After letting a potentially valuable victory slip away in the waning moments last week, SMU will try to regroup at Missouri State on Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs (1-1) took a 14-point lead over Baylor inside the final six minutes before suffering a painful 48-45 double-overtime loss.
“For 3 1/2 quarters we were the better team,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “And then we didn’t finish.”
Now they will travel to take on Missouri State (1-1) in Springfield, Mo.
The Mustangs fell out of the Top 25 in both polls this week after failing to close out Baylor. That was a big setback in their bid to return to the College Football Playoff bracket.
“If we want to have a good football team, all our goals are still there,” Lashlee said. “This doesn’t take any goals off the table for us.”
SMU’s Kevin Jennings has passed for 555 yards and five touchdowns in two games. But he has also thrown two interceptions and suffered four sacks.
T.J. Harden (157 yards, three touchdowns) leads the ground game and Romello Brinson (11 catches, 247 yards, three touchdowns) is the top receiving target.
Missouri State is coming off a breakthrough 21-20 victory at Marshall, its first win since moving up to the FBS level. That dramatic rebound from its season-opening 73-13 loss at Southern California silenced some doubters.
“We know exactly who we are,” Bears coach Ryan Beard said. “We know how hard we work. We know the talent we have in that locker room.”
Hosting SMU is another huge step for a program making the leap from the FCS level.
“It’s been fun creating history the last five years, especially the last two years, specifically with this group as a head coach,” Beard said. “In the offseason, everybody was going, ‘It’s going to take forever, you can’t win.’ I think we can.”
Jacob Clark passed for 506 yards and four touchdowns in the Bears’ first two games. Ramone Green (180 rushing and receiving yards) and Shomari Lawrence (125 rushing and receiving yards) share running back duties. Jmariyae Robinson (six catches, 115 yards, one touchdown) is Clark’s top receiving target.
