Kevin Jennings tossed two touchdown passes and Sam Keltner made three field goals to help visiting SMU defeat Clemson 35-24 on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
Jennings completed 23 of 43 passes for 290 yards. He was intercepted once.
SMU (5-2, 3-0 ACC) led 7-0 after one quarter, 16-7 at halftime and 23-17 entering the final 15 minutes. SMU’s Chris Johnson Jr. sealed the victory on a 6-yard TD run with 1:03 to play.
Quarterback Christopher Vizzina, a redshirt sophomore, made his first career start for Clemson (3-4, 2-3). Vizzina completed 29 of 42 passes for 317 yards and three TDs. Clemson wide receiver T.J. Moore caught two TD passes.
Vizzina replaced starting quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is still recovering from an ankle injury sustained in last Saturday’s victory over Boston College. It ended Klubnik’s streak of 34 consecutive starts.
SMU took a 10-0 lead on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Jennings to Jordan Hudson with 3:52 left in the opening quarter followed by Keltner’s 51-yard field goal with 11:26 remaining in the second. Hudson caught seven passes for 131 yards in the win.
After Vizzina tossed a 32-yard TD pass to Moore that helped cut Clemson’s deficit to 10-7 with 8:51 left in the second quarter, SMU extended its lead to 16-7 on two Keltner field goals. He made a 48-yard kick with 4:29 left in the first half, and another 48-yard kick with 1:09 remaining in the half.
Moore also scored on a 62-yard pass from Vizzina with 8:48 to go in the third. Nolan Hauser’s PAT trimmed SMU’s lead to 16-14.
The Mustangs extended their lead to 23-14 on Derrick McFall’s 35-yard TD run with 7:29 left in the third quarter, but Clemson was within six points, 23-17, after Hauser made a 28-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining in the third.
Matthew Hibner’s 22-yard touchdown reception extended SMU’s advantage to 29-17 with 12:30 to play, but it was a one-score game again at 29-24 after Tristan Smith caught a 23-yard TD pass with 6:44 remaining in the game.
