Clemson hasn’t forgotten the 304 yards and three touchdown passes that SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings compiled a season ago.
Sure, the Tigers emerged victorious in a thrilling 34-31 ACC Championship Game, but the defense is motivated to get the better of Jennings and his team again. On Saturday afternoon, they’ll get that chance.
“We’ve just got to keep our eyes on our keys and not let them wander into the backfield,” safety Ronan Hanafin told the media during this week. “[Jennings will] scramble to pass, he’ll scramble to run. We have to be ready for both, he’s a great athlete. We’ve got to do better than we did against him last year. He’s a great player with a great team around him, so we’ve just got to do our best out there.”
Hanafin might not have seen the field in the ACC title game a season ago, but his teammates who did share echoed the same message this week.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” linebacker Sammy Brown said of Jennings. “He’s a really good ballplayer. He extends plays, plays with a really good intensity. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”
“[They’re] very talented,” defensive end Jahiem Lawson said of SMU. “They’ve got a great offense. The quarterback, he’s a great player.”
When asked about what it takes to corral the explosive Jennings, Lawson showed faith in Clemson’s defensive gameplan.
“Don’t let him run,” Lawson said. “He’s a great player. We’ve got to contain him. Whatever the coaches tell us to do, we’ve got to do it. And I know they’re going to put us in the right position. So, just listen to the coaches and we’ll be all right.”
Jennings, a redshirt junior from Oak Cliff, Texas, has continued his dazzling play in 2025. After a 2024 campaign that saw him amass over 3,200 yards through the air and 28 total touchdowns, he’s accounted for a large share of the Mustangs’ attack this season.
Despite a pair of losses to in-state foes Baylor and TCU in non-conference play, Jennings has thrown for over 240 yards in each of SMU’s six games this season. One of his finest performances came two weeks ago, when he completed 29 of 35 passes for 285 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception. The Mustangs dominated Syracuse 31-18 that day for their first ACC win of the season.
However, Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Allen is no stranger to facing Jennings in a high-stakes environment. In the first round of last season’s College Football Playoff, the SMU quarterback was flustered early and often by the overwhelming Penn State defense that Allen led. A trio of interceptions helped lead the Nittany Lions to a dominant 38-10 win over the Mustangs.
When asked at ACC Kickoff this past summer about learning from those struggles, Jennings was candid.
“I took a lot from that game,” Jennings said. “I tell myself all the time, honestly, I needed that game. I needed a bad game like that to bounce back and come back in and remind myself that I can play at this level, I can do all the things I’m capable of doing ….It’s going to be kind of the same environment. I’m just looking forward to heading to Clemson.”
Only time will tell how the Tigers fare against SMU’s dynamic playmaker on Saturday.
