After going on the road for two of its first three games, No. 22 SMU gets to settle in for a while in Dallas.
Coming off their first loss of the year last week at Louisville, the Mustangs start a stretch of four straight games at Gerald J. Ford Stadium Saturday night when they take on Missouri State in a nonconference contest.
Coach Rhett Lashlee, whose team follows this one up by entertaining Atlantic Coast Conference foes Boston College, Virginia and California, is looking forward to an extended homestand.
“Nothing like a good night game at Ford Stadium,” he said Tuesday. “As far as our team goes, I’m happy with how they’re moving on from disappointment. … I’m really confident we’re going to make all the right adjustments in all three phases.”
The improvements Lashlee wants to see are in his team’s turnover ratio and its rush defense. SMU (2-1) survived four turnovers in its season opener at Florida State but couldn’t withstand three in its 41-31 setback at Louisville. The Mustangs come into this game with a minus-four turnover margin, three worse than any other ACC team.
Kevin Jennings has thrown for 989 yards and nine touchdowns, completing 73.6% of his passes. But he’s on pace to finish with 16 interceptions in the regular season, a number that likely would keep SMU from reaching its lofty goals.
Lashlee says the Mustangs must tighten up against the run. Louisville gashed them for 265 yards on 37 carries (7.2 ypc)
“That’s something we’ve done here the last three years,” Lashlee said of stopping the run. “We’ve got to set edges to our defense. We’ve got to play downhill, we’ve got to tackle and swarm.”
Yannick Smith leads the receivers with nine catches for 201 yards and a pair of scores, while Kendrick Raphael has rushed for 275 yards and four touchdowns on just 39 carries to pace the ground game.
Missouri State (1-2) is coming off a 30-24 home loss last week to Marshall. The Bears rolled up 506 total yards, with quarterback Skyler Locklear throwing for 309 and two scores, but hurt themselves with 11 penalties for 87 yards.
The yellow flag literally has colored Missouri State’s efforts so far. It’s been penalized a whopping 30 times for 218 yards through three games. First-year coach Casey Woods, who spent the last four seasons as SMU’s offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, knows the team has to get a handle on it.
“We had a lot of procedural, operational penalties the first two games, which is something we’ve got to get cleaned up on our end as a coaching staff,” Woods said. “We had a little more aggressive penalty work (against Marshall), some holdings, some hands to the face. Things that we’ve got to clean up from a technique and operational standpoint.”
Locklear, a UTEP transfer, is completing 67.7% of his passes for 597 yards with three touchdowns and only one interception. Isaiah Myers has been his top target with 12 catches for 296 yards.
The teams’ only prior meeting was last year, when the Mustangs earned a 28-10 win to spoil Missouri State’s first home game as an FBS program.