DALLAS \u2014 SMU’s second time around in the Atlantic Coast Conference already has a blemish, one that is still fresh while the Mustangs get ready to face 10th-ranked Miami for the first time as a league opponent.<\/p>\n
After a 20-game conference winning streak since 2022 that was that nation’s longest, spanning their last nine games in the American Athletic Conference and first 11 in the ACC, the Mustangs (5-3, 3-1 ACC) are coming off a 13-12 loss at Wake Forest in which they managed only 246 total yards and one touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst offensive performance since we\u2019ve been here. Not even close,\u201d said third-year SMU coach Rhett Lashlee, who was Miami’s offensive coordinator before that.<\/p>\n
The Mustangs didn’t have to play Miami when not losing a conference game on the way to the league championship game and 12-team College Football Playoff in their ACC debut last year. Now when they do Saturday, while trying to get back on track offensively, it will be against one of the nation’s top defenses \u2014 the ACC leader allowing only 14.1 points and 270 total yards per game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I can probably confidently say it\u2019s the most complete team we\u2019ve played since I\u2019ve been here,\u201d Lashlee said. \u201cThey\u2019re national championship good on defense. I mean, they\u2019re really, really good. And then offensively got a championship-caliber quarterback and a lot of playmakers. Where they\u2019re great is they\u2019re big on both sides of the line of scrimmage. I mean, they dominate the line of scrimmage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miami (6-1, 2-1) is leaving the state of Florida for the first time this season, after being the only FBS team to get into November having played only one game away from their home stadium. The only road game until now was Oct. 4 at Florida State. After going to Dallas, the Hurricanes play Syracuse and North Carolina State at home before trips to Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh to wrap up the regular season.<\/p>\n
Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal raved about SMU\u2019s defense and lauded Lashlee, whose Mustangs are 17-2 in their last 19 home games while averaging 46.5 points.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Miami quarterback Carson Beck, center, stands back to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Stanford, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Credit: AP\/Lynne Sladky<\/p>\n
\u201cOffensively, obviously, they\u2019ve scored a lot of points for a long time,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cHe\u2019s done a great job and certainly there\u2019s a lot of explosive playmakers in all areas with a really good and physical offensive line, as well as a quarterback that can beat you with his arm or with his feet by extending plays, but has become an excellent pocket passer as well.”<\/p>\n
Beck closes in<\/p>\n
Miami quarterback Carson Beck enters this week 136 yards shy of 10,000 yards of total offense in his college career.<\/p>\n
Only five active FBS quarterbacks already have that many yards. Arkansas\u2019 Taylen Green, Vanderbilt\u2019s Diego Pavia, Miami-Ohio\u2019s Dequan Finn, Fresno State\u2019s E.J. Warner and Georgia Tech\u2019s Haynes King are on the list, with Kansas\u2019 Jalon Daniels only 84 yards away from joining them.<\/p>\n
Jennings hurting<\/p>\n
While not elaborating, Lashlee said quarterback Kevin Jennings has been playing hurt.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal shouts instructions to his players during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Miami, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Credit: AP\/Michael Laughlin<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a competitor,\u201d Lashlee said. \u201cThat\u2019s not an excuse for how we played last week, because he\u2019s been hurt in some other games and played better. … When you have a consistency of performance like he\u2019s had for so long, even when we don\u2019t have good games, consistent on offense as we have, you don\u2019t take one game and throw everything out and just panic.”<\/p>\n
The loss at Wake Forest was SMU’s second on a game-ending kick. Baylor beat the Mustangs 48-45 in double overtime after overcoming a 14-point deficit in the final 5 1\/2 minutes of regulation. They also blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter of a 35-24 loss at TCU.<\/p>\n
Miami\u2019s defense<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes are one of five teams that entered the week having held opponents to under 100 points this season. Miami gave up 99 points in its first seven games.<\/p>\n
The other teams allowing fewer than 100 points: Ohio State (41), San Diego State (73), Indiana (87) and Texas Tech (99).<\/p>\n
Hello, again<\/p>\n
SMU and Miami have played only once, when the Mustangs won 7-3 in the 1965 season opener in the Orange Bowl.<\/p>\n
Lashlee was offensive coordinator for the Hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. One of Miami\u2019s first coaches \u2014 J. Burton Rix, who went 3-2 with the Hurricanes in 1929 \u2014 was SMU\u2019s coach from 1917-21.<\/p>\n
___ <\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 SMU’s second time around in the Atlantic Coast Conference already has a blemish, one that is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4403,143,123,125,124,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-26576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-headlines","12":"tag-miami-news","13":"tag-wires-bot"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}