Jennings Throws 4 Straight TDs In Return From Jammed Finger
Kevin Jennings looks past the finger injury that shadowed camp, Ahmaad Moses is back after a court order freed him days before kickoff, and SMU heads to Doak Campbell for the first time ever as the ACC's presumptive No. 2.
Jennings says the finger doesn't hurt, and the tape backed him up
Kevin Jennings jammed the index finger on his throwing hand after a practice earlier this month, and Rhett Lashlee told reporters at the time that his quarterback would be limited for a week or two, per Pete Nakos of On3. That is the kind of camp injury that can quietly wreck an opener, especially one on the road, and for a few days it hung over everything SMU was doing.
It did not last. Brett McMurphy reported Jennings was progressing quicker than expected and would resume throwing the following week, giving him three weeks to get ready for the trip to Florida State. By August 18, Lashlee told ESPN's Pete Thamel that Jennings had started throwing again with "no pain," and that the staff expected him to have a full two weeks to be 100 percent for the opener. Two days later, McMurphy reported Jennings went through 7-on-7 drills and threw four straight touchdowns, with a source telling On3 simply, "He looked great."
The injury table tells a more cautious version of the same story. Covers still has Jennings listed as Questionable with a finger designation as of last week, with its aggregated note calling it unclear whether he will play at Florida State on September 7 — a hedge, not a fact, and the gap between it and three straight weeks of increasingly upbeat beat reporting is the whole story of SMU's camp right now.
Last season ended with a bowl win over Arizona and a No. 2 ballot
SMU closed out last season by beating Arizona 24-19 on January 3, the finish to a stretch that also included wins over Miami (26-20), Boston College (45-13) and Louisville (38-6), with the lone loss coming at California, 35-38, in late November. At ACC media days in July, Lashlee made the case for where that leaves the program: "We've got the most wins in the ACC the last three years... we're 14-2 in the league, which is two games better than anybody else," he said, adding that last year's team went 8-6 against the SEC.
The league's preseason media poll backed him up. SMU landed at No. 2 in the ACC with six first-place votes, trailing only Miami's 165, and ahead of Clemson, Georgia Tech and defending champion Florida State's own preseason ballot, per Brett McMurphy and Pete Nakos. It is a projection, not a result — the record is still 0-0 — but it is the clearest sign yet of how the league sees this roster walking into September.
A court order just handed Lashlee back an All-ACC safety
All-ACC safety Ahmaad Moses is eligible again. "I believe this ruling means all-ACC safety Ahmaad Moses can play for SMU again. He's been practicing with the team," Chris Vannini reported, noting Moses never signed an NFL contract, so a new ACC rule barring pros from returning does not touch him. Moses had graduated and declared for the 2025 draft, went undrafted after spinal surgery, and was seeking the same extra year of eligibility that a court ruling has already granted to other players from his recruiting class.
The timing is pointed: the ACC passed a resolution just days earlier banning players who signed professional contracts from returning to college football, part of a wider Power 4 push on eligibility enforcement. Moses's temporary restraining order threads that needle exactly because he never signed anything, and unless the NCAA appeals, an All-ACC starter is back in the secondary in time for the opener at Florida State on September 7 — as good a break as SMU's defense could have asked for.
SMU's first-ever trip to Doak Campbell comes with a spread attached
SMU plays on September 7 at Florida State, and it is the program's first-ever visit to Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Florida State enters having named Auburn and Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels its starting quarterback for what is widely being called a make-or-break season for Mike Norvell — Daniels arrives with a 5-18 career record as a starter across two prior stops, taking over an offense trying to find its footing after a rough 2025.
The line opened with SMU favored by 2.5, with the total set at 53.5. It is a real road game rather than a neutral-site one, and a fair number for a team that gets its own quarterback back from a finger injury in the same week it gets an All-ACC safety back from a courtroom — a lot of variables converging on one Monday night in Florida.