- This is the On The Pony Express Podcast. - Part of the On 3 Network. - Check out all the SMU coverage you need at ontheponyexpress.com. Now, here's your host, Billy M. Buddy. - Billy M. Buddy. - One, two, three. - One, two, three. (upbeat music) - Welcome in ladies and gentlemen to another edition of the On The Pony Express Podcast. I'm Billy M. Buddy. Thanks for listening. We've got a lot to talk about today. We will have Hayden Howardton on the podcast on Thursday. We are going to record Wednesday night. You are listening to this Wednesday, maybe in time for your drive home, depending on how quickly it uploads. But we wanted to bring you guys multiple by week podcasts, of course. And there's a lot to unpack here. And I didn't want to bog down Hayden and I's podcast with one of the main pieces of this week, which is the quarterback decision by Rhett Lashley. But we'll get into that in just a few seconds. 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As we turn the page to a bi-week, that is so critical for SMU, and we'll unpack the BYU game and where some of the things that went wrong, went wrong with Hayden. Hayden and I were texting a lot during the game, a lot after the fact. And there are so many different pieces to that game. And what has happened because in part of that game is we're gonna see us change a quarterback for SMU. Starting quarterback is Kevin Jennings, a former Dallas South Oak Cliff product to lead the Golden Bears to a state championship as a senior, picked up and offered late in the process from Rhett Lashley, just after Rhett Lashley had gotten hired as SMU's head coach. He is going to be taking over starting quarterback job. There will not be rotating. It'll be Kevin Jennings opportunity. He replaces Preston Stone as a starter who over the course of this season, hasn't been as sharp as I think anybody would have liked. You had the great fourth quarter come back against Nevada and a tough night against BYU. That again wasn't on him entirely. But Rhett Lashley has decided to make a change. And there's a bunch of different ways to unpack this and it's an emotional time at ontheponyxpress.com. We've got a lot of people on there you can save 30 bucks by doing an annual subscription. So check us out at ontheponyxpress.com. And I think for me, I wanna begin with Preston. Because I've known Preston, we saw each other in the off season at a golf tournament and at the Byron and we bumped into each other. And I think that was maybe one of the first times he had really met my wife Michelle at the time, like at the time now, he's met her multiple times. But he said to me, is this nine years that we've been doing this? He might've, you know, eight years. But that's how long Preston Stone's been on the scene. That's how long he's been a blue chip prospect. That's how long he's been on the radar for SMU. And when Preston committed, he committed just I think a couple days after Rhett Lashley left for Miami. And Rhett told him, you know, SMU's still a great place. And you know, it's the best spot for you and recruiting them all the way through. And then they reunite when Rhett Lashley is hired as SMU's football coach. And the perfect storybook was beginning to really unfold. You had SMU bring in Tanner Mordecai. And with Preston being a true freshman, you know, at the time, I thought they made a lot of sense. And Rhett Lashley, you know, needed, you know, to give Tanner Mordecai that time. And let Preston develop and let him learn. And I think I kind of misspoke kind of on that timing as far as when, you know, Tanner came in, but you know, SMU brought in Tanner and Preston Stone sat there and waited his turn. And I think it's important to note that in today's day and age of college football, with how much pressure, with how much fanfare he came in with as an SMU legacy, as somebody who grew up right in the shadows of, you know, Fort Stadium, basically. And he red shirts. He saw a time in those three games, Sunday Dikes's last season at SMU. And then you get into the 2022 season. And he plays in six games. He makes a start, gets that opportunity. And he gets hurt and goes down against Tulsa. He had started off red hot. I mean, hit a big, big play to Rishi Rice. Things were looking up. That was the number one pass defense in college football at the time. And you were sitting there saying, this is going to be a lot of fun for a long time. You know, Tanner Mordecai is going to get an opportunity to maybe go to the league or ended up moving on in the 2023 season. And Preston Stone got his opportunity to be the starter. 12 games led SMU to a 10 and two record. He halfway through the season, flipped on the brilliance that everyone saw in high school, but knew it had to translate to the college level. And then in the final game of the regular season goes down against Navy up big, gets hurt. And you just feel for him because you knew that the next week SMU was playing in its first conference championship in the decade, well, over a decade and trying to win its first conference championship in decades. And that was all going to be kind of taken from him. That opportunity, that spotlight, that moment that he had waited for. And during that time, Kevin Jennings came in and they won the game, SMU won the AAC championship. Couple touchdown drives, some field goal drives, some mistakes, returnovers. And then Kevin goes into the Fenway goal against Boston College when, you know, the team was kind of disjointed overall and they don't come out with the win. They fall in a fourth quarter, you know, come back by Boston College. They had their opportunities. But Preston going into the off season was viewed as a starter, nationally. And at the same time, you know, Kevin was developing. You know, he's 20 years old right now, Preston's 23 years old or I believe it'd be 23 in October, something like that. And Kevin kept putting in the hard work. And so as Preston recovered this off season and sat out pretty much all of spring, Kevin was getting reps. And there's something that I think in this program is there and in this case, for better or for worse, but you can't ever be necessarily comfortable in your job because there's so much competition. And Preston wasn't comfortable, but the competition between him and Kevin was pushing each other. And it was pushed Preston in the off season. It pushed him in fall camp and it pushed him into the season. And this is a results business. And as we've seen on the Pony Express message board, you can go back and forth. You can pick all sorts of different talking points. You can pick out various moments where you can feel some type of way about Preston Stone or Kevin Jennings. But Rhett Lashley's decision would Preston to not put him back in after those three drives that he had against BYU. And then to ultimately move him into the backup role is something that people I think aren't right now, understanding in the sense of Rhett Lashley spent a lot of time recruiting Preston Stone. He spent a lot of time when he got back to SMU, recruiting Preston Stone and developing him and pushing a lot of his chips in on him. You know, told Tanner Mordecai who's on the practice squad with the 49ers, basically this is Preston's show now. And looked like it ended up being the right decision. SMU of course went undefeated in the AAC play with Preston at the helm. But that was last season. This season for SMU, they've struggled offensively. They've been severely disjointed. And we'll talk in a few moments about all the different things that are going on offensively. But when you get somebody who goes into the game and each time for the most part, and I almost want to throw Houston Christian out when talking about this, but when you get someone who's gone into the game and for the most part produced this season who has experience in an AAC championship, full game experience, coming pulled off the bench against Memphis, led a 90 plus yard touchdown drive, came in for Preston when he got hurt against Tulsa and brought them to that first win over Tulsa in a decade at Tulsa. You have seen the experience gap heighten between these two. And when Rhett Lashley looks ahead at the rest of this season and what he's seen so far from his offense as a whole, he had to be concerned after BYU. And there's different areas that you can be concerned about. We'll get into those. But Preston had a rough night against BYU. Rhett Lashley, if you want to believe him, not whatever, said it was not a one snapshot situation as to why he went this way with Kevin Jennings now getting the ball. And I believe him. I mean, you go at Nevada, your first throws and interception, you don't get much going offensively. And then in the second half, you find yourself. But I think the BYU game ultimately showed Rhett that complimentary football with the team they have is going to be the way to finding wins in his opinion at this moment. And that means trying to not find yourself in three and out situations. That means managing the game clock well, keeping the offense moving, moving the chains. Because like I said, there's a bunch of other things that have gone on this season that have held this offense back. But you've got to find a way to grind out football games and win them. And that's where they fell short against BYU. They did not win the game. And who knows what happens if Preston Stone plays the whole game? Who knows what happens if Kevin Jennings gets those three series that Preston Stone had? There's a ton of ifs in that game. And a lot of people say man handled in this and that. And the offensive line was rough. But you had running backs that had, you had Breshard Smith over five yards of carry. You had Jalen Knighten over four yards of carry. So they were doing some things right up front. It wasn't a man handled game. SMU left a hell of a lot of points out on the field for multiple reasons. Play calling, bumbles, interception, this, that, whatever. But what was not allowing SMU to stay in the game and it was going to be apparent was a three and out, three and out, three and out situation that we've run into watching Preston Stone at the helm at times. I mean, go back, you look at that East Carolina film from last year, that was the fifth, maybe six, fifth game in, testimony season. That offense was in rough shape at that point. And they found himself against maybe a little bit of lesser competition in a sense. Balled out, got his confidence, was able to lead SMU pass Rice, skirted through that one, had a heck of a second half against Memphis and then took advantage of course of a poor Navy team. And so all of these different high points and low points are reasons why this is going to be such a hot button decision on top of it being the quarterback. Because so many people have the ability to look at these different moments and say that's Preston, he just needed more time or the offensive line sucks or the wide receivers aren't getting open, all those things. Well, yes, those things can be improved. Kevin came in against BYU and moved the football. And Kevin moved the ball and is, you know, one of his drives was the lone touchdown of the first half, I think, maybe I have to go back and double check that. But, you know, Kevin's been more consistent this year. I know people don't want to hear that, but he's been more consistent moving the offense. And I think Rhett, seeing what was happening with BYU, could sense that he's got a defense that's playing great right now. I mean, they were playing some great football so far this season. And you've got to find a way to play complimentary football. And Kevin Jennings right now, seems to bring that to the table right now. And I don't really know how this is going to go. I'm not going to sit here. I'm sure not going to predict a win over TCU when SMU hasn't done it with two tries with Rhett Lashley at the helm and with the offensive performance that we saw in terms of finishing and where the offensive line is. But I think Kevin being in there will force TCU to do some different things as far as defending the whole field, which is what Rhett Lashley kind of came back to. He doesn't feel like this offense with Preston Stone right now is being accounted for up across the field, down the field, all of those things. And Kevin has a lot to work on. You know, downfield passing wasn't necessarily great at all. They had some things called back, he threw an interception. There was issues. But what he does provide is an ability to run the ball. I felt like he was very smooth, getting the ball out, two playmakers over the middle, that intermediate game. That was something that was working for SMU. And it hasn't worked much over the course of the last year, in my opinion, watching Preston. Preston's been very much kind of a feast or famine type of quarterback, at least in my opinion. And that's where I think Rhett struggled the most, is could SMU have punched in a touchdown here and there against BYU? Maybe, all things equal, that wins the game. But you can't sacrifice this overall team ability to control a football game for some flash. And I just think that's where Preston is right now. You see those flashes of brilliance and then you see flashes where, yeah, it's not his fault that his three drives accounted for negative 24 total yards. It's not all his fault, but there were opportunities here and there for him to get the ball out. And at some point, you have to ultimately look at your quarterback. And if Kevin goes out and struggles against TCU, I'm going to look at him. Because these guys are like point guards in this offense, directing, making sure things are moving quickly. You have opportunities, you need to take advantage of them. And I think with Kevin Jennings, Rhett Lashley decided we've got to be able to move the change a little bit to keep our defense well rested. We can't have as many three and outs. We especially, and I think this is quite honestly what maybe pushed it over the top. You can't start as poor as SMU has started each of these games this year. Interception against Nevada, I think a three and out right after that. He's a Christian three and out with Preston. He found the end zone the next drive. Then you have BYU and you start three and out twice. And it just sets your defense up in poor situations because this schedule is only going to get better. So these teams are only going to be tougher to defend. They're only going to be potentially more explosive if you're a tired defense in particular. And so somebody said on the board winning is not a stat for quarterbacks. That is in a way. It's a team game. It's absolutely something that everybody has to contribute to. But there are guys that are winners. And there are guys that are viewed as just really good football players. Can't win the big one, can't get over that hump. I mean, that's how quarterbacks are judged. And that's really what it's all about. And Kevin Jennings went out in the AAC Championship. He had great defensive help. Don't get me wrong. But he went out and he bounced back from a horrible situation to start the game. Didn't let it fluster him. Led two touchdown drives in the first half. Field goals in the second half as the defense was playing great. Made some mistakes. Don't get me wrong. Made some serious mistakes. But you found a guy that in the biggest game in program history since the death penalty, quite honestly, they were able to get it done. And he pulled the strings very well in that game. You know, they weren't too high. They weren't too low. And I think those type of examples are where when you head into the ACC. And if you guys watch it around the country and around this league, there's parity. There's weeks where you're going to get your best from somebody. There's weeks you're going to get their worst. And it goes for us and you too. But what travels is defense. What can't travel is a defense that can give you that type of effort week in, week out. If for the first half, the offense is trying to find its footing and having three and outs all day. And so it's an overall team direction decision by Rhett Lashley. And I'll close with this on press and I know I've dipped into the other areas. But it is so hard for Rhett to do this, in my opinion. He understands that Preston is one of the top recruits to ever sign with SMU, especially in the current rankings perspective. You have a Dallas kid who grew up an SMU fan and right there down the street. And it's also not a situation where Preston has gone full Daniel Jones. And he really deserves to be taken off the field. This is a move by Rhett Lashley that he feels his best for the team to give the team the best success possible. And it's hard for a lot of people to know Preston to have followed his career. And for this to be where we are right now. And I'm sure people have their opinions on whatever. I've covered Rhett in it. I didn't drum it up in the off season. Then when I finally said, yeah, they've been competing. You know, people have their opinions on it, but they've been competing. And, you know, this is what would have been best for me. Is Preston balls out, he goes to the league and Kevin takes over. A lot of, I don't need the drama of covering this. And it sucks to see Preston benched, you know, putting the backup situation. Because I know how much he's given to this, this program and how hard it's been with injuries and waiting his turn and all those things. And that's why I think people maybe need to respect Rhett Lashley's decision to do it. Do it this week, not let it hang out there in the wind. Just say, hey, we're going with Kevin Jennings. TCU can prepare or whatever. We'll be out there playing football September 21st. It was a hard decision. I mean, it takes a lot of, you know, stones to do this. And when you look at the Kevin Jennings side of it, this is somebody that grew up in Dallas, led his team to first state championship and 50 something years, I think, for South Oak Lift is viewed as a very calm, cool, collected football player. You know, people love to just dive into every little mistake and say, oh, I think it was Andre wear that. I guess this is a joke now on the board, but called it ice and his veins. Ice and his veins is not always getting the result that you hope for. Ice and his veins is talking about your demeanor, your ability to handle situations. And it doesn't mean your execution is going to come out on the right end of it. Tom Brady, ice and his veins. How many times has the fourth quarter come back not work for him? Not enough that people are saying, oh, Tom Brady can't get it done in the fourth quarter. No, he's calm, he's cool, collected. Sometimes it just doesn't work out for you. That's what happened against BYU. And at the same time, with very little preparation with the ones, you know, as the backup during the week, Kevin went in there and had SMU in the red zone four times. I'll say four because it was five, but one was an interception that was right there for the taking and inside the 10. But he was able to move them well enough to give them those opportunities. And what's next is finishing. What's next is not stretching the ball out trying to do whatever Richard Smith was doing. What's next is not taking a holding penalty that moves you back. What's next is learning to throw a different ball or go somewhere entirely different than trying to fit one in in the red zone like Kevin did. There's play calling that can be fixed. All those things have to happen for SMU to have success against TCU. They have to fix the red zone. But Kevin is not going to be somebody as you saw in the Tulane game. That is going to be rattled by the worst thing happening. Play one, sack bumble, unblocked, completely just no way, no chance, and he fumbles it. And everybody can have their own opinion on play. But what he did was got up, dusting himself off, and led SMU to that conference championship win. He could have been very flustered and it could have impacted the offense the rest of the afternoon. It did not, it did not. And that's what you're going to get in Kevin, I think. You're going to get some growing pains as he maybe settles into a true starter role. What does this offense look like? What does Rhett Lashley want to scheme up? How does he want to fix the red zone with Kevin now? All of those things are on the table for the next two weeks. Kevin's got a strong arm. He can make just about every throw. He needs to be able to put more touch on it over the top. And I think with experience playing with this group, things like on the two-minute drill, where Jaylen Knight is kind of running away from the ball and he doesn't really know what to do with it. Those things can be ironed out because now they're going to be talking, "Hey, all right, when I'm out here and I'm rolling, here's what I kind of think you should do. Okay, all right, cool, cut it back here, cut it back there, whatever. I got you all set up a block, whatever." Those are the things that starters can spend time talking about when you're in game week. The backups don't get as many of those opportunities. And so I'm very interested to see how TCU goes. We'll be able to break that down next week and really dive into TCU. We'll see what they bring to the table when they play UCF this weekend. But Kevin brings a sort of calmness out there that I think is underrated in this. And it's not something you can measure. But they've got to find a way to start fast. And I think we don't have any evidence of that in a sense. Kevin's come in later in games, but he's moved the football when he's come in. And that's where SMU can't get itself behind the eight ball against TCU, against Florida State, against Louisville. And if the best guy to get the offense moving right off the bus is Kevin, I mean, we're going to find that out real quick, of course. But Kevin has done enough for this program that this should not be some all-out war that Rhett Lashley has opted to go with him. I mean, in terms of the biggest wins in program history, Kevin's got it. Is that the one right in modern program history? Kevin's got it. He's got the AAC Championship win. Preston, best win against Memphis on the road. Figured it out. They were able to put that thing on ice. Big, huge win. Puncher ticket to the AAC Championship game. But Memphis last year wasn't Tulane, even with all the stuff that was going on with Tulane around Willie Fritz, just wasn't. So Rhett Lashley is not pushing his chips in on his job by any means. To make this decision, but he's pushing his chips in on Kevin Jennings. Because if you make this decision, which he did, and he said this, this is not the last you've heard of Preston Stone here or anywhere. Because, and people were saying, "Oh, they're already pushing them out the door." Guys, you bench a former four-star quarterback and he is going to probably transfer if this works out. So Rhett saying, "Hey, it's not the last you've heard of them here because SMU has needed multiple quarterbacks each of the last two years anyway." Or anywhere, "Hey, you might move on at some point." I mean, it's just being naive if you don't think this is going to impact Preston's long-term position in this program. Now, if Kevin doesn't get it done, we'll see probably the next two, three weeks. He's got quite the gauntlet ahead of him. And if he doesn't, then Rhett lashes got maybe another decision on his hand. But that's why Preston's a pro, Kevin's a pro, they can handle this type of situation. And they have well so far, my opinion. You know, they hang out, their buddies, they root for each other when they do well. And now, one's a starter, one's a clear-cut starter. And if he doesn't get it done, Rhett might go fully back in on Preston. But I think it was at a point, and especially with a loss to BYU, it was at a point where they need to find out what they have in Kevin. Because he has played well enough that he could start them fast. He could put them in the best position to win. Especially in these big, big games. And so that's what we're going to be watching as SMU kind of goes through this bye week. We don't get much practice details right now in the season. But Kevin Jennings has been out there. He's been working with the first team. He's getting those reps and getting ready for his first career start as SMU's quarterback. And or actually not his first career start, his first start in 2024 as SMU's quarterback. So I know I just talked for 30 minutes about quarterbacks, but it's nuanced. And you can't just say, "Oh, Preston did this last year." Even Kevin did that last year. You know, all that has been pushed aside. And I know we went through kind of the history and the run-up to this. But the reality is for this season, I really do think this is what it kind of boiled down to is SMU hasn't started well offensively and Preston's been the starter. And Kevin's moved the ball well enough that maybe he deserves his chance to start and move this offense. And he did it well enough against BYU. That last year said, "You know what? I need to tear this bandaid off and do it." And instead of rotating them. So, a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure on Rhett Lashley. A lot of pressure on Kevin Jennings now. And that's why Rhett Lashley gets paid. The money does to make these decisions that he feels like is best for the program. And we're going to find out everything these next three games, if it was. You know, the funny thing about this stretch, and you can almost, I mean, if you are in the camp that Kevin Jennings isn't going to do well, and you are on the quote unquote side of Preston Stone, it's the toughest three game stretch in recent SMU history. And if Kevin doesn't get it done and goes on three somehow, then Preston Stone is able to get a win at some point on the season. We were going to say, oh, see, it's just always going to be something with quarterbacks and talking points and all those things. But two things could be true at once. You know, it's not all impressed in offensive line S play better, receivers can do better, but at the same time, you know, Kevin has gotten results. And so it's a tough thing to have to go through any time you make a decision like that. And Rhett Lashley, again, he went with it. I like the move to do it in the bye week. No one's talking about controversy. It's very clear the direction of the program now. And I think that's important. And I said it throughout the fall camp once the competition was really brought to light. And I said it throughout, you know, the course of the season that I expected at some point against BYU and maybe TCU that this gets settled. And it's at least settled for now. And you know, Rhett Lashley doesn't want to rotate quarterback just like anybody else. But they deserved, they both deserved play. And now it's time to go ahead and get one guy really ready to go. And the guy they feel like can lead them to the promise land, so to speak, is Kevin Jennings right now. So it's a huge, huge move for Lashley. We'll see how it goes for him. Hayden Howardton and I will talk about that. We'll talk about a lot more on the podcast tonight. And we'll get it out to you guys on Thursday. But I do want to remind you guys before I continue on here for a few more minutes that we are presented by our friends at AKM Turfin Greens. Alex Carpenter and his wife really run the show here. You know, Alex former professional golfer has turned this business into a booming one as he's had major projects that you see in McKinney Christian here just completely revamping their recess area with incredibly high quality turf. And that's something that a lot of people have learned about as they work with him. AKM Turfin Greens.com. You see the backyards though that they put together those private putting greens and chipping areas and just areas to entertain too. You know, I look at some days in my backyard and we've got a big area to really turf if we want to, but done with weeds, done with looking at patches of grass that are missing or whatnot. That's why it's a great idea to call AKM Turfin Greens or reach out to them, info@akmturfingreens.com. They've got the code pony up for $500 off your project. Alex and his team doing an incredible job. They've already helped out a lot of our subscribers. We're just talking them through the process. He's done a couple of projects now for subscribers. So it's been really successful and people are enjoying it. So check them out at AKM Turfin Greens dot com. All right, like I said, Hayden and I will break down a lot of SMU BYU and kind of get all that out there and we'll get his take on a lot of different things when it comes to what's going on around the country, where SMU's fixes are. But I do want to take a moment here and say as I really just want to be done talking about the offense, because Hayden and I will talk about more, but defensively SMU's defense has been stellar. There's been moments like any defense that they want back. I'm sure Scott Simons wants that final BYU field goal drive back. They had them kind of dead to rights there and we're going to be able to maybe get off the field and instead, they make the perfect pitch and they break it, they continue on the drive and they're able to milk the clock down to minute 58 and kick the game winning field goal there. But for this defense, I think we're seeing the depth be a key piece, but also just how I think on the same page everyone is, the Nevada game stressed them, right? That running quarterback, they started pretty much only running draws and they had a ton of mistakes, but defensively this team has really risen to the occasion over the last two games. Obviously, Houston Christian is Houston Christian, but when you look at what SMU's been able to do at the line of scrimmage, they've really been able to control it, in my opinion. BYU holding them to 202 yards passing, 134 through the air, 3.8 yards for Rush, nothing crazy there. They did allow some bigger plays in a sense to be hit by Jake Rhett's laugh. He was able to pick up some chunk plays, 57-yard completion, but for the most part, they've done a good job of keeping things in front of them, and I think that's where SMU's defense is at its best. The big play is constituted as something that's over 15 yards, which I think it should be like 20-25, but that's just me. But SMU able to hold them to four explosive plays in a sense, three big rushes, one of which was at option play that really kind of ended things in a sense for SMU, but throughout that game, really we're able to control things. I think that was a big sign that this team has the right group defensively, because BYU is older, they're more mature, I know all those talking points, but they really weren't able to do that much. They kind of had to get a little gimmicky and get away from their game plan in a sense. Jake Rhett's laugh became a little bit more of a running threat in that game, in particular in the second half. They kind of ran a little bit more designed runs for him, but for SMU's defense, they really just settled in pretty well. I thought they played assignment football, and that's where I think SMU's calling card is, is a program right now. They are a defensive football team. Once again, SMU ranks inside the top 40 defensively in total defense so far this season. We'll see that that's going to have to continue to go up with the way the offense is playing, with the defense needing to really step up against TCU against Forest State against Louisville. I think that's really where this defense will show what it's made of, because we don't know what this offense is going to look like, and that's the big question mark, this whole thing. If the defense is on the field forever, they're probably going to give up some plays, and it's going to be tough. But if they can get a little bit of help in terms of being able to get the offense moving and get some rest and things like that, they're going to be able to play well. That's been the key, is having that complimentary football. But I think you see the depth of this defensive line being really impressive. The Nevada game kind of was, people watch something, and sometimes I mean, I don't know what they're watching, sometimes they probably don't know what I'm watching. But that was a game that was set up by Brandon Lewis's ability to run the ball and run draw plays. SMU had their run game pretty well, taken care of. Nevada was able to hit some explosives here and there, or get some drives extended by penalties. But for a first game with how much they were on the field, it wasn't all that bad, especially in the second half when they made adjustments. And in this game for SMU, I mean, you've got to like what they were able to do. They forced turnovers, they forced a run of four straight punts by the Cougs. And again, that's kind of why it's so hard to stomach that loss. Like, I don't look at that loss and say, "Man, SMU was manhandled." And the season is gone and all those things. What I saw as an offense that got down to the red zone, shot themselves in the foot multiple times. And then a defense that had SMU right in the game, but also, BYU was able to get a drive here, a drive there at the right times, and that's the difference. And with an offense that finishes interception, fumble, field goal, turnover on downs, I mean, that's not what you want. Those were your final drive to the third quarter, and then your last three drives of the game. And that's where SMU has to fix the offense, because it does help the defense. It's complementary football, it's all those things. So I just want to give the defense their flowers. I mean, they played really well against BYU. And I think that kind of quiet, it's in people down. I know BYU isn't the most sexy team offensively, but they had some players that could make plays. And I felt like they schemed up a lot of good stuff from BYU side of things. And I really just like what SMU is doing defensively with Scott Simons and that whole crew running the show. So they've got a tall task against TCU, of course, some athletes running around, they're playing well offensively. But I think if they can get a little bit of help from offense and keeping the ball moving and things like that defensively, this team is going to look like how it's looked the better part of the last year and a half now. So with that guys, Hayden and I are jumping on here in a little while, we're going to record a podcast for you guys and talk about all things SMU and where do they go from here as a bye week, what's a bye week like for players during this time. So with that guys going to shut down this edition of the podcast, kind of a somber one, but we will have a lot of content coming at you guys as we have had all week at on theponyxpress.com. So I hope you guys enjoyed this edition of the podcast. We'll catch you guys later this week with more of the on theponyxpress podcast. Thanks for listening to the on theponyxpress podcast with Billy and body. Follow us on your socials on X at SMU on three and on Instagram at on three SMU and keep it locked to on theponyxpress.com for more coverage.
