UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas — In the week leading up to SMU’s game against No. 21 Cincinnati, Rhett Lashlee prophesied what would happen.
Twists and turns? He expected plenty. Some punches that teetered on being knockout blows? He knew multiple were on the horizon. But that would be OK. Channeling his inner Rocky, he told his players the difference in Saturday’s game — the recipe for winning, as he called it — would be their ability to respond to those moments and keep fighting back.
“Things are going to go our way, we’re going to make some plays,” he predicted, as long as his team never quit, “and that’s what happened, but obviously we came short.”
Lashlee, contrary to his fast-talking nature, then took a pause and exhaled at the disappointing realization. Nailing a prediction until the very end can have that effect.
Once again, SMU fell into the frustrating crevice between being good enough to win and failing to do so, losing to Cincinnati 29-27 at Ford Stadium on Saturday.
Backup quarterback Preston Stone, replacing injured starter Tanner Mordecai, engineered two fourth quarter touchdown drives with just over eight minutes left, giving the Mustangs a chance to tie the game with under two minutes left. SMU’s two-point conversion attempt failed. SMU still had another chance to get the ball back, but Cincinnati quarterback Ben Bryant completed a nine-yard pass to Josh Whyle on third and eight to seal the win.
The two-point win was Cincinnati’s smallest margin of victory in what’s now a 20-game conference winning streak.
“We didn’t play here today to play them close,” Lashlee said with his team now sitting at 3-4 in his first season as head coach. “We came here to win.”
They also walked into Ford Stadium knowing that Cincinnati wouldn’t be the only foe they’d have to combat. Throughout Saturday’s game, Ford Stadium had a constant northern wind gust that fell between 20-35 miles per hour.
“I think everybody knew whoever was going to the scoreboard today, the wind was brutal,” Lashlee said. “They had it [behind them] in the first and third and you saw what happened, and we had it in the second and fourth and you saw what happened. Whoever had the wind, won the quarter and we didn’t win our two quarters by enough.”
But SMU made it close for a few reasons.
One, Cincinnati somewhat allowed it to be that way. The Bearcats, the Power-Five bound reigning College Football Playoff participant, were called for 14 penalties on Saturday, totaling 127 yards. Offensively, Cincinnati totaled 379 yards, which was the second-lowest number for the Bearcats this season. Cincinnati had multiple dropped passes, including two on the opening drive and one in the second half that would’ve been a touchdown for a wide-open Nick Mardner if he hung on.
SMU’s defense played a factor, as well. The Mustangs — employing a heavier rotation than used earlier in the season — put pressure on Bryant and flew around the field. Nelson Paul and DeVere Levelston had sacks.
The Mustangs’ defense also showed a knack for keeping Cincinnati out of the end zone. SMU forced six field goal attempts — five of which were made by Ryan Coe, while the lone miss was blocked. Cincinnati only had one scoring drive that started inside its own 33-yard line: a one-play drive that started and ended with a 76-yard touchdown run from Chris McLelland.
“They played lights out against a really good offense,” Stone said of his defense.
That McLelland touchdown made it 17-0, sparking flashbacks to last season when the Mustangs went into Cincinnati with aspirations to pull off an upset, but found themselves trailing 41-0 after three quarters.
This time, the Mustangs responded and made it 20-14 at halftime. Then, with the wind in their face once again, they struggled to start the second half. They trailed 29-14 in the third quarter and had negative yardage until Stone entered the game for Mordecai, who probably suffered a concussion, Lashlee said, though the immediate diagnosis wasn’t known.
With Stone, SMU had two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, the first of which included two fourth-down conversions and a tipped touchdown pass that went off the hands of Cincinnati corner Arquon Bush and into the diving hands of freshman tight end RJ Maryland.
“That was exactly how we practiced it,” Stone quipped.
And though SMU kept fighting back like Lashlee hoped, it ended up being another close loss for the Mustangs to hang on their wall.
“A win is a win fellas,” a Cincinnati player yelled while running to the locker room. They later celebrated as “All I do is win” fittingly played on the speakers.
Elsewhere inside Ford Stadium, the SMU locker room had a different mood.
“I would say it’s really frustrating,” Paul said. “Coming off a win last week, we felt like we had momentum, but as of now, all we have to do is keep believing.”
And keep getting back up. Otherwise, prophesized victories could go unfulfilled.
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