With a penalty-plagued 38-6 victory against California on Saturday, ninth-ranked SMU completed a sweep of its first Atlantic Coast Conference schedule behind 225 yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Kevin Jennings.
Before finishing the regular season with their 17th straight league victory, the Mustangs (11-1, 8-0, No. 9 CFP) had already secured their spot in the championship game the following week in their ACC debut. Before entering the major league this year, they had won nine straight games in the American Athletic league, going all the way back to 2022.
Jennings, who is 9-0 as the starter this season, said, “It’s really crazy for us, and it’s amazing, just to come in our first year in the ACC and do it.”
Third-year SMU coach Rhett Lashlee remarked, “Just pretty cool, you know, these guys back-to-back 11 wins, didn’t lose a conference game, and going to be playing championship weekend two years in a row.” “I’m kind of in awe of these guys.”
While SMU overcame a season-high 17 penalties for 137 yards, Brashard Smith, a transfer from Miami, had 68 yards rushing on 16 runs, 66 yards on three receptions, and two touchdowns.
Next Saturday, SMU will take on No. 12 Clemson in an attempt to win the ACC championship and earn a berth in the College Football Playoffs, which now have 12 teams. With a victory, No. 8 Miami would have advanced to the ACC championship game; however, the Hurricanes’ 42-38 loss to Syracuse made room for Clemson.
Early on, the Mustangs grabbed charge with three straight drives that ended in touchdowns. With just 34 yards remaining until the beginning of the fourth quarter, they had 234 total yards after Derrick McFall’s 8-yard touchdown run with 13:02 remaining in the first half put them ahead 21-0. They had 415 in the end.
Cal (6-6, 2-6), which is also playing in its first ACC season, did not have sophomore quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who this season passed for 3,000 yards, due to sickness.
The Golden Bears lost their first five games by an average of 3.4 points. thus lost those games by a total of nine points, and thus began 0–4 in ACC play.
“That was a difficult loss,” Justin Wilcox, the coach at Cal, stated. “We just didn’t give ourselves a chance to win.”
In order to strike tight end Matthew Hibner in the front left corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown, Jennings scurried away from difficulty, turned, rolled left, and threw on the run. Smith sprinted five yards for a score after setting up that first touchdown with a 32-yard reception. In the fourth quarter, Smith scored a 23-yard touchdown reception.
Mendoza was replaced by Chandler Rogers, who went 8 of 15 passing for 84 yards before leaving the game in the third quarter due to an undisclosed injury and was replaced by C.J. Harris. After starting for Louisiana-Monroe for two seasons, Rogers threw for 3,389 yards and 29 touchdowns at North Texas last season. However, he had only thrown 10 passes for Cal before to Saturday.
“On offense, not good enough at any position to put points on the board,” Wilcox stated. “It was an offensive issue today, not just quarterback.”
The takeaway
California: Without Mendoza, starting left tackle Nick Morrow, and top rusher Jaivian Thomas (upper-body injury), the Bears offense was definitely out of rhythm. Their total yardage was 254. Prior to Rogers’ 37-yard completion, they were behind 21-0 and had zero total yards. They missed two field-goal attempts, one of which was canceled by a penalty, and had a first-and-goal from the three before two plays lost yards and two penalties on that same drive.
SMU: The Mustangs, the seventh school to go from a Group of Five to a major conference since 2011, had an amazing debut season in the ACC. Only Louisville had finished with a winning record, going 5-3 in the ACC in 2014 after switching from the AAC, and none of the other eight had started their league debuts better than 1-1.
Poll implications
After peaking at No. 3 in 1985, the Mustangs came into the game with their first top-10 AP ranking. Additionally, they had their highest rating since the College Football Playoffs began in 2014, coming in at number nine. After Miami’s defeat, they ought to rise in both polls.
Up next
Cal must wait for the bowl selections, which are made public on December 8, out of the 13 ACC teams that are bowl-eligible.
On December 7, SMU takes part in the ACC championship game in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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