SMU is headed to the College Football Playoff, earning a No. 11 seed and will head to State College, Pennsylvania to face off with No. 6 seed Penn State on December 21.
The Mustangs have been through quite a bit to get to this point, but now is the time to hop on the SMU bandwagon. Here’s everything you need to know about the Mustangs.
Related:5 things to know about Penn State, the SMU Mustangs’ College Football Playoff opponentWhat is SMU’s history?
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SMU has taken a winding road to get to this point.
In the early 1980s, SMU was one of college football’s powers. After a series of recruiting violations involving payments to players, the NCAA gave SMU the harshest penalty it has ever given to a program. Known as the death penalty, SMU’s 1987 season was shut down in Februrary 1987 and the program was stripped of many of its allotted scholarships.
Front page of The Dallas Morning News in February 1987, the day after SMU football got the death penalty. NCAA sanctions forced cancellation of football for a season, and allowed only away games for a second season. College leaders instead choose not to field a team the second year. The Death Penalty is the toughest penalty in college sports history. SMUNCAAVIOLATIONS(The Dallas Morning News)
SMU ended up having to cancel its 1988 season as well because the Mustangs could not field a viable team yet. After the program returned in 1989, SMU had a long journey ahead and a lot of losing await the Mustangs. SMU didn’t even make a bowl game again until 2009.
Some newfound recent success in the American Athletic Conference gave SMU some national notoriety, eventually landing SMU in the ACC this season. As we’ve seen in the 2024 season, the journey has been well worth it for SMU and the Mustangs football program is back to prominence at last.
Read SMU’s full timeline of how the Mustangs made their way to the ACC here.
Read how the death penalty derailed the SMU football program for decades here.
How did SMU get here?
SMU is in its first season as members of the ACC and has taken the conference by storm. The Mustangs shocked the college football world by rolling to an 11-1 season that included an 8-0 mark in ACC play, which earned SMU a spot in the ACC Championship game against Clemson.
SMU’s only regular season loss came in Week 2 at home against BYU in an 18-15 nailbiter. While a painful loss at the time, BYU went on to have a great season and finished No. 17 in the final CFP rankings. After that game, coach Rhett Lashlee made a change at quarterback and named Kevin Jennings the starting QB.
With Jennings set as the QB, SMU went on a nine-game winning streak and rolled through most of ACC play. SMU’s biggest scare came in a 28-27 overtime victory on the road against Duke. The Mustangs turned the ball over six times and still figured out a way to win the game, thanks to a blocked Duke field goal that would have won the game as time expired.
The Mustangs lost to Clemson in heartbreaking fashion as the Tigers hit a field goal as time expired to give Clemson the ACC’s automatic bid to the CFP. But SMU still was chosen over Alabama for the final at-large bid to the playoff and will get to face Penn State.
Who is the coach?Rhett Lashlee
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee calls for a penalty following a play during the second half of the ACC championship game against Clemson, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. Clemson defeated SMU 34-31.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
Rhett Lashlee has been SMU’s head coach since 2022.
Born in 1983 in Springdale, Arkansas, Lashlee went on to play quarterback at Arkansas from 2002 to 2004. After his playing career ended, he immediately went into coaching and was a graduate assistant through the 2010 season, in which he was on staff for Auburn’s national championship season with Cam Newton.
Afterward, he had stops as an assistant coach at Samford, Arkansas State, Auburn, UConn, SMU and Miami. Lashlee was brought to SMU in 2018 to be the Mustangs’ offensive coordinator under former coach Sonny Dykes. He left for Miami ahead of the 2020 season and spent two years with the Hurricanes before Sonny Dykes left SMU for TCU in a shocking move. SMU quickly pivoted from Dykes and brought Lashlee back to take over the program in what was Lashlee’s first head coaching job.
His first season at SMU included a 7-5 2022 regular season in the AAC that was capped with a New Mexico Bowl loss to BYU. Then in 2023, Lashlee led SMU to its first conference championship since 1984 as the Mustangs won the AAC with an 11-2 record that included a perfect 9-0 mark in conference play. The season was capped with a loss in the Fenway Bowl to Boston College, but the momentum from the 2023 season clearly carried over into SMU’s magical ACC debut season.
Read our full feature on Lashlee’s career here.
Who are the top players to know?QB Kevin Jennings
SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings (7) celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass to running back Brashard Smith during the first half of an NCAA football game against Pitt at Ford Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Dallas.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
In his first season as the starting QB, Jennings earned Third Team All-ACC honors for an outstanding campaign. After taking over as the starter following Week 2, he took off. Jennings finished the season with 3,050 passing yards, completing 66% of his passes while throwing 22 touchdowns and just eight interceptions.
He is also a dynamic running threat, rushing 93 times for 379 yards and five scores on the ground. Jennings is SMU’s leader and make the Mustangs’ offense so dynamic.
Read our full feature on Jennings’ journey from FCS recruit to SMU star here.
RB Brashard Smith
SMU running back Brashard Smith (1) races down the sidelines past TCU cornerback JaTravis Broughton (13) during the first half of an NCAA football game at Ford Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Dallas.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
Smith is another unexpected star. A first-year transfer from Miami, Smith played wide receiver in high school and at Miami but Lashlee converted him to running back.
In SMU’s first two games of the season, he carried the ball 12 times for 70 yards and a touchdown against Nevada, then carried it for 108 yards and two scores in just nine carries vs. Houston Christian. It was abundantly clear from that point that Smith was an incredibly explosive back.
He finished the season with 1,270 rushing yards, averaging 5.9 yards per carry with 14 rushing touchdowns. The dynamic back also added 35 receptions for 303 yards and four receiving touchdowns. Smith earned First Team All-ACC honors at running back in his debut season at the position.
Read our full feature on Smith’s conversion from WR to RB here.
S Isaiah Nwokobia
SMU safety Isaiah Nwokobia (23) celebrates with teammates after intercepting a pass against Stanford during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024.(Jeff Chiu / AP)
Nwokobia is a leader on the team and wears the honorary No. 23 jersey for the Mustangs in honor of Jerry LeVias, the first Black football player at SMU. The redshirt junior earned First Team All-ACC honors for his outstanding season at safety for the Mustangs.
He is one of SMU’s many big-time playmakers on the defensive side of the ball. He is second on the team with 96 tackles and has three passes defended and an interception.
Read about how Nwokobia earned the No. 23 jersey that honors Jerry LeVias here.
DL Jared Harrison-Hunte
SMU defensive lineman Jared Harrison-Hunte, right, returns and interception during the second half of an NCAA football game against BYU, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Dallas.(Smiley N. Pool / AP)
Harrison-Hunte is a senior transfer from Miami who finally blossommed in his sixth year of college. His impact was felt in his first season with SMU as Harrison-Hunte was named First Team All-ACC as a defensive tackle.
He is a key piece to SMU’s dominant pass rush, which is one of the best in the country. Harrison-Hunte is second on the team with six sacks, has 38 tackles and even tallied an interception. He is one of several Mustangs with five or more sacks, including Isaiah Smith, Elijah Roberts and Jahfari Harvey.
See which Mustangs received All-ACC honors here.
Want to go see the Mustangs in the CFP?
It is a difficult trek up to State College to see SMU take on Penn State in Beaver Stadium. But if you’d like to see the Mustangs take the field in the CFP for the first time, we have you covered with everything you need to know.
Read our full breakdown on how much it will cost to follow the Mustangs throughout the CFP here.
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