No. 21 SMU Smokes Stanford in South Bay Snoozefest

© Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Stanford Cardinal (2-5, 1-3) hosted the No. 21 SMU Mustangs (6-1, 3-0) on a beautiful evening just south of the San Francisco Bay on Oct. 19. However, most locals did not attend the game.

Southern Methodist dismantled the Cardinal in all aspects of the game. SMU outgained Stanford in the first half by 272 yards (364-92), jetting out to a 31-7 lead. In the end, the Ponies prevailed 40-10, and it wasn't that close.

Stanford Stadium has a seating capacity of 50,424, but the facility was mostly empty despite SMU's ranking in the AP Top 25. At halftime, Stanford announced the attendance for the game was 19,171. However, the crowd seemed smaller than that.

The visiting SMU contingency was louder and more enthusiastic than the home crowd.

The Stanford band displayed substantially more vigor and zest than the Cardinal football team as the viewing audience mirrored the home team's lack of enthusiasm.

SMU Superlatives

While Stanford freshman backup quarterback Elijah Brown struggled, completing just 16 of 33 passes, throwing 2 interceptions and yielding a sack in the end zone for an SMU safety, Mustangs signal caller Kevin Jennings was proficient. Jennings threw for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also rushed for 19 yards.

Jennings connected for TD strikes with his favorite receiving targets, tight end RJ Maryland and Key'Shawn Smith. He ably spread the ball around to his talented playmaking teammates. Eight different Mustangs caught passes.

SMU featured a prolific ground game, with running backs Brashard Smith, Roderick Daniels, Jr. and LJ Johnson Jr. all contributing mightily, tallying 65, 58 and 44 yards, respectively. Johnson had 2 TD runs. The only problem area was that Daniels fumbled twice.

The Mustangs' defense mostly kept elite Stanford WR Elic Ayomanior in check. While he made a spectacular 18-yard TD reception, he had only 4 catches for 55 yards in the game.

The stout SMU defense had 6 sacks, led by defensive end Jahfari Harvey, who had 2. Safety Isaiah Nwokobia and cornerback Deuce Harmon both had interceptions.

Next Up

While the Cardinal hosts Wake Forest (3-4, 1-2) on Oct. 26, the Mustangs take on the Duke Blue Devils (6-1, 2-1) in Durham N.C. Duke is coming off a victory over the enigmatically dismal Florida State Seminoles (1-6, 1-5).