Brendan Baird Made SMU’s Kicking Game Matter When the Margin Tightened

Brendan Baird’s afternoon became most important when SMU’s possession looked least likely to produce anything. With halftime approaching and Virginia having just tied the game, the Mustangs manufactured one last chance from their own 18. Baird finished it with a 45-yard field goal on an untimed down, sending SMU to the locker room ahead 13-10 instead of level.

That kick belonged to a larger development in SMU’s 23-13 victory over Virginia at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas. Baird made field goals from 23, 45 and 26 yards, turning a kicking unit that had entered the game 3-for-7 into a practical advantage.

It was a productive afternoon for a player whose work usually becomes most conspicuous when a possession ends short of the goal line.

The opportunity began with Virginia’s own successful kick.

Virginia had just tied the score with Will Bettridge’s 47-yard field goal with 25 seconds remaining. After the kickoff, SMU started at its own 18 with 19 seconds left. Kevin Jennings’ first pass was incomplete, a perfectly ordinary beginning to what seemed likely to be a brief possession before halftime.

Then Kendrick Raphael changed the field. He ran 28 yards to the SMU 46, and SMU used a timeout. Jennings followed with an 11-yard completion to Jalen Hale, moving the ball to the Virginia 43. With three seconds left, the quarterback’s next deep throw fell incomplete.

That should have ended the half. Instead, Virginia’s Billy Koudelka was penalized 15 yards for roughing the passer. The accepted penalty occurred as the clock expired, giving SMU an untimed down from the Virginia 28. The penalty supplied the extra down. Raphael’s run and Hale’s catch had already moved SMU close enough to use it.

Baird converted from 45 yards.

Three points can look modest on a scoreboard. In that moment, they altered the game’s shape. Virginia had completed a scoring drive to restore a tie, while SMU’s response had begun with an incompletion and only seconds remaining.

Raphael’s run, Hale’s catch and the defensive penalty kept the sequence alive. Baird supplied the part that cannot be approximated: a successful kick after the clock had already reached zero.

His other two field goals were less theatrical and just as useful. The first capped an 88-yard, 12-play opening-quarter drive that reached the Virginia 6 before SMU settled for 23 yards. The Mustangs had moved the ball well, but a possession ending without points would have made the early progress less valuable.

The 26-yarder arrived in the third quarter after SMU drove to the Virginia 9. Jennings then missed on two passes near the goal line, and the Mustangs sent Baird onto the field. He made the kick, increasing SMU’s lead from 13-10 to 16-10. That was not a bailout from midfield. It was competent finishing after the red zone had narrowed the options.

The surrounding numbers explain why those nine points mattered. SMU gained 404 yards but converted only 4 of 13 third downs, the same third-down total Virginia managed. The Mustangs compensated in part by converting 4 of 5 fourth downs and avoiding a turnover.

Raphael carried 22 times for 124 yards, and Jennings threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns. Those contributions created the scoring chances; Baird made sure three of the incomplete ones still paid something.

The fair counterpoint is that his attempts were manageable, with the longest measuring 45 yards. Virginia did not force SMU into a string of desperate tries from distance, and one strong afternoon cannot settle the larger question about the kicking unit. Baird’s own earlier attempt had failed, so Saturday was a meaningful correction without becoming a permanent verdict.

He also converted both extra points after SMU touchdowns, including the kick following Hale’s 37-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter. That score supplied the final points in the 23-13 result.

The next kick should be judged on its own terms. It may come after another productive drive that simply loses momentum, without the drama of an expired clock or a penalty. That is precisely where Baird’s value can become ordinary—and, for SMU, useful.

Sources

ESPN: box score and play-by-play

SMU: game report and postgame notes