🏆 SMU 27–24 — A 20-Yard Kick After the Lights Died at Doak

The last game of Week 1 needed a flashlight.

No. 19 SMU 27, Florida State 24. Nick Reed, 20 yards, 21 seconds left. That is the score we would not type while the clock ran.

Kickoff was 7:30 p.m. ET. The lights at Doak Campbell went out with both teams on the sideline. A west-side transformer shorted, then blew on the reset, per ESPN. Teams went back to the locker rooms. They finally kicked at 9:15 — about an hour 45 late — without full lights, without replay, without helmet comms, without a working scoreboard. Time on the field. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips had to talk his way through it on TV.

Then Kevin Jennings went 26-of-36 for a career-high 430 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. SMU piled up 585 yards. A 50-yard strike to Jalen Cooper. A 10-yard score to Randy Pittman, a Florida State transfer. A long one in the fourth that made it 24–17. Four turnovers and they still found the kick.

Ousmane Kromah: 22 carries, 116 yards, a touchdown, and a 54-yard burst that set up Gabe Panikowski from 46. Ashton Daniels: 12-of-23, 125, a scoring throw — Samuel Singleton Jr. from a career-long 39 to tie it 24–24 — plus an 8-yard rushing score. Nehemiah Chandler picked Jennings in the end zone. Rhett Lashlee: Jennings was in control. Mike Norvell got booed when the video board found him.

Florida State is 1–1 after 34–17 over New Mexico State. SMU is 1–0. Coaches Poll around noon ET today. AP Top 25 about 2 p.m. We will not invent a ranking that is still in a ballot.

What this means for you

If you waited up, it was a field-goal game after a blackout. If you needed Week 1 to end, it ended 27–24. If you watch polls, wait until 2.

Bottom line: Mustangs in the dark. Reed from 20. 430 yards. The last opener is in the book.

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