Everything Rhett Lashlee said after SMU beat Clemson

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee spoke with the media Saturday after the Mustangs beat Clemson, 35-24. Here’s everything he had to say as his team improved to 5-2 overall.

Opening Statement: “Obviously a huge win for us. Anytime you win on the road in conference, it’s a big deal. To win on the road at Clemson, huge deal. I think that’s eight losses in a little over a decade. So they don’t lose here often. I’m really proud of our guys. I thought our defense played really well throughout, particularly in the first half. I mean, stop after stop, they kept giving us a short field. We were settling for field goals. Then obviously in the second half, first couple drives, we weren’t great on offense, so we finally broke through and scored. A couple drives and then when we really needed it, with 6:44 to go, the offense put together, probably the best drive of the year when we really needed it. They had all the momentum, the crowd was into it. We didn’t really need to give them the ball back only up five. And I can’t say enough, our quarterback’s a stud. We’ve known it for two and a half years. I think America kind of knows it, but for whatever reason they’ve not wanted to act like it. He’s a stud, he’s as good as anybody out there, and he’ll just keep proving to everybody that that’s the case. Excited to get a win. Dabo’s, I look up to him, I appreciate the example he is for coaches like myself, what he’s built here, and so I know tough for them, but it’s a big win for us.”

On emotions of watching Kevin Jennings battle: “It wasn’t emotional in the moment, because you’re in the moment. I hate to say, I mean, I wasn’t surprised. He was hobbled pretty good in the first quarter, and I was kind of worried, like, I didn’t know if he was going to come back, really. In the next drive, sure enough, first play, he rolls. He can’t even roll right, sticks his foot in the ground, throws a touchdown 70 yards to Jordan Hudson. And I go, he can’t move, and D’Eriq King’s like, ‘but he can make that throw.’ It got to where he could run straight ahead. He just couldn’t go side to side, so that’s why he saw him run downhill a little bit. We had to run him a little more than normal, and he didn’t care. He didn’t once say, ‘hey, my ankle.’ He said, ‘yeah, run me, let’s go, let’s win.’ And he just kept making big plays. Guys, the play he made to Matt Hibner for that touchdown. When they all out blitzed seven people and we only had five to block them. It’s as good of a throw and a catch as you’ll see at any level of football in any situation. Then obviously the last drive, he just kept making play after play after play to put the game away for us. And everybody around him did a great job.”

On SMU’s defense starting fast: “They did, I mean, we stopped the run. 30 rushes for 35 for them, 28 for 139 for us. I mean, that’s a really good defense, guys. I mean, it was hard to run. We were able to get some explosive plays on the perimeter. We had to stay patient and the defense allowed us to because we never got behind. I know we had the tip late, but we didn’t turn the ball over. We were able to play that way. And then of course the big play to Jordan kind of I think loosened everybody up. And our defense just kept getting stop after stop. And it allowed us offensively, even when it looked a little herky jerky, we were able to play good team football. We want to do a little better at times in the second half on some drives, and we don’t want to give up a 4th and 21. But we played pretty good team ball today, and I think that’s why we got to win.”

On beating Clemson: “Revenge wasn’t a big deal to me. I mean, I know Kevin kind of said that at one time. Our guys, look, they’re competitive. If it had gone the other way, Clemson would have wanted to beat us. It’s a big win because we’re 3-0 in the league now, and we beat the team who’s won eight out of the last ten times in this league at their home place, and it doesn’t matter how or why we did it, and that’s a big step for our program. Last year the game was a great game. We felt like the first quarter we dug a hole and really gifted them some things, and the last three quarters we felt like we played really well, and we just came up short. This year we did a good job of not digging that hole, and I think that’s why we were able to finish the job.”

On if Christopher Vizzina at QB for Clemson changed SMU’s defensive approach: “I mean a little, but, because Cade’s more of a runner, but I thought the kid did a good job for Clemson. I mean, he had the one sack early that was a fumble, but he didn’t get them beat. He gave them chances. The two throws he made for touchdowns on the double move and the play-action throwback were really good. He showed great poise. You’re not the No. 2 quarterback at Clemson if you don’t have something to you. Obviously, I know Cade. I hope he gets healthy for him because he’s a great kid. But, I think other than maybe some of the QB run game, but you see they still ran him. So, it kind of looked like the same offense we prepared for, obviously, just with a less experienced guy back there.”

On getting SMU to play passionate, not emotional: “We talked about two things. We didn’t over-talk about needing to start fast because sometimes if you do that, you make guys kind of… So, we didn’t talk about it to them, but as a staff we knew it was going to be a lot easier if we started fast. 

“You don’t have to, but so getting up 7-0 and 13-7 and 16-7, like that was a big deal. Just because we were able to play complementary football with the lead instead of like last year coming from behind. All we talked about all week was ‘believe.’ Just believe. Believe in yourself. Believe in each other, the guys around you. I mean this the right way. We told believe you’re the better team. Believe you’re the better team. There’s so many powerful things you can do if you believe, but you got to believe it first. It can’t just be something you kind of believe. You got to believe it. Believe it. I think the way our guys played, they believed it. I think that helped.”

On Kevin Jennings being ready for the environment: “Well, you go back to last year and we played at Penn State and we didn’t play very well. But every step in this process for Kevin and for our program is growth. And now here we are in this stage with this environment and when it got to 29-24 and they’re turning the lights out on us, and the place is going crazy. You didn’t see guys shrink in the moment. You saw them step to the moment, and that’s because they had been there before. And so the old saying, act like you’ve been there before, I said it last year, you can’t do it until you’ve done it. Well, last year we had been there, both the championship game and the playoff game, and that prepared us, especially Kevin, for today. Yeah, he didn’t flinch, he didn’t blink. As a matter of fact, he shined.”

On SMU kicker Sam Keltner: “Hey, you got to play with confidence, and we believe it. We got to make sure our guys know we believe in them. Sam has kicked it great every day in practice. He missed a few first couple games. You should have heard the guys chanting his name in the locker room just a minute ago. They were going crazy. But those first two kicks, I don’t know what they were, 50, 52, like 49. Big kicks, and I know we missed the extra point after the whatever…

“Man, they were huge, they were huge because early on, you know, we were selling for field goals and they weren’t easy ones. And he kept us with the lead and kept the momentum in our favor. And I think that’s why you see we think he’s going to be special and also just as big, he’s kicking it out of the end zone every time. We’re not having to cover kicks.”

On Chris Johnson, Derrick McFall’s involvement: “Well, I think one, our offensive staff deserve a ton of credit. They put a great game plan together. We’re starting to know who we are. Look, TJ can pound at you downhill. That was going to be tough in this game. They got three NFL draft picks on their D line. So, but we had to stay patient. But what it did, because they have to stop that and they play a ton of man, our offense was able to use Chris and McFall’s speed on the perimeter. And we were able to get them matched up in space with linebackers and safeties. And you saw the plays both in the run and in the pass game they were able to make that were critical. And so I think it’s just they were able to complement each other. It was kind of the plan coming in. We obviously played this team, but we played this DC at Penn State last year. Tons and tons of man. Their corners are really good. I know J-Hud had a big day, but that was, I mean, No. 8, Terrell’s, he’s a 1st round pick. No. 23 is pretty good. We were having to get plays from the running backs and the tight ends. It was just TJ complementing with those guys. I think the adjustments would be with like Rob Likens and D’Eriq King and Casey Woods at halftime saying, hey, we’re struggling. Let’s go to the stacks. Sure enough, 3rd and 10 for the game, we go to the stacks and we free Jordan up for the big catch. So that was an adjustment. Our guys deserve a lot of credit and the players for executing.”

On SMU RB Chris Johnson’s last TD: “Yeah, so it was weird. So we got the big play. They ran down to two minutes. They had one timeout. So we couldn’t run it out and we’re at the 9, I think. So there’s no benefit to like sliding and not scoring so it worked out good, we scored on 3rd down not 1st or 2nd. We just told them don’t run out of bounds the worst thing that happens is we got to kick this field goal give them about 25 seconds at 8 right because if Chris didn’t get in we were going to run it all the way down take a delay game back up get the field goal hopefully go up 8 with about 25 seconds. We told him to score, we definitely told him to score and what a run and that’s another adjustment. Garin, we went to a blast play. The run he had earlier in the drive for about 12, we hadn’t run all game. It was the same one he scored on. Just pretty good decision but yeah great determination for a guy who’s not a big back. I think last week and this week you’ve seen him really grow up and gain some confidence.

On SMU’s stop against Clemson’s big-bodied look: “The key is getting penetration and getting him stopped before he gets started. Because if he gets any momentum, he’s gonna knock you back. I guess Scott, he just has this deal. He likes to lure people into third and fourth and one, you know what I mean? That was a huge play, it was a big stop. I bet if I’m them, I think he’s gonna get that 99 times out of 100. The key is getting the penetration and then swarming. Because the first surge is one thing, we had guys running the ball to stop the second surge, so it’s big.”

On ACC parity: “It’s important cuz I watched that Miami-Louisville game and that’s two playoff caliber teams. They’re loaded with talent, we gotta play both of them. We don’t have to worry about them right now. I think the league’s really deep, I think the league’s really deep. At some point, let’s start getting credit to our league like we do the other leagues when Louisville goes and beats Miami, let’s say Louisville is really good. Not Miami’s not. Miami’s really freaking good. Miami’s national championship good. Louisville’s playoff good and you see what Georgia Tech’s doing. Duke was undefeated till today. I don’t know what’s happening with Virginia. There’s others I’m missing like Pitt. Our league is deep and you don’t get any weeks off so hopefully we’ll get the respect that other leagues get.

On SMU LBs Brandon Miyazono and Brandon Booker: “Brandon Miyazono and Brandon Booker have grown up before everyone’s eyes this year and really fast, right? You don’t have Barker, you don’t have Kilgore, your veterans replacing your two veterans from last year. You see now that Week 1, 2, 3, 4 was ugly at times, but that growth and development sped them up to today when they’re playing at Clemson. They’re playing like seasoned veterans. Just can’t say enough about Brandon. Brandon loves this place. Brandon loves SMU and he leaves it all out there and his teammates love him for it.”

On SMU’s 20th straight conference win: “I don’t know, it’s hard to put into words, it’s a big deal. 20 in a row, 11 in the ACC. I mean, just a lot of great players over the last two and a half years have won a lot of tough games like that one to do that. So I think it should tell the whole world that we belong and we’re here to stay. Now, we got a lot of work to do to get the program where we want it to be. But I mean, I don’t care what league you’re in, 20 in a row is pretty hard and 11 of them being in the ACC, we don’t take it for granted. Because at Wake next week, that’s a top five defense with a big time running back. They’re 4-2, had a week off. I’m sure we’re physically beat up from this, so if we want it to go to 21, we’re going to have to have a really good week of prep.”

On SMU’s identity: “Yeah, I think this identity of this team is that they’re super tough, and they play really hard. I think, you know, you saw Week 2 and Week 4, we didn’t finish in the fourth quarter, and it wasn’t fun. This team had to learn how to finish. In the last two weeks, we finished, maybe not pretty, but we finished for a moment like today. Went on the road, and we’re 4th and 21 away from finishing a lot easier, but hey, it’s football, and then the offense, we had a chance to do that in Baylor, and we didn’t. We go six minutes, score, put the game away, don’t put our defense back in that position who’d played so well all day. So we’ve accomplished that part that should help us with the growth, but this group, I think today, you saw them really come together. Over the last two weeks, I’ve felt them really, you know, they’ve always liked each other. There’s one thing to like each other and another thing to play together and for each other. And I think you saw them playing together, for each other, the way they celebrated with each other was really fun to see.”