In a season full of adversity, SMU restores hope with ‘culture win’ over No. 10 Miami

UNIVERSITY PARK — At many moments this season, SMU couldn’t catch a break.

Early on, it was injuries to multiple starters. Then, it was two close losses in non-conference play to in-state rivals when SMU held fourth-quarter leads.

Once SMU finally hit its stride early in ACC play, a 50-yard field goal served them a one-point loss on the road at Wake Forest last week and put their season on the ropes.

The adversity — and three losses that came from it — made it clear the Mustangs had little hope left to replicate their 2024 season where they made a run to the ACC championship game and College Football Playoff.

Sports Roundup

But there may have been no better way to restore hope than what SMU achieved Saturday.

The Mustangs kept their conference title and College Football Playoff hopes alive by defeating No. 10 Miami 26-20 in overtime at Ford Stadium. Saturday’s win was SMU’s first over a top-10 opponent since Jan. 1, 1983 and its first in Ford Stadium’s 25-year history.

“It’s a great culture win,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. “We beat a playoff-caliber team with a national championship-caliber defense.

“You learn how to win. You learn how to respond. I just couldn’t be more proud of our guys and our program.”

Saturday’s game had every chance to go wrong as SMU’s other two one-possession games this season had.

The Mustang offense came out flat in the first half, scoring just one touchdown that was all but handed to it on an Ahmaad Moses interception that started the drive on the Miami 28-yard line. The run game could never get going, finishing with just 23 carries for 25 yards Saturday.

Key players who made game-defining plays suffered injuries that appeared to be game-ending. Quarterback Kevin Jennings could not put any pressure on one ankle after being tackled in the third quarter before returning two plays later and leading SMU to two game-tying field goal drives and a game-winning touchdown drive. Moses suffered an injury as well before returning to haul in an overtime interception to set up SMU’s game-winning drive.

Not to mention, SMU had three points taken off the board when kicker Sam Keltner’s 42-yard field goal with 6:25 to play in regulation sailed over the right upright but was ruled wide right, simply because officials said the entire ball wasn’t inside the vertical plane. A matter of inches prevented the Mustangs from tying the game and handed Miami the ball back late in the fourth quarter up 20-17.

“When it goes over the top, you can’t review it,” Lashlee said. “Looking at it, I think more than half the ball was inside, but the whole ball has to be inside.”

But SMU didn’t flinch and didn’t let the moment get too big.

“They didn’t worry about the score,” Lashlee said. “They just kept playing.”

SMU’s defense made a stop, forcing Miami to punt with 2:10 remaining in regulation. Jennings marched the Mustangs into Miami territory. A fourth down conversion attempt could’ve sealed the game, but Miami’s coaches called a timeout and its players kept playing, tackling Jennings and getting flagged for unnecessary roughness. That call extended SMU’s drive and set up a 38-yard Keltner field goal to tie the game with 25 seconds left.

In overtime, Miami’s offense started with the ball, but Moses intercepted Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck for the second time to hand the ball back to Jennings and the offense.

An SMU run game that has struggled for two weeks got all of its yards in overtime and capped off a game-winning drive with a one-yard touchdown run by UCLA transfer TJ Harden.

The significance of Saturday’s win in the grand scheme of this season wasn’t lost on SMU’s coaches and players, who enjoyed a lengthy locker room celebration postgame.

“As players, we know,” Jennings said. “We’ve definitely got that in our head. We can’t lose a game. We’ve got to win out. So we know every single game, we’re going to give it our all.”

But the significance in the grand scheme of the program’s trajectory wasn’t overlooked either.

Hours after SMU signed Lashlee to a third contract extension in three years — keeping him in Dallas until 2032 and making him one of the top-10 highest-paid coaches in college football — he earned the biggest win of his career.

Ford Stadium was packed with Mustang fans for homecoming, whom the SMU defense had to quiet down on the sidelines in overtime so the offense could work in peace.

It was a scene SMU fans could only dream of two years ago. So was their now 3-1 record over blue bloods Clemson, Miami and Florida State to start ACC play.

SMU’s season may not end back in Charlotte or the College Football Playoff. The Mustangs still need to beat Boston College, Louisville and Cal to make that happen — and need some help to emerge from a tiebreaker for second place that now includes five teams with one loss in ACC play.

But regardless of what happens over the next two months, no one can take Saturday away from SMU — a moment that shows just how far this program has come.

Photos: SMU fans rush the field, Mustangs celebrate after upset win over Miami

Southern Methodist Mustangs running back T.J. Harden (27) is tackled by Miami Hurricanes... View GalleryMore coverage from SMU-Miami