Three years later, the potential within Jennings comes full circle when one final game against the Eagles – the only team that he’s seen in each of his four years’ worth of starts – brings Boston College to Texas for a key conference game at the start of October. Once the star on the horizon of SMU’s program, the quarterback under center for the Mustangs is now one of the league’s best assets and a centerpiece that requires a dedicated defensive effort for the Eagles as they look to claw their way back north of .500.
“They have a really good offense,” said BC head coach Bill O’Brien. “It starts with the quarterback. He’s awesome. He does a great job. They have a good back in [Kendrick] Raphael. They have good receivers. We have to do a great job of tackling. We have to stay competitive on the perimeter. We have to spin the dial.”
Jennings entered 2026 as a well-established commodity for the SMU offense, so it’s easy to forget how a fast evolution and quickening development within Lashlee’s offense forced the Mustangs to play him over Stone, the once-incumbent starter who threw for 3,200 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2023. Lashlee didn’t commit to Jennings until three games into the 2024 season after starting the year in a timeshare, and he didn’t pay full dividends until he threw for 254 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-16 debut victory over Florida State.
By the end of the year, his 3,245 yards and 23 touchdowns paired with 354 yards rushing and five scores as he earned Third Team All-ACC status, and a 9-2 record led the Mustangs into an ACC Championship Game against Clemson. Two weeks later, a College Football Playoff First Round game at Penn State ended in a 38-10 loss, but he entered the next season as a Heisman Trophy candidate and one of the ACC’s top returning players before an ankle injury limited his emerging dual-threat ability. SMU still won nine games with Jennings hitting new highs as a 3,600-yard passer with 26 touchdown passes, but the Mustangs missed out on a second consecutive ACC title game appearance because a season-ending loss to Cal resulted in a convoluted tiebreaker scenario.
“I played against Kevin during my freshman year,” said defensive back Max Tucker. “He’s going to extend plays, so we’re going to have to cover for longer.”
Already this season, Jennings threw 12 touchdowns and broke career highs with his first two 400-yard games. A 26-for-36 performance against FSU in the season-opening win included 430 yards and a return to his dual-threat scrambling while last week’s win over a plucky Missouri State squad focused more on an 85 percent completion percentage that translated to six incompletions on 39 attempts for 464 yards and three scores, and his 21 straight completions against the Bears set an SMU program record.
Four receivers have 10 catches, and eight different pass catchers recorded one touchdown. Two receivers, including Yamir Knight, lead the team in yardage while tight ends Theo Melin Ohrstrom and Randy Pittman, Jr. are at the top of the scoring column, and nearly every target is averaging 10 yards or more. Four receivers have a catch that’s 50 yards or longer, and Jalen Cooper torched Missouri State for eight catches and 125 yards.
The running game, meanwhile, exploded during the Louisville game when Raphael rushed for 197 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns, and Dramecko Green is a 210-pound change-of-pace back capable of spelling one of the ACC’s premier backs for the occasional run between the tackles. Fleet-footed wideout Derrick McFall broke a 40-yard run during the 45-10 win over an FCS-level UC-Davis program and translates to an easy-to-understand message: don’t get caught watching the proverbial paint dry against an offense that’s explosive, dynamic and willing to change with the fluid elements within the game.
“We can’t stay in the same look every single play,” said O’Brien. “We don’t do that anyways. We just have to do a really good job of understanding our rush lanes because once you let Kevin [Jennings] out of the pocket, you have no chance. He’s going to make massive plays down the field. So we have to do a good job of doing the best that we can, to be competitive in that area.”
Boston College and No. 21 SMU are scheduled to kick off on Saturday, October 3, at 12 p.m. ET from Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. The game can be seen via The CW Network with streaming available via the ESPN family of Internet and mobile device apps for ESPN Unlimited subscribers.
