Everything Rhett Lashlee said after SMU beat East Texas A&M

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee spoke with the media after the 42-13 win for the Mustangs over East Texas A&M. Here’s everything he had to say in his press conference Saturday night.

Opening statement: “Well, just first off, good to be 1-0. Definitely would like to have played a little better, but I’m gonna give East Texas A&M a lot of credit. I told y’all Clint’s doing it the right way, and I thought they played that way. Game 1s are Game 1s, there’s a combination of Game 1, combination of playing a lot of new guys, and a combination of us not playing well. In the first half, particularly offensively, that’s what it was. Second half was better, hard to tell. We didn’t have the ball as much offensively, it was weird. The long drive, a pick-six, and another long, but about the only thing I can say in the second half, I think we had zero penalties. So that was an improvement from what we were doing in the first half. Defensively, kept them out of the end zone with our starters, scored twice on defense. So played a lot of guys, we lost Jordan (Hudson) on the first play. Lost Kilgore on his touchdown, a lot of guys got to get in and play. That’s a good thing cuz we’re gonna need them next week. I told you guys on, I think it was Tuesday, we got a long way to go and a short time to get there and that short time is six days from now. So we gotta make a big jump from Game 1 to Game 2.” 

On Jordan Hudson, Alexander Kilgore injuries: “I don’t know the extent in terms of how long they’re out if they’ll be available this week or not. The positive, both of them had x-rays, Jordan on the elbow, Kilgore on the foot or the ankle, and the x-rays were negative. So that’s positive. Other than that, I don’t have any more info right now. But I know that was best case scenario, so that’s good.”

On if it was frustrating for SMU to lose two starters in Game 1: “Yeah, look, football is a game of adversity. It comes in different sizes. Last year we were down 11 with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter on the road in Game 1. So we found a way to win and I think we left that game and nobody thought we were gonna be very good and we played the playoffs. So what happened tonight, I hate it for Jordan cuz Jordan has been so good. I’m talking the way he’s been practicing, we were sitting there going, ‘Man, we got Jordan and Romello and Kevin, those guys on the same page.’ And so I hate it for Jordan first just cuz he’s worked so hard to get himself in this position. Now, next man up and next man happened to be a freshman. Thought Jalen Cooper did some good things. Carterrious Brown, we got Isaiah Robertson and Link Rhodes in there late as well. Those guys are gonna have to be ready to roll depending on if Jordan is out and if so for how long. The only thing I know is because it was negative that it shouldn’t be season-ending I don’t think but I don’t want to confirm that because I’m not a doctor, but hate it for him. Happy the other guys were able to step up make some plays. Hate it for Kilgore. I mean, stinks to score a touchdown and get hurt and that’s kind of been the leader of our defense. So kind of lost the leader of our defense and another senior on the offensive side. That’s football. Just happened in Week 1. We gotta get ready. next guys up.

On something that surprised him: “This is 18 years for me and I’ve learned to not be surprised by anything in the first game. I mean, I’m dead serious. So, I would have liked to have played better in a lot of areas, but I don’t know if I’ve ever left the first game and not felt that way. So, we celebrated the win in the locker room and we’re 1-0. The reality of it is, no matter how we played, we couldn’t get more than one win tonight. We got one, lost some guys. I was proud of how the guys that had to come in as freshmen played. I really was, I mean, they’re freshmen, but I don’t know, I don’t think one thing surprised me. That’s just Game 1s.”

On SMU offensive line: “We obviously ran the ball well early and then we had a couple holding calls that killed some drives. Some cases we don’t get a hold, some cases maybe we got bad luck, but we’ve got to be better in terms of that because the holding call kills most drives. We’ll see. I mean, I need to look at the film. in real time, we want to run the football better than we did tonight. That’s not all on the O-line. There’s backs, tight ends, everybody involved — me. So, we’ll see. I mean like I said Game 1 for them as a unit, it’s just it’s weird. When you get in a game It’s just totally different. I thought we settled in in the second half. We only got like three drives I think in the second half offensively with Kevin in there, but we’ll see. They say you make a big jump from Game 1 to Game 2. We need to do that.”

On SMU WR Jalen Cooper’s debut building trust: “Yeah, he’s going to play next week. So it’s a big game, you know. We knew with Jordan and Romello coming back and going to get an experienced guy like Yamir. and then it was good to see RJ play. We intended to play him a little. We always intended not to play him a lot. It was good to see him make two or three catches and, you know, get tackled and get up. But we always knew these young guys were going to have to play. I mean, they were always going to play in this game, even if Jordan did get hurt, and they were always going to have to play next week. So it was good to see J-Coop get in there and get a full game under his belt before next week, depending on, you know, Jordan’s availability.”

On the opening TD for Romello Brinson: “Yeah, I mean, we felt like that formation was gonna get us a 1-on-1 and felt good with the matchup, and like I said, Kevin and Romello have been good. So to execute that was great. The first three plays other than Jordan getting hurt went really well. Then we just were very inconsistent after that. I think you see what Romello and Kevin can do in 1-on-1 situations.”

On what he learned about how SMU handles adversity: “This was Game 1 for this team. This team has never played together till tonight. This was Game 1. And so we were always gonna learn a lot about ourselves. We’re gonna learn a lot about how we respond, good and bad. We got a lot of work to do in terms of not just the score or the cleanliness of how it looks, just coming together and playing together You can only do that by playing so we have to play through that and we have to find ways to keep winning as we do that. I was proud that that we responded when maybe the offense wasn’t playing well or they would go on some long drives, we’d keep them out of the end zone on defense. We scored twice on defense. We responded. I think we had eight penalties in the first half. Probably four or five were very legitimate. We’ve never had a kid flip in the end zone on a touchdown here. It’s inexcusable. It’s not what we do. We jumped offsides I think on the first drive on defense and like I said, we had some holding penalties that hurt us. They cleaned that up in the second half so hopefully that’ll become the norm for this team.”

On what he thought about SMU’s linebackers outside of Kilgore: “I thought they went in and played well, played hard. I mean, again, our 1-defense gave up three points, so that’s good no matter what. So those guys did a nice job. I think they did spit a few runs in the second half on us that I don’t know why without watching it back. It felt like Brandon Booker’s had a really good camp, young player that we feel like is gonna be good. Just like Jalen Cooper and some of those other receivers, time gets here quicker sometimes than you expect. Brandon Miyazano has been here a long time. Mentally, he knows what to do. It’s good to see him make some open field tackles. I thought having Barker here, we’re gonna need his leadership. So, we’ll see. It’s good those guys got a lot of work tonight in case Kilgore’s not available next week.”

On if he’s seeing more Week 1 inconsistent performances across the country: “Offensive football always takes longer than defensive football. I mean, you watched the Texas-Ohio State game today and it was like 7-0 for three quarters. That one touchdown was like clawing to get the touchdown, like it was almost impossible to get it. It’s not an excuse. It’s just it’s what it is. I don’t know if I’m surprised. I did feel like we had a good week. I felt like we were in a good position. Again, we come out and score and then we’re running the ball, but then we’re going backwards, holding penalties, going backwards. After that first drive, they weren’t gonna let us run by them again. So two safeties, everybody back. You have to efficiently execute the intermediate passing game, run the football and you can’t have 2nd and 20s and those kind of things to do that. So those are the things that hopefully we’ll get more efficient with.”

On SMU QB Kevin Jennings: “I thought Kevin had one bad play in the night. It was interception in the end zone. It was also a really bad route so it was a team effort on that… We had a route that should have been a fairly automatic touchdown and we need to run a little bit better route and we need to throw the ball a bit harder out in front and we don’t do either one and it’s an interception. You don’t expect that from your starting quarterback and your senior wide receiver. Can’t have that in the red zone. Other than that, he was 22-of-30. He loses one of his top two targets on the first play. So he’s playing with a lot of guys that have never played college football. The sack fumble wasn’t on him. We got beat on the inside and had a bust and got hit in the back Those are the two plays that people will stand out. Thought he was fine. We got to be better as a unit so I have zero concerns about Kevin.”

On if Jennings had any nerves: “Yeah, I don’t think Kevin had any nerves at all. A lot of people get anxious for a game, but if you’re prepared, you’re never nervous. I thought our guys were excited to play. They’re ready to play. Sometimes, I mean, that can work against you a little bit, but we started pretty fast. So we prepared like we always do. I mean, that’s the one thing we do. We’re gonna do what we do, and we’re gonna be consistent in how we prepare and when we play good, we’re gonna come back and do the same thing. When we play poor, we’re gonna come back and do the same thing. Now, we gotta have just as much urgency when we win and play well as we do when we win and don’t play well or maybe don’t win. But we prepared the same way. I didn’t tell Kevin anything special. I mean, he’s been here now for three years, so I thought he was ready to go and he’ll be ready to go every week.”

On SMU’s student body and fan support: “Before we move on, I just want to acknowledge I think we have a record student attendance, that’s awesome. Our students have been fantastic over the last three years. I think two years ago we set the season record. Last year, we broke that record and today we set a single-game record. Just cannot thank our fans enough. It was a great crowd. With all the rain early in the day, I’m sure that didn’t make the Boulevard any more fun than it normally is. Fans are great. We’re gonna need that home field advantage next Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. We’re gonna need the students and I think whatever the record was, let’s break it next week again. We’re gonna need that crowd there. Our guys will be ready to play. We need to get a win and reverse Boulevard and have a good Saturday.”