The SMU football team brought Chris Johnson Jr. in to add an explosive element to its offense.

Even though the young running back is still developing, Johnson showed exactly what he is capable of on a pair of touchdowns as the Mustangs delivered plenty of highlights in Saturday's 31-10 win against Stanford.

"We brought CJ here for what you saw (Saturday)," SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. "CJ's explosive, he's fast. You even saw the run in Week 1. He's still young. He's a redshirt sophomore, hadn't played a ton of running back at the college level. … I think he showed the explosion he can have."

Johnson helped break the game open with an 87-yard touchdown run, but it was the defense setting it up. 

For the second week in a row, the Mustangs defense held on fourth down at the goal line. Just like the week before against Syracuse, Stanford had both third and fourth downs at the 1-yard line. Both times, the SMU defense rose up and got the stop.

"That was really what Coach (Scott) Symons preached to us as a unit," senior linebacker Justin Medlock said. "No matter what type of plays they make, no matter how far they go down the field, we just have to have that bend but don't break mentality. Every time we step out on the field, we expect to make a play to get off the field."

SMU got the ball out to the 21-yard line, but a penalty brought it back to the 11. Johnson had a 2-yard carry, then got another chance. The design was an inside zone, but he broke to the outside and won the footrace 87 yards to the end zone.

Running backs coach Kyle Cooper and assistant running backs coach Tyler Foster were preaching patience through the first part of the game against a stout Stanford run defense. Johnson listened, waited and delivered.

"I just read it, like Coach Foster and Coach Coop had been talking to us all day, during the game, just about reading it and being patient," Johnson said. "My main thing was just seeing it and hitting it. Once I seen it, I just hit it full speed."

Johnson's other big play was another practice in patience. This time though, it was as a receiver. Kevin Jennings dropped back, made a defender miss, stepped back into the pocket and delivered the ball out in the flat to Johnson just before getting smashed between three defenders.

One thing Johnson learned early in his time with the Mustangs: don't give up on a play when Jennings is involved.

"That's something that he does on a day-to-day basis. That's just the type of guy he is," Johnson said. "So don't ever look away or not be looking at him because he'll always be looking at you. I was just open. Nobody was out there. I didn't think I was going to get the ball, but I made it happen. That was great execution by me and Kev, so shout out to him for that. … He does that a lot, so it's not surprising to me. That's just the type of guy he is. I knew he was going to spit it out. I just had to put my hands up for him to look my way, and he did."

There's a reason Johnson didn't think he was going to get the ball, either. That didn't stop him from being ready for it, though.

"He's never a target on that play," Jennings said of Johnson. "It just happened. He popped in my vision, I saw he was wide open and just gave him the ball. Let my playmakers make plays, and that's what he did right there."

Jennings did have a less conventional way to get his playmakers involved earlier in the game. 

On SMU's first touchdown drive of the game, Jennings went behind-the-back to get the ball to RJ Maryland for a 9-yard gain. It was a scripted play where Lashlee and quarterbacks coach D'Eriq King let Kevin be Kevin.

"Thursday, when we put it in, Coach King and I were talking about it," Lashlee said. "We didn't say anything to Kevin. We just had a feeling when we go out to walk through, and, sure enough, we get out there and he's working with RJ, flipping it behind his back. … He had probably done it 15 times, didn't miss it once. So I was like, 'Sure, let it rip. Just don't miss.'"

The play was designed to look like the one that got Derrick McFall a touchdown a week earlier. But instead of giving it to the back on the right, it would go to Maryland, coming to the left. 

Jennings wanted to put his own touch on the play.

"We've been practicing all week long," Jennings said. "At first it was supposed to be a normal flip. I told Coach Lashlee, 'Let's do it behind the back.' He was like, 'If you can do it five times in a row, we'll do it.' I was like, 'Alright,' did it five times in a row, went out there and executed it."

The defense wasn't going to be left out of all the fun, though. 

For the second time, Stanford would get to at least the 5-yard line and come away with nothing. This time, though, the offense wouldn't be given a chance to make a big play.

The pass rush got pressure, and Medlock read the play to intercept the pass at the 4-yard line.

"Just watching film throughout the week with Coach Crum, he got us pretty alert for every situation, every route they could possibly run," Medlock said. "So just trusted my film, trusted my studying and made a play."

Medlock didn't just intercept it, though. He returned it 96 yards for the touchdown.

"As soon as I touched it, I saw the green grass, I saw that blue end zone, and I knew I had to get there," Medlock said.

That was just fine with the head coach and offensive play-caller.

"I guess the defense got tired of waiting," Lashlee said. "They decided to pick it off and run it back. I'm good with that."