Brashard Smith and No. 20 SMU overwhelm previously undefeated No. 18 Pitt 48-25

DALLAS — Brashard Smith ran for 161 yards with a 71-yard sprint for the first of his two rushing touchdowns and made a nifty tiptoe catch for another score as No. 20 SMU overwhelmed previously undefeated and 18th-ranked Pittsburgh 48-25 on Saturday night to keep the Mustangs tied for the conference lead in their Atlantic Coast Conference debut.

“We’re just going fast like we normally do, and they couldn’t keep up,” Smith said.

The Mustangs (8-1, 5-0 ACC), last year's champions in The American, are the first team to start 5-0 in their first season in a power conference after moving up from a Group of Five league.

“It just shows when you worry about taking care of your own business, what can happen,” coach Rhett Lashlee said.

Kevin Jennings was 17-of-25 passing for 306 yards with two touchdowns. He hit tight end Matthew Hibner for an 80-yard catch-and-run score on his final pass for a 48-11 lead, one play after Jonathan McGill's interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter.

Pitt (7-1, 3-1) was trying to open 8-0 for the first time since 1981 — when Dan Marino was quarterback of the Panthers. Redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein, who left late in their previous game with an undisclosed injury, completed 29 of 47 passes for 248 yards, and didn't play the final 9 1/2 minutes because of the lopsided score.

“The message is it’s one game,” Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi said he told his team. “It’s hard to win every week. It’s hard to be on every week. And, you know, maybe as a team and as a staff we didn’t handle success. .. Our guys will handle adversity. This is adversity, and our guys will bounce back. You can see in that locker room, they're not discouraged.”

The losses Saturday night by Pitt and No. 11 Clemson left the Mustangs tied with No. 5 Miami (9-0, 5-0) for the lead in the expanded 17-team ACC. SMU doesn’t play the Hurricanes during the regular season.

SMU went ahead to stay on LJ Johnson's 2-yard TD run to cap the game's opening drive. Roderick Daniels Jr. added 3-yard TD on a reverse, getting around a defender in the backfield and leaping another to get over the goal line.

Smith's long TD run came on the first play after Ben Sauls, who had already made a 44-yard field goal, was wide right on a 47-yarder for his first miss in 16 attempts since last season. The Mustangs led 28-3 after Jennings rolled right on third-and-goal from the 3 and threw to Smith, who kept his feet inbounds while reaching out to make the catch at the far side of the end zone.

On the ensuing kickoff, SMU cornerback AJ Davis stayed face down on the field, and video of the play showed his head making contact with the returner while lunging trying to make a tackle. Davis was immobilized on a stretcher before being put into an ambulance that drove onto the field before taking him to a hospital.

But Davis was back on the sideline with his teammates before the end of the game.

“When it happened, they felt like he was OK. He was moving. He was coherent. He just had some pain in his neck and, you know, anytime that happens they’re going to be really cautious,” Lashlee said. “From what I was told briefly, all the scans and everything were good, and he should be OK. So that’s a big blessing.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Pittsburgh: The Panthers didn't finish some early tackles, resulting in big plays that helped set up scores, and were down 34-3 before scoring a touchdown in the final minute of the third quarter. They finished with 453 total yards, but 300 came after halftime, when they already trailed by four TDs.

SMU: Jennings had an impressive rebound a week after accounting for five of SMU's six turnovers in an overtime win at Duke. The Mustangs have won six in a row since an 18-15 home loss without a touchdown against still-undefeated BYU. That is their only loss in their past 13 home games, a stretch when they have averaged just more than 50 points a game.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Pitt went into the weekend as the lowest-ranked undefeated Power Four team. The Panthers were 5-0 before getting in this season, and one loss could have them on the verge of falling out of the poll. The Mustangs will certainly move up, and could challenge the No. 15 ranking they reached in 2019, their highest since being third in 1985.

UP NEXT

Pittsburgh's next two games are at home, next Saturday against Virginia and Nov. 16 against No. 11 Clemson.

SMU has an open date before hosting Boston College on Nov. 16.