STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Kevin Jennings threw three long touchdown passes in the first quarter and No. 21 SMU rolled to a 40-10 victory over Stanford on Saturday night.
The Mustangs (6-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) started fast on the way to winning their eighth straight road game and becoming bowl eligible before the end of October.
“That’s something you got to check off every year,” coach Rhett Lashlee said. “That’s your hope. If you want to go somewhere, you got to get to that point. … Our guys do know we’ve just put ourselves in position to play for stuff continually down the stretch. But I don’t think we’re going to sit around and be satisfied with that’s the end result that we want. But it is a big deal.”
Jennings set the tone with an 87-yard pass to Moochie Dixon on the first play from scrimmage. He added a 45-yarder to Key’Shawn Smith later in the opening quarter and then a 38-yarder to RJ Maryland to make it 21-0 before the end of the first quarter. He finished with 322 yards passing.
Jennings has accounted for nine touchdowns with only two turnovers, while averaging 294.5 yards per game of total offense in four starts since taking over as starter following a loss to BYU on Sept. 6.
“We’ve really been working hard on hitting some deep balls,” Lashlee said. “We haven’t had the balls this year as well as we have maybe in the past.”
That was more than enough to put away the Cardinal (2-5, 1-3), who remain winless at home against FBS opponents in coach Troy Taylor’s two seasons at the helm. Stanford has lost 11 straight home games against FBS opponents and 16 straight against ranked teams since beating No. 3 Oregon 31-24 on Oct. 2, 2021.
“It’s tough. It’s painful for everybody to lose when its not close at the end,” Taylor said. “You’re always concerned about it. But these are the most resourceful men I’ve been around. They continue to battle. … I know they will continue to compete and we’ll bounce back from it for sure.”
Elijah Brown replaced Ashton Daniels at quarterback in the first half and threw for 153 yards with an 18-yard TD to Elic Ayomanor. Brown also had two interceptions.
“We were down 21-0 and wanted a spark.” Taylor said. “He was ready to go and I wanted to see what he could do for an extended time.”
SMU: Despite the lopsided win, there were plenty of mistakes made by the Mustangs. Roderick Daniels fumbled away two punts, with the second setting up a Cardinal field goal, and Jennings threw an interception deep in his own territory to set up a TD for Stanford.
Stanford: After winning the ACC opener at Syracuse, the Cardinal haven’t even been competitive the last few weeks. They have been outscored by 122 points during a four-game losing streak and allowed 70 consecutive points before getting on the board late in the first half against SMU.
SMU: At Duke on Saturday night.
Stanford: Hosts Wake Forest on Saturday.
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