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Friedlander: SMU-Pitt is more than just the most important game on this week’s ACC schedule
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It was just another game on the ACC schedule when the season began.
SMU vs. Pitt.
A newcomer against a bottom feeder. Teams picked to finish 7th and 13th in the league’s preseason poll.
But as we all know by now, things haven’t exactly turned out that way.
Miami and Clemson are still the best bets to meet for the conference championship on Dec. 7 in Charlotte. As expected. But with preseason favorite Florida State hitting the skids, NC State underachieving and Virginia Tech stumbling out of the gate, the door has been left ajar for some unexpected contenders to emerge.
It’s an opening through which the Mustangs and Panthers have happily entered.
When the nation’s 20th- and 18th-ranked teams face off in Dallas on Saturday, the winner will remain undefeated in conference play and at the very least, tied for the league lead with 4 weeks to go in the regular season.
The matchup is by far the most important game on the ACC’s Week 10 schedule.
But that only scratches the surface of its significance.
For one of the teams involved, Saturday’s showdown between ranked teams is arguably the most important game it has played in 4 decades.
Sure, SMU won the American Athletic Conference title last season. It’s an accomplishment that shouldn’t be minimized simply because of the level of competition. Winning championships is hard, no matter who you’re playing against.
Still, this is different.
The Mustangs’ reward for winning the American was a date against 6-6 Boston College – a team that finished tied for 9th in the ACC – in Boston at the Fenway Bowl. Winning on Saturday will keep Rhett Lashlee’s team in the running for a much bigger prize.
A spot in the expanded 12-team Playoff and a shot at playing for a national title.
This is exactly the scenario the folks at SMU have been dreaming about since their program was kneecapped by the NCAA’s infamous “Death Penalty” for a series of repeated recruiting violations committed in the 1980s during the glory days of its Pony Express era.
The sanctions, which included the cancellation of the 1987-88 seasons, were so severe that they have never been handed down to a Division I school since.
What if SMU had never been given the death penalty? pic.twitter.com/REbmtFtozt
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 14, 2019
Only within the past 5 or 6 years, have the Mustangs fully recovered.
On the field, at least.
Despite the winning seasons and bowl bids produced by Lashlee and his predecessor Sonny Dykes, there remained a general apathy toward the program. A void that could only be filled with a return to the highest rung of the college football ladder.
SMU was so desperate for a seat at the power conference table that it offered to waive its entire share of media revenue for 9 years for the opportunity to join the ACC. And the ACC, equally needy of income to remain relevant in an athletic arms race dominated by the SEC and Big Ten, was only too happy to take it up on the offer.
It was a marriage of convenience, to be sure. But in just 10 weeks, the bond has quickly grown into a mutually beneficial union.
While the conference got a program that has helped deepen its competitive product and strengthen a national perception that has waned in recent years, SMU has finally gotten the relevance that has eluded it since Eric Dickerson, Craig James and Co. were running wild.
Literally.
The Mustangs are 7-1 with their only loss coming to now-No. 9 BYU in Week 3.
Fan interest has skyrocketed. Their most recent home game, a 42-16 thumping of defending ACC champion Florida State on Sept. 28, drew a crowd of 34,879 in a stadium whose capacity is listed at only 32,000. And judging from the demand for student tickets, which sold out almost immediately, there will be at least that many at Saturday’s homecoming contest.
With a win, SMU will likely jump as high as it’s been in the national rankings since topping out at No. 3 in 1985. It will also have a clear path to a perfect conference record thanks to a remaining schedule that includes 3 teams – Boston College, Virginia and Cal – that are a combined 3-10 in league play.
The Mustangs are a 7.5-point favorite against undefeated Pitt, according to ESPNBet sportsbook, a team that may or may not have starting quarterback Eli Holstein. Whether he plays or not, it’s a dangerous matchup.
The Panthers’ defense intercepted Syracuse 5 times last week, running 3 back for touchdowns, while SMU turned the ball over 6 times and lived to talk about it in an overtime win at Duke.
Not that it matters how the Mustangs got here.
“Nobody cares at the end of the day what it looked like,” Lashlee said afterward. “All it’s going to say is SMU: 7-1.”
With even greater opportunities still to come.
Opportunities the Mustangs have spent 4 decades waiting to arrive. Even if no one else saw them coming just 10 weeks ago.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
