Week 8 of college football delivered! Notable teams like the Colorado Buffaloes and Georgia are celebrating victories. But Kalen DeBoer’s Crimson Tide and No. 1 team, Texas, went home upset. Now that every SEC team has lost at least one game, the race for playoff spots is tougher than ever. Teams are working hard to secure their positions in this unpredictable season. While everyone is focused on SEC teams, college football now has a new dark horse emerging from the ACC. Can you make a guess? SMU Mustangs have won back-to-back four games after they lost to BYU on the 6th of September. They have won all three ACC games. With their yesterday’s victory, they become bowl-eligible before the end of October. Head coach Rhett Lashlee must be so proud of his team. He has been with the Mustangs since 2022, and their clear vision to dominate ACC is quite visible through their performances.

GSMC Sports Network shared a video where the host appreciated the Mustangs game. He believes that SMU has emerged as a surprising contender in the ACC, capturing attention with their strong performances and favorable schedule ahead. “I think SMU, if you look at the rest of their schedule, is going to be favored in every single game coming forward. I think that offense is really finding something. In an ACC that is going to be one of the ACC. The best way I can describe the ACC right now is a ton of teams playing really good football. I don’t know if they’re all that good of teams. And I think when they run into an SMU, when they run into a Miami or a Clemson, it’s going to be exposed.”

Highlighting the impressive record of the Mustangs, the host further mentioned, “I think SMU will be able to find their way throughout the season with 11 and 1, 10, and 2, and then maybe sneak into the back end of this playoff. I know it sounds a little bit crazy right now, but I really like this SMU team not fully buying yet. I still have LSU in this in this iteration.” 

Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the team lost their first game of the season. But still, they continue to shine and maintain their dominance in the rankings. And why not? Until yesterday, they displayed some phenomenal gameplay on both sides. Even the GSMC Sports Network host backed the Longhorns and said, “Texas, obviously you’ve got my conference champions, Texas, Ohio State, Clemson and ISU.” Moving ahead, let’s get straight into the Mustangs’s sixth victory of the 2204 season.

SMU’s playoff hopes remain strong as they prepare for the Duke matchup

Quarterback Kevin Jennings displayed an impressive performance in the first quarter. He threw long touchdown passes, which helped SMU win over Stanford yesterday. Jennings started the game with an 87-yard pass to Moochie Dixon. He followed that up with a 45-yard throw to Key’Shawn Smith. Keeping the momentum and pace, he threw his next 38-yard pass to RJ Maryland. In the first quarter, SMU was leading the game with 21 points.

QB finished the game with 322 total passing yards. Jennings is starting for SMU after their first upset of the season. Since then, he has thrown nine touchdown passes with only two interceptions.

After the game, ESPN reported head coach Rhett’s statement; he reflects on the importance of setting goals. “That’s something you got to check off every year,” HC added. “That’s your hope. If you want to go somewhere, you got to get to that point. … Our guys do know we’ve just put ourselves in position to play for stuff continually down the stretch. But I don’t think we’re going to sit around and be satisfied with that’s the end result that we want. But it is a big deal.”

Rhett and his team are on the right path; next week, they will play against Duke. Let’s see if they successfully keep the momentum and register their fifth straight victory since losing to BYU.