You might require something of a catch-up on SMU football, given that the Mustangs haven’t hosted a game at suddenly bustling Ford Stadium since we chronicled their undressing of the defending Atlantic Coast Conference champions in late September. (Alas, struggling Florida State still has only one victory.)
The Mustangs spent October on the road—7,410 miles worth. In this first season of an expanded ACC that stretches from coast to coast, SMU played nearly from the Atlantic to the Pacific and won all three conference games. Freshman quarterback Kevin Jennings from South Oak Cliff played his best collegiate game (accounting for 394 total yards in a thrilling win at Louisville on Oct. 3) and played his worst collegiate game (committing five of SMU’s six turnovers in a dizzying 28-27 overtime win at Duke last Saturday). In between, the 20-year-old passed for a career-high 322 yards to beat overmatched Stanford.
Ford Stadium should be absolutely hopping when No. 18 Pitt comes to the Hilltop this Saturday night to face the 20th-ranked Mustangs, even in the event of foul weather. It will be a matchup of two of the four teams that have yet to lose an ACC game. (The others are No. 5 Miami and No. 11 Clemson.) SMU has one non-conference loss from early September, by three points to unbeaten BYU.
Second-year Mustangs coach Rhett Lashlee often said the goal going into this season was to prove SMU belonged in a power conference. But even the most optimistic of SMU fans couldn’t have envisioned entering November with a chance to win the league title in their first season in a power conference since 1995, let alone possibly be invited to play in major college football’s first 12-team playoff. A win over unbeaten Pitt would give SMU an excellent chance of running the table in the ACC, as incredible as that sounds. Ahead are a visit from Boston College, a trip to Virginia, and the finale at home against Cal.
“Knowing the league, I did believe we could compete,” says Lashlee, who spent two years as Miami’s offensive coordinator between his time as Sonny Dykes’ OC at SMU and now as Dykes’ successor. “I didn’t know to what level. And we’ve still got a month left to prove it.”
Lashlee’s offense is humming. SMU boasts the No. 15 scoring offense in the FBS, averaging 39.1 points per game. (Warning: Pitt is sixth, averaging 40.9.) But the Panthers’ defense is hot, returning three pick-sixes last week while dismantling Syracuse. And the Mustangs might have to conquer it without Jennings, who took a big hit on a knee against Duke and is iffy for Saturday. Parish Episcopal alum Preston Stone, whom Jennings replaced after the team’s only loss, to BYU on September 6, figures to get the start if Jennings can’t go.
With only eight league games per team in a 17-team conference, what appear to be the best teams won’t all play each other. SMU won’t play Miami or Clemson. Miami and Clemson won’t meet each other, either. After this weekend, what appears to be the only remaining matchup of title contenders will be Pitt hosting Clemson in two weeks. Even if SMU doesn’t win the ACC and doesn’t get in the playoff, the Mustangs’ performance this season surely has made Lashlee an attractive candidate for other power-conference schools that will seek new coaches after this season. And surely a school flush with enough big-time boosters that it eschewed nine years of ACC television revenue as part of the agreement to join the league—estimated at $70 million—would put up a good fight to fend off suitors.
Lashlee’s history in the SEC—playing for Arkansas, his hometown school, and being an assistant coach for some of Auburn’s most successful teams of the last 15 years—would invite the most speculation. While neither Arkansas nor Auburn is currently meeting fans’ expectations, it would appear neither is in position to make a coaching change this year.
The SEC coach who appears to be on the shakiest ground is Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, who nearly landed at Texas A&M a year ago. The Wildcats are 3-5 and have lost three straight, last week accounting for Auburn’s only SEC win this season. With trips to Tennessee and Texas ahead, Big Blue would have to pull off at least one upset to become bowl-eligible.
But Kentucky’s buyout to rid themselves of Stoops’ future services (through the 2030 season) would be in the neighborhood of $44 million. And who appears better suited to contend for a playoff berth in the near future, SMU or Kentucky? Impressively enough, just a month into their ACC membership, the answer might be the Mustangs.
For now, though, let’s do what coaches always preach to their players. Focus on the now, the next game, the next play. The stakes will be high at Ford Stadium this Saturday night. Why can’t SMU’s ceiling in the ACC be even higher?
