When SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee called his final timeout before Jahfari Harvey blocked Duke's game-winning field goal attempt with three seconds left, it wasn't to ice the kicker.

It also had that benefit, but the Mustangs mostly wanted to show the Duke protection a different look and give the officials a reminder. Defensive players can not jump over the long snapper on field goal, extra point tries or punts. Players also cannot use another player to gain leverage on a jump or land on a player.

Lashlee and his staff discussed the rule with the officials before the game. The timeout was a chance to let them know what they agreed to. Then the plan that special teams coordinator Kyle Cooper, assistant special teams coordinator Casey Horny and defensive coordinator Scott Symons put into place, was set.

"You can legally do it as long as you don't put hands on the snapper," Lashlee said on ACC Huddle after the game. "We told the officials before the game, Coach Horny is one of our special teams coaches, him and Coach Symons handle the block team on defense. They've been working that the last week, of a must block. They told the officials before the game. That's why I didn't call a timeout (earlier). A minute, 20, I can only call one. They're going to center it up, they're going to kick it. 

"We wanted to, one, show them a different look and then coach it up again, remind the officials, 'It is legal. You guys signed off on it before the game' because you just never know. But then to go execute it. … It's the got to have it, you don't know you've got to have it until you've got to have it. We had to have it tonight and our guys did it."

As the ball was snapped, Jared Harrison-Hunte, the SMU lineman to Harvey's right, engages his blocker. Meanwhile Harvey does a standing jump over the blockers, clearing both. As soon as he lands, on the ground and not on another player, he is right back into the air with his arms extended.

The 30-yard field goal attempt hits off his right elbow and spins to the 11-yard line where Isaiah Nwokobia falls on it to send the game to overtime.

"We're just really humbled to get a win and probably put on a clinic of how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat," Lashlee said. "... I think I told the guys, there were four or five times in the last, probably, 10 minutes of that game that you could have just said it's just not our night. They missed a field goal, but our defense held them to a field goal after one of the turnovers. Then we turned it over again, we don't even let them get any yards so they can't kick a field goal, they punt it. Then we turn it over again. Credit Casey Horny, Kyle Cooper, Scott Symons and our special teams and defensive staff for devising a must-block situation."

Throughout the night players stepped up.

Roderick Daniels Jr. played wide receiver for the first time in over a month and caught two passes for 153 yards and a touchdown. Running back Brashard Smith had a season-high 26 carries and eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fourth time this season and had multiple touchdowns for the third time. Nwokobia, who was named ACC Defensive Back of the Week, tied his career high with eight tackles to go with a pass breakup and quarterback hurry.

It was a total team effort to find a way to win

"Just a great lesson in resiliency and what it can do," Lashlee said. "... Any great season, any championship run, anything like that that a team's ever been on, you're going to look back and have one or two games that you're like, 'We probably shouldn't have won that one.' But we found a way to do it. That's what (Saturday) was for us."

The SMU defense did not allow a single point following the six turnovers. That included three straight at the end of regulation, forcing a missed field goal, a punt and the blocked field goal try.

"We knew that we had to step up," Nwokobia said. "That's it. We knew we had to strain, give 110% effort. Somebody had to step up. Jahfari got through there and made a big-time play in a big-time game."

With the win, the Mustangs improved to 7-1 on the season and 4-0 in the ACC. SMU is the ninth team to make the move to a power conference since 2011, only one won more than four games in their new conference. That was Louisville moving to the ACC from the American, for one year following being in the Big East for eight seasons, in 2014.

The success during the current five-game winning streak, nine-game road win streak and 14-straight conference wins, including the AAC championship game, has instilled a level of belief in this team.

"I knew we had it in us to finish," Smith said. "It was just keep fighting to the end. We have a really special team. I think we can go a long way with this team."

When the SMU offense needed to make something happen on its first overtime possession, it did just that. Like the defense had following the turnovers and like how special teams did when it mattered the most.

"We did a good job of just swarming to the football and staying together when things got hard," Nwokobia said. "Guys didn't point their finger, we didn't blame each other, we stayed together. We knew the offense would make the plays when we needed it. We just focused on staying together and swarming to the football and everything else would take care of itself."