Head Coach: Rhett Lashlee is entering his 4th season as the head coach of the Mustangs with a 29-12 record. It truly didn’t take him long to turn this program into a wagon, half of those losses occurred in his first season. Last year SMU moved from the AAC to the ACC and they were extremely impressive in the transition winning all of their ACC regular season games and reaching the College Football Playoff. Lashlee is a rising star.
Program Outlook: SMU was a program lost at sea for a long time. As everyone knows this is the program that is infamous as the only program in the history of the sport to be banned from playing it, also known as the “Death Penalty.” This led to the Southwest conference folding and SMU no longer being in a bigger conference. It’s been a long road back but the thing that killed SMU football, over-eager donors was the thing that brought life back to it. They essentially bought themselves into the ACC and may have instantly turned themselves into one of the conference’s best programs. How high can they climb?
How does the 2025 Roster look?: SMU is a program that utilizes the portal extremely well. They’re in fertile recruiting territory in Dallas and do a great job convincing players to come back home. Metrics are split on where SMU ranks in returning production, once again depending on how much they weigh transfers. Key players for the Mustangs starts with Kevin Jennings, he was remarkable leading this offense last season through the air and on the ground. His one area of improvement will be cutting down on the mistakes, his reputation isn’t strong in the eyes of larger media networks because of error filled outings against Clemson and Penn State to end the year. Receiver Jordan Hudson will be a top weapon for Jennings but how far this offense goes will be determined by how well the young talent around them develops. Defensively they have a talented secondary and a revamped Dline thanks to some portal additions.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: First, I just have to say that SMU has one of the most awesome non-conference schedules in the entire country. 3 regional games in TCU, Baylor and East Texas A&M, plus a road game at FBS newcomer Missouri State which was very cool of the Mustangs to do. Baylor and TCU are going to be very interesting rivalry games. The ACC schedule is mixed, SMU has tough challenges at Clemson but at home against Miami FL, Louisville and Syracuse. There’s also some nice breaks against teams that are projected toward the bottom of the ACC, but I really don’t like that November road game at BC bad weather potential there. This schedule at a minimum means that SMU definitely won’t go undefeated in conference play in the regular season.
Final Thoughts: SMU’s program is College Football’s overnight sensation. Their rise to reaching the College Football Playoff in the ACC was an incredible run. It’s going to be tough to replicate that with a challenging schedule, their non-conference may not be as tough as last year but the ACC slate definitely makes up for it. A key for the Mustangs will be to avoid the turnovers, they weren’t always bad in this department but they got absolutely careless with the ball at times. I think see SMU in the ACC race but I see them falling short of a repeat Playoff and ACC championship appearance.
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