Kevin Jennings accounts for 3 TDs as No. 21 SMU holds off Boston College 25-16

DALLAS (AP) — Kevin Jennings threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score and No. 21 SMU beat Boston College 25-16 in a soggy defensive struggle Saturday.

Jennings, the FBS passing leader at 357 yards per game coming in, had only 160 while going 20 of 30 in a light but steady rain that lasted into the second half. His passing yardage was his lowest since the week Jennings took over as the starter early in the 2024 season.

Marques White had three of SMU's five sacks, including one that forced a fumble by Mason McKenzie and was returned 34 yards by Aakil Washington to the Eagles' 13-yard line. It set up Jennings' 14-yard scoring pass to Randy Pittman Jr.

“Really proud of our defense,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said after the Mustangs won despite getting outgained 322-218. “I thought defensively start to finish it was our most complete game.”

Jennings' other TD toss also came on a short drive when SMU (4-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) returned a punt to the BC 41. After a roughing the passer penalty on third down, Jennings threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Derrick McFall. Kendrick Raphael had a 2-yard TD run.

The Eagles (2-3, 0-2) had a chance to get within two points early in the fourth quarter, but Cameron Kossmann dropped a pass when he was wide open and probably would have scored easily on fourth-and-inches from the SMU 8.

“Too many mistakes,” said BC coach Bill O'Brien, whose team had 11 penalties for 95 yards. “We work very hard to coach a disciplined team. We weren't a disciplined team today.”

Evan Dickens caught a 43-yard scoring pass from McKenzie, and Danny Edgehille had a 6-yard TD grab before the Eagles' failed 2-point conversion attempt left them nine points down with 2:07 remaining.

Boston College: McKenzie bounced back from a rough passing game in a loss to Virginia Tech to throw for 208 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. His scrambling ability was negated somewhat by the sacks. He had 74 yards rushing — with 33 subtracted by the sacks.

SMU: Lashlee was already annoyed with special teams coming into the game, and that was before the Mustangs botched two PAT attempts. The first was a high snap that was difficult for Wade McSparron to handle, particularly on a wet field. McSparron simply mishandled the snap the second time.

While saying he thought other parts of the special teams were better, Lashlee added, “Obviously, there's guys in Pop Warner that can take a snap and hold better than we can right now.”

The Mustangs faced fourth-and-50 after getting the ball at the Boston College 44-yard line when O'Brien went for it on fourth down in a nine-point game in the third quarter. SMU had three holding penalties, including one that wiped out a 22-yard completion.

Jennings was sacked for a 9-yard loss, and Raphael lost 2 more yards on a run on third-and-48. McSparron's punt was 50 yards — caught right at the first-down marker by Charlie Comella before a 10-yard return.

SMU was playing three weeks after a 56-10 victory at home when the temperature was 100 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius) just about from start to finish. The Texas heat finally relented on Thursday, and the third day of the month was all clouds, rain and a pleasant 73 degrees.

Both teams are off next week before playing at home Oct. 17. Boston College has Pittsburgh, and SMU plays Virginia in the third of four consecutive home games.

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

Boston College defensive back Charlie Comella (32) reacts after a penalty call during an NCAA college football game against SMU, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

SMU Mustangs offensive lineman PJ Williams (59) prepares for the snap during an NCAA college football game against Boston College, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Boston College running back Evan Dickens leaps over the goal line for a touchdown during an NCAA college football game against SMU, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings rushes for a touchdown during an NCAA college football game against Boston College, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

The head of Tennessee's prison system is resigning, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday, the first major staff shake-up since Christa Pike's stunning failed execution left her unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital.

Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month, Lee said. Some of the governor's fellow Republicans and other elected officials had been urging a change in leadership.

It was the second time since May that Tennessee has not been able to execute a prisoner who was seemingly moments away from death.

The governor also announced that former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton would lead a review of what happened in Pike's death chamber. Stanton previously was named to conduct a review after Lee called off a different execution in 2022; he found in that case that Tennessee had not complied with its own lethal injection process.

Strada said in a statement that resigning was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while Stanton's review is conducted. The state failed to execute Pike despite administering two doses of a lethal drug, pentobarbital.

Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in a jealous rage in 1995. She became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row.

There was no immediate response from Pike's lawyers for an update Saturday on her condition at a hospital. They had disclosed Friday that she was on a ventilator and unconscious in the hours following the execution attempt and that hospital staff were trying to clear the two doses of pentobarbital.

The shocking failure has left both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers. Lee has ordered an independent review and halted any new executions. Strada said he believes the state “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol.”

Pike's legal team welcomed Strada's departure but said “it does nothing to help Christa now.”

“What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,” the four-lawyer team said. “We hope the governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.”

Pike’s attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.

Pike was extraordinarily cooperative with the execution team, even instructing them to “please try here, please try here” as they tried to insert lines, lawyer Randy Spivey told reporters Thursday.

In May, Tennessee stopped the execution of Tony Carruthers after staff placed an IV into his right arm but couldn’t get a secondary IV line. The governor ordered officials to wait at least a year before trying to execute him again.

Strada took over the Correction Department in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In late 2024, he announced that Tennessee was changing its lethal injection protocol and would use only pentobarbital.

Four people have been executed in Tennessee since 2025, according to the Correction Department.

Court filings show that Strada's job included overseeing executions in Arizona when they resumed in 2022 following an eight-year break.

Clarence Dixon was the first that year. The medical team had trouble finding a vein to administer the lethal drugs and finally made an incision in his groin area. The process took about 25 minutes.

That same year in Arizona, medical staff preparing Frank Atwood for execution initially could not locate a vein in his right arm but inserted the IV in his right hand — at Atwood’s suggestion, said Henry Brean, an Arizona Daily Star reporter who was a witness.

Strada announced Murray Hooper's execution by lethal injection, the third in 2022. There was an unsuccessful attempt to insert an IV line in his right arm. The IV in Hooper's leg was inserted into his femoral artery.

“When Governor Lee hired Strada to fix execution problems in Tennessee, his problematic history of executions in Arizona was well known,” said Kit Thomas, an attorney who has represented people on Tennessee's death row.

FILE - Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada speaks to the media after the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)