Injury to Preston Stone puts a damper on SMU’s AAC championship-clinching win over Navy

UNIVERSITY PARK — SMU left no doubt on the field against Navy, but a crucial injury invites plenty of doubt about the Mustangs’ immediate future.

The Mustangs are headed to the American Athletic Conference championship game after a dominating 59-14 win over Navy on Saturday at Ford Stadium.

The Mustangs (10-2, 8-0) play No. 23 Tulane at 2 p.m. Dec. 2 at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans.

SMU’s overwhelming performance, however, came with one big blemish. Quarterback Preston Stone left the game with a left leg injury late in the first half and did not return. His status for next week is not yet known.

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Before the injury, Stone was putting together his most impressive game of the season.

SMU scored on its first four possessions, streaking down the field for touchdowns on seven plays or fewer each time to take a 28-0 lead in the first quarter. Tyler Lavine scored on a one-yard run, and Stone threw touchdown passes of 15, 27, 26 yards to Moochie Dixon and Jordan Judson to cap the drives.

Lavine, one of 21 seniors playing in their final home game, led the Mustangs with 49 yards and three touchdowns rushing.

Meanwhile, SMU’s defense squashed the Navy option run attack, forcing punts on the Midshipmen’s first four possessions, including three three-and-outs.

The only miscue early for the Mustangs was Jonathan McGill’s fumbled punt, which set up Navy on the 1-yard line and a touchdown with a minute remaining in the opening quarter. It’s the Midshipmen’s nation-leading 14th fumble recovery.

The Mustangs held Navy (5-6, 4-4) to 139 total yards in the first half, including 23 in the first quarter.

SMU’s defense was even stingier in the second half and held Navy to 251 total yards and collected four sacks to reach 40 for the season. Long snapper Will Benton recovered a fumbled punt in the end zone for a touchdown early in the second quarter to push SMU’s lead to 35-7.

Stone completed 14-19 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns. His 275 first-quarter passing yards are the most of any FBS quarterback in any quarter this season. His 275 passing yards are the most in the first quarter by any FBS quarterback since 2019.

SMU finished perfect in its conference for the fourth time and first time since 1935 (6-0). The Mustangs were also 5-0 in conference in 1923 and 1926.

The last time SMU played in a conference title game, it lost at Central Florida 17-7 in 2010.

SMU won eight conference games for the first time. The 1982 Mustangs went 7-0-1 with a tie against Arkansas in the regular-season finale at Texas Stadium.

That ‘82 team, incidentally, is the last SMU team to win an outright conference championship. The Mustangs shared the 1982 Southwest Conference championship with Houston.

The Green Wave (11-1, 8-0) seek their second consecutive AAC championship after beating Central Florida 45-28 a year ago. That earned Tulane a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game where they beat USC 46-45 in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium .

SMU has only played five of the New Year’s Six Bowls, including four Cotton Bowls and the 1935 Rose Bowl. The last appearance for the Mustangs was Jan. 1, 1983, when the No. 4 Mustangs beat No. 6 Pittsburgh 7-3.

The Mustangs are undefeated in conference play for the 10th time. But most of those seasons came even before SMU legend Doak Walker won the Heisman Trophy in 1948. Walker’s surviving family members were honored at halftime.

South Oak Cliff’s Kevin Jennings replaced Stone under center, and SMU’s offense kept rolling, compiling 452 total yards and leading 52-14 at the half.

Dixon finished with four catches for 125 receiving yards, becoming the first Mustangs receiver to surpass 100 yards in a game this season, which he tallied in the first quarter.

On Navy’s first possession of the second half, Isaiah Nwokobia returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 59-14. It’s his second pick-6 this season and the fourth for SMU this season, the Mustangs most since 2016.

In an effort to preserve Jennings for next week’s championship, quarterback Alex Padilla, who transferred from Iowa before the season, started the second half for SMU. It’s the fourth time he’s seen action for SMU. Freshman Keldric Luster, from McKinney High School, took the snaps in the fourth quarter, his first action since Week 3.

All signs point to the Mustangs being forced to play without Stone next week. Stone, the four-star recruit from Parish Episcopal, has thrown for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns as a sophomore. His freshman season ended with a broken collarbone in his first start a year ago against Tulsa. The injury happened at about the same time as Saturday’s injury on a four-yard run by Stone with about six minutes left in the half.

Perfect Ponies SMU finished perfect in conference play for the third time and first since 1935. The Mustangs have gone unbeaten in conference 10 times in their history. Here’s a look at SMU’s best conference records:

YearConferenceOverall recordPercentageConference record

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