SMU joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024 as the ultimate underdog. Until the year prior to admission, the Mustangs hadn’t finished a season in the rankings or claimed a conference championship
since the mid-1980s. But in year two of ACC membership, SMU continues to drill home that it isn’t just here to compete — it’s here to be the standard of the league.
The Mustangs improved to a perfect 10-0 in regular season ACC games Saturday, sliding past Stanford 34-10 in the Cardinal’s first-ever road game at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Dating back to November 2022 and including nine American Conference matchups, SMU now rides a streak of 19-consecutive regular season conference victories.
“We started in this league last year and we’ve won our first 10 games in the league,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. “We won our 19th-straight regular season game and that’s 10-straight to start ACC play. It’s just kind of hard to believe… We don’t have time to sit around and dwell on it, but I hope our fanbase and everybody who loves SMU will think about that for a minute. I’m sure that’s never been done before. There’s no team that’s entered a conference and won their first 10 games in the regular season. It shows we belong here. We belong at this level.”
SMU clung onto a 24-10 lead in the fourth quarter when Stanford appeared destined for a comeback. The Cardinal flew down the field until SMU nickel Kyron Chambers perfectly disrupted an end zone shot to CJ Williams. Chambers commenced a celebration, pulling out the popular trend among defensive backs of drawing a box with your fingers and finishing with a thumbs-down. However, Chambers was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct, breathing fresh life into Stanford at the 5-yard line — which Lashlee took great exception to.
“I want my players to know I’m gonna fight for them. I don’t want any doubt,” Lashlee said. “I grew up when you couldn’t do anything. Flag. (Celebrating is) allowed now. It’s been allowed for a few years… If we’re gonna let them do it, we’ve gotta be consistent. There was no taunting going on. Kyron wasn’t trying to taunt. He was trying to celebrate a play he made, so I’m gonna stand up for him because I know how hard he’s worked to get to where he is. I know what a great play he made on a great player, and that could have been a game-changing play. All he’s doing is playing with passion and love of the game.”
In what Lashlee and SMU’s players referred to as a “ball don’t lie” moment, the Mustangs ensured the penalty wouldn’t bite them. On the first down rewarded to Stanford, outside linebacker Justin Medlock read quarterback Ben Gulbranson’s eyes to a T. The senior cleanly recorded his first career interception and raced 96 yards the other direction with an entourage of blockers. Suddenly, a potential 24-17 game flipped into 31-10 with 6:05 remaining.
“It felt great getting to celebrate with my team,” Medlock said. “After the penalty, Coach Lashlee said ‘ball don’t lie,’ and the very next play, we come out as a defense and make a play. That was very special to be able to celebrate with my teammates and do what I can to help the defense. As soon as I touched it, I saw green grass and I saw that blue end zone and knew I had to get there.”
SMU’s fourth quarter defense was a major concern throughout the season, as the Mustangs struggled containing the air late in contests against Baylor, TCU, and Syracuse. However, that trend didn’t persist Saturday as SMU recorded its second fourth quarter shutout of the season. Stanford never even reached the end zone in the second half.
“We didn’t have busts today. We were in position,” Lashlee said on the coverage. “(Stanford) made some good plays, but we gotta start making some contested plays. That’s what it comes down to… Two weeks in a row our guys are getting more comfortable with Deuce (Harmon) and Kyron (Chambers) at nickel, now we just have to finish those plays more than we have been. I believe our guys will keep working at it and they will.”
Another defensive development for the Mustangs was their sack-happy defense. Defensive line was the calling card to SMU’s 2024 College Football Playoff-qualifying team, but the entire starting line graduated or left for the NFL over the offseason. However, the new-look front showed tremendous progress against Stanford, sacking Gulbranson six times for 52 yards — even landing three on a single possession. Cam Robertson led the charge with 1.5 sacks in a defensive-driven victory.
“We’re getting better,” Lashlee said. “I thought we affected the quarterback well at the beginning and the end there, and we didn’t have to blitz every time. We did blitz some and we were mixing it up well, but we’re getting better which we thought we would. When you lose nine starters, you must break in new guys and it’s good to see Isaiah Smith and Cam Robertson become who they’ve always been here. Even when we weren’t getting sacks, we were affecting the quarterback.”
On the other side of the ball, the Mustangs benefited off the explosive playmaking of running back Chris Johnson Jr. After a slow offensive start, Johnson ignited the unit right with 35 seconds remaining in the first half with an 87-yard house call. Although it looked like SMU would enter the break holding a 17-0 advantage, Stanford expeditiously responded with a 4-play, 75-yard drive, finishing with a touchdown reception by CJ Williams.
“We needed something obviously and we needed something we were confident in,” Reich said. “That’s something Coach (Frank) Reich brought with him from the NFL was that play specifically. We lined up in it initially. We saw the look, then they called timeout. I told Coach Reich, I told Coach (Tyler) Osborne, and I told Ben, ‘I’m going to get open on this. I can see how it’s opening up.’ Then great play call, great ball, and obviously wide open touchdown right when we needed it.”
However, Johnson reopened a 17-point lead in the third quarter on a tremendous escape by Kevin Jennings. The slippery quarterback made several Stanford defenders miss, and while he was falling to the ground, he delivered a screen to an open Johnson in the flat. Jennings claimed he didn’t see the play, but his running back completed the mission for a 42-yard touchdown, juking out several defenders en route to his second touchdown.
“That’s something he does on a daily basis. That’s the type of guy he is. He’s always going to be available,” Johnson said on Jennings escaping pressure to make the throw. “Don’t look away or not be looking at him, because he’ll always be looking at you. I just was open. Nobody was out there. I didn’t think I was gonna get the ball, but we made it happen, and that was great execution from me and Kev.”
Jennings enjoyed one of his best showings of the 2025 season. The second-year starter finished a contest without an interception for the first time all year, and he produced 247 yards and two touchdowns on an efficient 22-of-30 showing. Despite the touchdowns, Jennings’ premier highlight Saturday was a 7-yard pickup in the first quarter. The quarterback delivered a Rajon Rondo-esque behind-the-back pass to tight end RJ Maryland — potentially the first time such a play was designed at the collegiate level. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes executed a similar behind-the-back completion in the 2024 preseason.
“We’ve been practicing it all week long,” Jennings said. “At first it was supposed to be a normal look. Then I told Coach Lashlee, ‘Let’s do it behind the back.’ He said if you can do it five times in a row, we’ll do it. I did it five times in a row and went out there executed it. I saw it a couple times from Mahomes, but that wasn’t really the thing I was thinking about, so let’s have some fun with it.”
Stanford (2-4, 1-2 ACC) drops its second consecutive ACC matchup in a game that felt much closer than the 24 points of separation indicated. The Cardinal struggled mightily in the red zone, getting stuffed on a 4th and goal from the 1 in the second quarter and tossing a 96-yard pick-six in the fourth.
“I’m mad. The whole team’s mad,” Reich said. “We came on the road against what we know is a very good football team, and we felt like we were going to come down here and win this game and earn the win. Give them credit. They beat us by 24 points. It is what it is. I thought in spite of the mistakes we made, in spite of the way the game started, we played ourselves back into it to where we got a chance late in the fourth quarter to make it really interesting.”
SMU (4-2, 2-0 ACC) remains spotless in regular season ACC play since securing membership into the league. The Mustangs are not just winning, but dominating their conference competition with eight of their 10 ACC games won by double-digits. But up next is the only conference opponent SMU failed to upend last year, although it didn’t count in the league standings. The Mustangs travel to Clemson next Saturday for a rematch of the 2024 ACC Championship Game.
“I’m very excited,” Jennings said. “They got us last year. I’m trying to get them this year. Hopefully the results don’t stay the same and it’s a dub for us. Very excited to go out there.”
