Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 14, 2026 33 GAME PREVIEW: SMU "I'd like to talk about Kevin Jennings, the touchdown maker, the touchdown thrower, the elite playmaker, who just like anybody else every now and then throws a pick," Lashlee said. "That's the reality of it because what you focus on expands. So, we're gonna focus on the positive. "It doesn't mean we're naive to the negative, but that's the reality of it. I would love for the last seven to eight weeks of Kevin Jennings' career here, we talk about what a great freaking football player he is." MEASURING GREATNESS With several games remaining in his final season of eligibility, Jennings al- ready owned the SMU program records in career passing yards (10,123) and passing touchdowns (76). Before the 2026 season even started, SMU put Jennings' name on one of its athletic facilities: the Kevin Jennings Recovery Center. With funding from SMU alumni Ann and Malcolm Holland, the center provides space and equip- ment for student-athletes to recover physically and mentally. Not bad for a Rivals Industry three- star recruit who was ranked 85th among quarterbacks in the 2022 class. "I'm lowkey feeling a little bit old, I'm not gonna lie," Jennings said in August. "All the young guys coming in and call- ing me 'Unc' now. I remember me as a freshman calling the fifth-years 'Unc,' but now that's me." Jennings made his first two starts as a redshirt freshman in 2023, but he didn't become the full-time starter un- til the fourth game of the 2024 season. Lashlee, who took over the SMU pro- gram in 2022, split the quarterback job between Preston Stone and Jennings to start that 2024 season before fully handing over the reins to Jennings fol- lowing a loss to BYU. SMU went on to win the next nine games to earn a spot in the ACC Cham- pionship Game. Despite a three-point loss to Clemson, the 11-2 Mustangs received a spot in the College Football Playoff. But a 38-10 loss at Penn State in the first round of the inaugural 12-team playoff made SMU look like it didn't belong. That level of team success has eluded SMU since then. The Mustangs lost four games in 2025, and they ended October of this season with a pair of losses. A 30-27 loss at Syracuse Oct. 31 made the potential path to the playoff more dif- ficult. And it came without Jennings committing a turnover. Former Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli didn't necessarily outduel Jennings in the Syracuse victory, but Angeli still led the Orange in a winning effort. Jennings completed 29 of 36 passes for 352 yards with 2 touchdowns, but Syracuse sacked him 6 times. An- geli, who was sacked twice, threw for 200 yards and 1 touchdown with 21 completions on 34 attempts. PLAYING FREE Multiple metrics suggest Jennings is one of the top quarterbacks in college football this season. Entering Novem- ber, Jennings had the fourth-best pass- ing-efficiency rating (178.1) among FBS quarterbacks with a completion per- centage of 73.7 percent, 2,414 yards on 251 pass attempts and 21 passing touch- Facts & Figures SMU AT NOTRE DAME Date: Nov. 21, 2026 Site: Notre Dame Stadium (77,622) Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET Television: NBC Radio: This game can be heard on SoFi Notre Dame Radio Network affiliates. Series Facts: Notre Dame leads 10-3 Head coaches: SMU — Rhett Lashlee (45-18, 5th season); Notre Dame — Marcus Freeman (51-13, 5th season). Noting SMU: The Mustangs' defense held opponents to a third-down conversion rate of 27.0 percent in their first eight games, which ranked third in the FBS at the time … SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings is one of nine ac- tive FBS quarterbacks with at least 10,000 yards of total offense … Lashlee went 14-2 in the first four Novembers of his SMU tenure … SMU is 35-5 under Lashlee when it scores 30 or more points … Since the start of the 2025 season, SMU has 29 touchdown-scoring drives that lasted less than two minutes … SMU has forced a turnover in 37 of its previ- ous 44 games. 2026 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 6 vs. Wisconsin* W, 41-13 Sept. 12 Rice W, 52-0 Sept. 19 Michigan State W, 27-10 Sept. 26 at Purdue W, 49-10 Oct. 3 at North Carolina W, 37-26 Oct. 10 Stanford W, 58-7 Oct. 17 at BYU L, 28-24 Oct. 31 vs. Navy^ W, 35-13 Nov. 7 Miami W, 31-24 Nov. 14 Boston College (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 21 SMU (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Syracuse TBA * at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. ^ at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. 2026 SMU SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 7 at Florida State W, 27-24 Sept. 12 Cal Davis W, 56-10 Sept. 19 at Louisville L, 41-31 Sept. 26 Missouri State W, 34-24 Oct. 3 Boston College W, 25-16 Oct. 17 Virginia W, 23-13 Oct. 24 California W, 59-20 Oct. 31 at Syracuse L, 30-27 Nov. 6 Virginia Tech W, 51-28 Nov. 14 Wake Forest (ESPN) 12 p.m. Nov. 21 at Notre Dame (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Stanford TBA Jennings entered November with 21 touchdown passes and a 73.7 percent completion rate, giving SMU a dangerous aerial attack heading into its Nov. 21 visit to Notre Dame. PHOTO COURTESY SMU ATHLETICS