No. 19 SMU beats Florida State 27-24 on Nick Reed’s late field goal
Kevin Jennings shook off a pair of interceptions to lead No. 19 SMU’s winning scoring drive, capped by Nick Reed’s 20-yard field goal with 21 seconds to play, to wrap up a 27-24 win over Florida State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Kevin Jennings shook off a pair of interceptions to lead No. 19 SMU’s winning scoring drive, capped by Nick Reed’s 20-yard field goal with 21 seconds to play, to wrap up a 27-24 win over Florida State on Monday night.
Jennings completed 26 of 36 passes for a career-best 430 yards and three touchdowns as SMU (1-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) outlasted the Seminoles in a game that was delayed nearly two hours due to a power outage at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“I thought Kevin played awesome,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “He was in control. Threw it for 430, he ran it when he needed to. He’s a player. Really proud of him. Proud of our guys for just finding a way to win.”
Jennings had a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Cooper and a 10-yard touchdown pass to Randy Pittman, a Florida State transfer, to help the Mustangs rack up 585 offensive yards.
“Getting the W is amazing,” Jennings said. “It was a tough crowd environment on the road. Great team. Crowd was going crazy. … We’ve been preparing since January. It’s nothing new for us. It’s week 1. Mistakes are going to happen. But it’s about how we respond.”
Ousmane Kromah had 22 carries for 116 yards, including a 54-yarder and a 7-yard touchdown to lead Florida State. Kromah has back-to-back 100-yard games to begin his sophomore season.
Ashton Daniels completed 12 of 23 passes for 125 yards and a 39-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Singleton Jr.
Daniels also had an 8-yard touchdown run to help Florida State (1-1, 0-1) wrap up a 14-play, 75-yard drive in the first quarter.
“We got to go make plays in the passing game when opportunities present themselves,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said. “Didn’t do a good job protecting with that throughout, some inconsistencies there that we got to clean up. We got to get that corrected. … We had our opportunities. It’s a shame to come up a field goal short.”
Ashlynd Barker and Nehemiah Chandler had second-half interceptions for Florida State. The Seminoles also forced a muffed punt, which led to a third-quarter touchdown.
SMU and Florida State were set to kick off at 7:35 p.m. but were instead pushed back to 9:15 p.m. due to the power outage. The game began with referees keeping the time on the field.
“We asked them to be calm in the chaos,” Lashlee said. “Couldn’t be more chaotic than the first hour and a half.”
SMU made an argument to move up from No. 19 in the next AP poll following the win.
SMU: The Mustangs made plenty of opening-game mistakes but converted 8 of 14 third-down opportunities and had two fourth-quarter scoring drives.
Florida State: The Seminoles failed to convert on their first 10 third-down attempts, finishing 2 of 15. But Florida State made enough plays on the ground to pick up 177 yards and battle SMU.
SMU will play host to UC Davis on Saturday.
Florida State has a bye and will play at No. 13 Alabama on Sept. 19.
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