No. 25 SMU could be a playoff team again, but will have to get in and win ACC title game this time

By Canadian Press on November 27, 2025.

DALLAS (AP) — There is one certainty for No. 25 SMU if the Mustangs are going to get into the College Football Playoff again. They would have to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game this time.

Two nonconference losses in September and then a game-ending field goal by Wake Forest in October put the Mustangs (8-3, 6-1 ACC, No. 21 CFP) in a much different position than their impressive ACC debut last season. They didn’t lose a league game during the regular season in 2024, and made the 12-team playoff even after losing to Clemson in the title game.

“A long journey, honestly,” quarterback Kevin Jennings said. “I think each and every one of those games tested us as a team, and I think it just made us better and stronger. And we’ll see how this is going to play out.”

SMU returned to the AP poll this week and would clinch a spot in the ACC title game with a win in its regular-season finale Saturday at California (6-5, 3-4). A loss would make things much more murky and uncertain because of a complicated tiebreaker in the 17-team league.

“I’m proud of this team because this team is just, it’s a new team,” fourth-year coach Rhett Lashlee said. “When we were 2-2 going into the first bye week after we let two nonconference games get away from us … they just kept believing and going to work. And now here we are playing with a lot of confidence when it matters. And that’s a big deal, playing with confidence.”

The Mustangs are finishing strong again. They are 14-1 in November since Lashlee became their coach.

Jennings has three consecutive 300-yard passing games since that loss at Wake Forest, a stretch that began with a 26-20 overtime win at home over then-No. 10 Miami. The Mustangs then outscored Boston College and Louisville by a combined 83-19 their last two games, and the only touchdown they allowed was in the fourth quarter of an already-lopsided win over BC.

Committed coach

Lashlee’s name was being linked to other Power Four openings in an active coaching carousel, including his alma mater Arkansas, before the 42-year-old coach ended speculation about his future with a two-year contract extension announced before the Miami game on Nov. 1, which was their first win over a top 10 team in their campus stadium.

It was the second extension in as many years for Lashlee, who is 37-15 is first head coaching job.

Late field goals

The 13-12 loss at Wake Forest ended SMU’s 20-game conference winning streak, which included its first 11 in the ACC after going undefeated in the American Athletic Conference in 2023, the season before the playoff expanded from four to 12 teams.

SMU punted with 12 seconds remaining and the Demon Deacons, with no timeouts, completed a 25-yard pass before spiking the ball to set up a 50-yard field goal that barely cleared the bar as time expired.

“That game really just woke us up, gave like a little edge to us,” Jennings said.

SMU also lost on a game-ending field goal against instate rival Baylor, that one in double overtime at home after the Bears scored two touchdowns in the final 5 1/2 minutes of regulation in the second game of the season. The Mustangs blew another fourth-quarter lead in a 35-24 loss at TCU that wrapped up nonconference play.

“Every team has growing pains, I’m thankful for ours to be a little earlier in the season,” defensive end Cam Robertson said.

“We were young early in the season, still feeling ourselves out,” senior receiver Jordan Hudson said. “We didn’t know out team, our identity. … (Coaches) did a great job with just allowing the captains to be captains, and letting us meet with each other, getting with the younger guys, just making sure we were all on the same page. It was never the football aspect of it. We knew we could play football all around.”

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Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press