UNIVERSITY PARK — Rhett Lashlee made his intentions clear during the week before BYU came to town.
When asked about the quarterback situation — which had been fluid through the first two games of the year with both Preston Stone and Kevin Jennings splitting time — Lashlee backed his starter, Stone, and reiterated how he planned to use him in his team’s toughest game of the season thus far.
“Preston’s our starter,” Lashlee said. “He earned that job. He’s the starter. He’s going to start, and he’s going to play a lot.”
Lashlee was right in some regards. Stone started for the third time this season in the 18-15 loss to BYU.
But even he admitted that Friday’s loss didn’t go as planned — and required some quick in-game adjustments.
“We went into the game with the plan of predominantly playing Preston,” Lashlee said postgame. “The first two drives were really poor. Really poor offensively, so we went to Kevin, and he gave us a spark.”
SMU made a switch at quarterback late in the first half after Stone and Jennings each had three drives. SMU’s starter was sacked three times, heavily pressured in the pocket and totaled -21 yards in three drives. From there, Jennings ultimately took over, and Stone never saw the field again.
Lashlee said the decision ultimately came down to which quarterback was moving the offense. Against a skilled power-conference opponent like BYU, SMU learned its opponent will play a part in dictating which quarterback needs to play.
Jennings looked solid in his first two outings for SMU this year. He led SMU to five touchdowns on seven drives entering the BYU contest. He didn’t lead SMU to a touchdown drive Friday night — but instead five field goal drives. However, he still looked to be the better option.
The RPO, which Jennings is the stronger candidate to run, challenged BYU, especially in the first half. It shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise to the Mustangs, as BYU allowed Southern Illinois quarterback DJ Williams to rush for 121 yards and two touchdowns last week.
Jennings finished with nine carries for 38 yards, while also throwing for 140 yards and an interception on 15-of-32 passing. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry. Stone only had four pass attempts all night.
“Overall, he made plays,” Lashlee said of Jennings. “We made plenty of mistakes. … Some of that is just experience. Some of it is playing. But I was proud of how he battled. He made a lot of really big plays for us, especially when things weren’t going well.”
BYU was prepared for Stone to sit in the pocket, and the offensive line couldn’t hold up. Many of the pressures he faced weren’t his fault, but the offense simply couldn’t get going with him in the game.
Regardless of who was under center, SMU’s offense showed some strides it must take in the two weeks before conference play begins.
Neither quarterback was outstanding, and as a result, the offense was far from it. SMU’s defense and kicker Collin Rogers kept it in the game, but the offense couldn’t finish, going 2-for-5 in the red zone and 3-for-16 on third down.
SMU also had three turnovers.
While SMU showed its willingness to adjust in-game Friday, even at quarterback, the game and outcome didn’t resolve the fluid situation that remains at that position. Both Jennings and Stone will likely continue to see the field moving forward. Both have shown their ability to lead the offense at critical moments, but SMU still needs to find a clearer identity around one — or both.
