Despite all the fireworks on offense, the SMU Mustangs walked off the field Saturday night in Dallas with another bitter reminder of how slim the margins of error are for victory. Their 48-45 double-overtime loss to Baylor wasn’t a matter of talent. It was about execution, composure, and closing. Head coach Rhett Lashlee knows it, too. He seems so focused on his Week 3 game against Missouri State, Lashlee apparently forgot which conference their next opponent belongs to. MO State, a first-year FBS team now in Conference USA, may have a home crowd advantage that the Mustangs will have to contend with.

Rhett Lashlee probably didn’t even realize it, but he slipped up when calling Missouri State a “power four, power five” program when they’re a G5 team instead. “Missouri State, Ryan Beard going up there. They’re gonna have probably 17, 20,000 packed. It’s their first home game as a power four, power five, FBS school. They got a big win last week. They won eight games last year. He does it right. There’s a lot of ties. So it’s really good for us to go on the road and try to put our regular season road winning streak to the test and see if we can respond. And that’s all sports are. Everybody gets knocked back down. It’s how we respond to determine this team,” he said in a press conference. It was a harmless slip, but the bigger picture for SMU is less forgiving.

MO State leads CUSA in completion percentage (70.0), passing yards per completion (13.02), passing yards per attempt (9.12), and average time of possession (33:32). Coupled with 20,ooo fans chanting their fight song “Sing we praises,” the Bears’ home-field advantage would be a concern for the Mustangs. Road environments bring challenges of their own. Just last week, Notre Dame left tackle Anthoine Knapp had to leave the game due to cramping in the Florida heat. Athletes often face hurdles with hydration, nutrition, and even unfamiliar food options on the road, all of which can complicate game-day execution.

The situation is even more concerning because the Mustangs came very close to snapping a 13-game losing streak to Baylor, and instead left McLane Stadium with more questions than answers. “For 3 1/2 quarters, we were the better team and then we didn’t finish. You can’t start the job and not finish the job,” Lashlee said. “Obviously in the second overtime we weren’t able to put the ball in the end zone, and then on top of it we missed the field goal. So we kind of made it easy on them, didn’t make them have any game pressure there.” Now, with such a gut-wrenching loss coupled with road-game concerns, Lashlee has another thing to be worried about.

Rhett Lashlee faces mounting injury concerns

If SMU’s 13 straight loss to BU wasn’t punishing enough, the Mustangs are now dealing with a wave of injuries that could test both their depth and resilience as they head into a tricky road game against Missouri State. The growing list of unavailable or questionable players has become a storyline of its own this week, and Rhett Lashlee knows his roster will need to bend without breaking.

The most pressing concern comes at LB, where both starters are banged up. Alex Kilgore, who suffered an ankle injury while scoring a pick-six against East Texas A&M earlier in the year, is listed as questionable for Saturday. So too is Zakye Barker, who was limited against Baylor after picking up a knock of his own. Losing both in the same week would strip the Mustangs’ defense of its tone-setters in the middle.

The bad news doesn’t stop there. Lashlee confirmed that true freshmen Isaiah Robertson (back) and Tyren Polley (thumb) are out indefinitely, with Polley’s situation potentially requiring surgery. That stings for a team that has leaned heavily on young contributors this fall. At least the QB room avoided disaster. Starter Jennings, who rolled his ankle in overtime against Baylor, had positive X-ray results. Lashlee said he was limited on Tuesday but fully expects him to play Saturday.