Kevin Jennings threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns as ninth-ranked SMU completed a sweep of its first Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with a penalty-plagued 38-6 victory over California on Saturday.
The Mustangs (11-1, 8-0, No. 9 CFP) were already clinched in next week’s championship game in their ACC debut before closing the regular season with their 17th straight league win. They won their last nine American Athletic Conference games, dating back to 2022, before moving to the power conference this year.
“Just to get in our first year in the ACC and do it, it’s really crazy for us, and it’s awesome,” said Jennings, who is 9-0 as a starter this season.
“It’s just pretty cool, you know, these guys have won 11 straight, haven’t lost a conference game and are going to play championship weekend two years in a row,” third-year SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “I’m kind of in awe of these guys.”
Brashard Smith, a transfer from Miami, had 68 yards rushing on 16 carries, 66 yards on three receptions and scored twice as SMU overcame a season-high 17 penalties for 137 yards.
SMU will play No. 12 Clemson next Saturday night for the ACC title and a spot in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. No. No. 8 Miami would have been in the ACC championship game with a win, but the Hurricanes lost 42-38 at Syracuse, paving the way for Clemson.
The Mustangs took control with touchdowns on three straight drives early. They led 21-0 on Derrick McFall’s 8-yard TD run with 13:02 left in the first half, when they had 234 total yards — and only 34 more from then until the start of the fourth quarter. They finished with 415.
Cal (6-6, 2-6), also in its first ACC season, played without sophomore quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a 3,000-yard passer this season who was absent due to illness.
The Golden Bears’ first five losses were by an average margin of 3.4 points. They started 0-4 in ACC play and lost those games by a total of nine points.
“That was a tough loss,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. “We just didn’t give ourselves the chance to win.”
Jennings scrambled out of trouble, spun, rolled left and threw on the run to hit Matthew Hibner in the front left corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown. Smith, whose 32-yard catch helped set up that first touchdown, then ran 5 yards for a score. Smith added a 23-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter.
Chandler Rogers started in place of Mendoza and was 8 of 15 passing for 84 yards before leaving in the third quarter with an unspecified injury and being replaced by C.J. Harris. Rogers threw for 3,389 yards and 29 TDs at North Texas last season after starting two seasons at Louisiana-Monroe, but had thrown just 10 passes for Cal before Saturday.
“On offense, not good enough in any position to put points on the board,” Wilcox said. “It was an offensive issue today, not just a quarterback.”
The takeaway
California: The Bears’ offense was certainly out of sync with Mendoza, with leading rusher Jaivian Thomas (upper-body injury) and starting left tackle Nick Morrow all not playing. They had 254 total yards. They trailed 21-0 and had 0 total yards before Rogers had a completion of 37 yards. That was the same drive they had on first-and-goal from the 3 before losing two yards and two penalties, then missing two field goal attempts, one of which was negated by a penalty.
SMU: An incredible first season in the ACC for the Mustangs, the ninth team since 2011 to move from a Group of Five to a power conference. None of the previous eight started better than 1-1 in their conference debuts, and only Louisville had finished with a winning record, going 5-3 in the ACC in 2014 after switching from the AAC.
Survey implications
The Mustangs entered the game with their first top-10 AP ranking since reaching No. 3 in 1985. They were also ninth in the College Football Playoff rankings, their highest since the CFP’s inception in 2014. They should rise behind Miami’s in both polls. loss.
Next
Cal, one of 13 bowl-eligible ACC teams, will have to wait for the bowl selections to be revealed on December 8.
SMU will play in the ACC championship game on December 7 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
