas Castellanos to leave the team. Castellanos had two fourth-quarter TD runs last December when the Eagles won 23-14 in the Fenway Bowl to snap SMU’s nine-game winning streak.
James is from nearby Duncanville,Texas, and had more than 30 tickets for family and friends.
“Tough not coming out on the winning side … that dims the mood a little bit,” James said.
“I’m very proud of Grayson, stepping into that situation,” O’Brien said. “Grayson did a good job. We just didn’t do enough.”
The takeaway
Boston College: O’Brien made the quarterback change after James provided a second-half spark in last week’s win over Syracuse. James had won his only other start, a comeback victory Sept. 28 over Western Kentucky when Castellanos was out injured. The Eagles piled up 417 total yards, their most since 559 in Week 2 against Duquesne. James was solid and should give them a chance to get bowl eligible.
SMU: No other team moving up to one of the power conference had ever started 2-0, much less 6-0. The Mustangs have won 17 of their last 18 regular-season games and have won a school-record 15 consecutive conference games, including their last nine in the American Athletic Conference to win that league last year.
Poll implications
SMU was coming off an open date last week when it dropped a spot in the AP Top 25 from 13th, which was their highest ranking since being third in 1985. Idle No. 12 Miami is the only ACC team ahead of the Mustangs in the poll.
Up next
Boston College finishes the regular season with two home games, the first against North Carolina next Saturday.
SMU plays its regular-season road finale at Virginia on Saturday.
