After cleaning up a sloppy season opener, Rhett Lashlee demands perfection against a ball-hawking Louisville defense to keep the Mustangs’ undefeated streak alive in a high-stakes showdown.
One thing the SMU Mustangs would have wanted to see from their season opener against Florida State to their Week 2 game against UC Davis was improvement.
And head coach Rhett Lashlee certainly saw it.
Against Florida State, in what was essentially a preseason game for the Mustangs, given it was their first game together, they had two fumbles lost, and Kevin Jennings threw two interceptions.
You won't win many games having four turnovers, but SMU escaped with a win.
Then came UC Davis, and the Mustangs improved out of sight in the turnover battle.
No interceptions, no fumbles, no nothing.
And for Lashlee, that's what he and the team expect.
"Just that's what we expect, Monday night's not what we expect, this is what we expect," Lashlee said. "We expect to be aggressive. We expect to make a lot of plays and value the football. Some of that's probably some game one stuff that happens to people, and hopefully we got some of our system.
"The other part is, hopefully it got our attention, and we were very intentional about valuing the football."
Now comes another bit test with 23rd ranked Louisville on the road in Week 3.
The Cardinals are 1-1, and had two forced turnovers against Ole Miss in Week 1, and followed that up with getting another fumble against Villanova.
So, they can turn the football over.
Having scored 39 and then 58 points, the Cardinals can make life difficult for the Mustangs, so it puts a premium on protecting the football for SMU this week.
We saw how tough things get when Jennings and the offense can't get out of their own way. They're in a dogfight.
But when they play clean football, look at the result.
Of course, winning the turnover battle is key to beating any team, but it seems especially true for the Mustangs, and the game against Louisville will center on who can handle the football better.
SMU showed what it can be and what it can produce when it plays clean.
Do that against the Cardinals, and the Mustangs will start 2026 3-0.
