If I told you to think of SMU football, what would be the first thing to come to your mind? To be honest, probably the death penalty. But wait, what if I then asked you to think of current SMU football? Well, between its disintegration in the 2024-25 playoff bracket and just now going 9-4 in a struggling ACC, I’d have to assume your outlook would still lack in the optimism department.
However, when looking beyond just the past and including the future, we see a trajectory that could not be more encouraging for the Ponies—and it’s all thanks to about as accommodating of a schedule as a team could realistically hope for when playing in the Power 4.
It’s a slate that not only includes a whopping two road games against teams coming off of winning campaigns (Louisville and Notre Dame), but not a single home game that feels insurmountable (the “toughest” being a Virginia squad that logic dictates is likely to worsen).
Now I understand that the Mustangs—like all of us—are not perfect, so it’s not as if I’m expecting them to plow through this schedule without error, but so what if they lose, say, that pair of tough road games I highlighted? All they’d have to do is win every other week to finish 10-2, 8-1 in the ACC. That’s certainly good enough to make it to Charlotte, at which point you’re, of course, in position to clinch a playoff spot!
Is that a small ask? No, but are we going to sit here and pretend that it’s an unrealistic one, especially when November just saw an SMU that was one win away from making consecutive ACC title games to begin with? Heck no.
And to those who remain unconvinced that the Mustangs still have what it takes to make some serious noise, just remember that two of college football’s biggest stories in 2025 were how the Indiana friggin’ Hoosiers were nothing short of unstoppable, and how much “oil money” Texan programs have for buying talent. Just some food for thought.