Is SMU Set For Mentality Shift After Boston College Win?

Prior to their win over Boston College, the SMU Mustangs had one mode to win a game, and that was to be an all-out attack and put up more points than their opponents.

And that is a sound game style, but it came with pitfalls.

Turnovers and costly penalties almost ended in disaster for the Mustangs as the offense continued to get in its own way with self-inflicted wounds.

But they were putting up video-game numbers, lots of yards, lots of points, yet for some, there was an empty feeling, as if the unit was doing its best to hurt itself.

Well, things changed in the 25-16 win over Boston College.

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The offense wasn't elite; it didn't put up big numbers (25 points, the lowest all season), and it was a rather disjointed game...but they won.

And through the bye, maybe there has been a lightbulb moment for Rhett Lashlee and his team, that they don't need to put up video game numbers each week. 

If they just play a clean game, the result will take care of itself.

But does quarterback coach D-Eriq King think that as well?

"Yeah, absolutely," King said. "That's the number one thing. You can't beat yourself, right?  So go out there, no turnovers, and again things will happen, but no turnovers, no fumbles, we're clean, and our defense go out there, have a really good performance, and we win 25-16.

"At the end of the day, we can have 1,000 yards, if we lose the game, doesn't matter. So us winning the game 25-16, with I don't know how many yards we had, not a lot, but we won the game."

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King is right.

It doesn't matter if Kevin Jennings throws for 400 yards and Kendrick Raphael rushes for 200 yards; if SMU doesn't win, it's all for nothing.

So maybe the Boston College win was the game that saw a switch flick for the Mustangs' offense, and has them thinking, "Hey, we don't need to light up the scoreboard, just play sound, mistake-free football, and we'll be good."

The bye likely came at the right time for the Mustangs, and now they have had a chance to look back over the film and to see where they have to get better.

And in the process, might have just realized that winning a game 25-16 when you don't light up the scoreboard and play mistake-free football is better than 500 yards of total offense that is riddled with turnovers.