Mustangs enjoy success despite difficulty

By David Mullen

When the SMU Mustangs football team officially began their run as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in July 2024, winning college football games was supposed to get a lot more difficult. It’s as if the Mustangs decided to take all of their tough classes at once, having already aced the entry level class load over 11 seasons in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

To put the move from the AAC to the ACC in an academic perspective, it is like taking liberal arts classes at a community college before transferring to a conference with academic and athletic powerhouses and changing majors from liberal arts to quantum physics. But the SMU brass felt the university was ready for the challenge.

It has barely been more than a year since SMU President R. Gerald Turner accepted an invitation to join the ACC in all sports, including the high profile, high reward game of football, on September 1, 2023.

“Joining the Atlantic Coast Conference is an historic milestone in our institution’s history, and the start of a new chapter in SMU Athletics,” Turner said. “From early on in my tenure here on the Hilltop, we had a vision to reestablish SMU Athletics as a nationally recognized and relevant program, one to complement our outstanding academic reputation. It is truly an exciting time on the Hilltop.” 

As of Friday, SMU is ranked No. 13 in the nation in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, their highest ranking since 1985. The Mustangs sit atop the ACC standings with a 5-0 conference record and 8-1 overall. They are selling out games at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Only a few tickets remain for the Saturday, Nov. 16 game against ACC rival Boston College (5-4, 2-3 ACC) at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.

The Mustangs are 6-0 in their last six games and have averaged 43.0 points per game. The defense — billed “Club Takeaway” — has forced 19 turnovers this season, the third most in the nation. Running back Brashard Smith — a transfer from Miami — ranks seventh in all-purpose yards per game with 145.22. Kicker Collin Rogers leads the nation with seven field goals of more than 50 yards, one shy of the NCAA single season record. Quarterback Kevin Jennings sits third nationally in yards per pass attempt (9.69) and fifth in passing yards per completion (14.96). 

Since joining SMU as head coach, Lashlee an 18-3 record in his first 21 league games on the Hilltop. It is the best in SMU history. In the last 13 home games at Ford Stadium, SMU has scored 655 points, an average of 50.4 points per game dating back to 2022. 

With the move to the ACC, the Mustangs entered the Power 4 conference (it was Power 5 until the Pac 12 dissolved) and compete in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). That meant that SMU would face more difficult competition but have a legitimate shot at competing for the National Championship. AAC teams don’t compete for the top prize. ACC teams, along with members of the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC conferences, do. 

The 14th FBS ranking is the second highest in program history and marks the fifth time the Mustangs have earned a ranking in the poll since 2019. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be played on Monday, January 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. SMU is in the conversation. Even writer John Talty of CBS Sports is making a case that at No. 14, SMU is “underrated.”

“[Head coach Rhett] Lashlee and his team have a reason to be upset about getting left out of the CFP bracket as the No. 14 team,” Talty wrote. “SMU is five spots behind No. 9 Miami (the only ACC team slated to make the field) despite the Mustangs’ lone loss coming to an undefeated No. 6 BYU. 

“Meanwhile, the Hurricanes fell last weekend to four-loss Georgia Tech. Committee chair Warde Manuel gave a mealy-mouthed explanation about why Miami is over SMU during the media teleconference, essentially chalking it up to the Hurricanes’ offense looking more explosive than the Mustangs’. There is no denying that Miami, led by Heisman Trophy contender Cam Ward, is a dynamic group that ranks No. 1 nationally in scoring, passing and total offense. But SMU is no slouch in the offense department — it averages 40 points per game — and shares the same best win (Louisville) as Miami. SMU has four wins over Power 4 bowl eligible teams, too, compared to Miami’s two.”

If SMU could win all of their remaining games, which is a big ask, the Mustangs would become — in all likelihood — the No. 1 team in the country.

The profile of SMU Football has not been higher on a national stage since the NCAA made SMU the poster child for everything wrong with amateur athletics in 1987, receiving the “Death Penalty,” stripping the university of scholarships and forcing SMU to play an all-road game schedule.

There is something special going on in University Park, and the SMU Mustangs have proven ready to take on the increased workload. It appears that SMU Football was ready for the ACC after all. A surprising, even unprecedented, season continues, and the SMU Mustangs are vying to become head of the class.

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