Game-by-game predictions for SMU football in 2024

It could very well be argued that SMU football was one of college football’s least-appreciated teams last year, as they abused their conference competition so relentlessly that they removed all doubt surrounding their readiness to move on from the Group of Five level.

However, as has been proven on a plethora of prior occasions, even the strongest of Group of Five forces are not promised a smooth transition to what is now the Power Four, and unfortunately, the 2023 Ponies highlighted that trend like few others have before them.

In short, SMU faced three Power Four opponents last year (Oklahoma, TCU, and Boston College) en route to finishing its run with an 11-3 record — by that fact alone, you can probably see where I’m going with this. Even with the Horned Frogs and Eagles finishing their regular-season campaigns 5-7 and 6-6, respectively, the Mustangs lost to each of those three teams by multiple possessions.

Those losses expose an undeniable ceiling that throws everything we thought we knew about SMU’s potential as a to-be ACC program into question, and that being the case despite the conference’s current reputation as the weakest of the Power Four makes matters especially concerning.

So, it appears as if we have both a lot of good and a lot of bad encompassing the Mustangs as they enter this daunting new chapter of their history and with college football fans now beginning to hop on the preseason hype train, this seems like a wonderful opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

With that little write-up surely sending your excitement to its peak, here are my official game-by-game predictions for the 2024 SMU Mustangs.