In his second year at SMU, offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee has been nothing short of impressive in building the Mustangs offense into a national juggernaut. The 9-1 Mustangs thrive off its super-potent offense -- a 59-point, 636-yard performance last week against East Carolina serves as proof.

Wednesday afternoon, Lashlee's efforts were rewarded as he was named a nomninee for the 2019 Broyles Award, which is awarded annually to the nation's top college football assistant coach. Lashlee was one of 41 coaches nominated.

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Collectively, Lashlee and head coach Sonny Dykes have turned the offense into a hybrid version of Dykes' Air Raid offense. It's an offense that still gets a lot of yards via the pass, but it's also doing quite well in the rushing department, as well. SMU averages 328.1 passing yards per game, but it also averages 194.1 rushing yards per contest.

"When I decided to hire Rhett Lashlee as the offensive coordinator, one of the big reasons was Rhett had been at Auburn and had been real successful running the football," Dykes said during a September American Athletic Conference coaches teleconference. "For us to take that next step and have a chance to compete for conference championships, we needed to be able to run the ball.

"That was Rhett's strength. As we started putting the offense together, it made sense to combine the two."

Dykes added that Lashlee's philosophy did more than produce a stellar offense. It helped give the defense a strong offense to compete against at each week. It made the offense even more versatile and that much more dangerous. Through 10 games statistically, SMU is nationally ranked sixth in scoring offense at 45.1 points per game and sixth in total offense at 522.2 yards per game.

Lashlee has had coaching stints at Arkansas, Auburn, Samford, Arkansas and UConn prior to SMU. He made a name for himself as the offensive coordinator at Auburn, as he was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2013.

Lashlee is a native of Springdale, Arkansas. He's hoping to return to his home state next month, as the Broyles Award winner will be announced on Dec. 10 in Little Rock.