{"id":393183,"date":"2026-09-07T22:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T22:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393183\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T22:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T22:38:09","slug":"smu-vs-florida-state-odds-picks-prediction-preview-for-acc-week-1-college-football-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393183\/","title":{"rendered":"SMU vs. Florida State odds, picks, prediction, preview for ACC Week 1 college football matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Week 1 of the 2026 college football<\/a> season will wrap up on Monday, Sept. 7 with the SMU Mustangs<\/a> visiting the Florida State Seminoles<\/a> at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. The Mustangs won nine games in Rhett Lashlee’s second season at the helm and expect to be a factor in the ACC, while the Seminoles are trying to move to 2-0 as head coach Mike Norvell tries to retain his job after poor 2024 and 2025 campaigns. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.\u00a0Bet on SMU vs. Florida State and more college football games with the FanDuel promo code to receive bonus bets<\/a>:<\/p>\n

SMU is a 2.5-point favorite on the road, per the latest FanDuel Sportsbook<\/a>\u00a0odds, and the Over\/Under for total points scored is 54.5. The Seminoles are in the midst of a pivotal season that will have a major impact on the future of the program, while the Mustangs are trying to get back into the CFP conversation in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in betting on college football<\/a> games such as SMU vs. Florida State at the best betting apps<\/a>, check out our picks for this matchup as well as what\u00a0SportsLine experts and the SportsLine Projection Model<\/a> have to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SMU vs. Florida State betting odds (via FanDuel)
\nSMU vs. Florida State money line:SMU -142, Florida State +118SMU vs. Florida State over\/under:54.5 (Over -115, Under -105)SMU vs. Florida State spread:\u00a0SMU -2.5 SMU vs. Florida State betting preview<\/p>\n

Florida State looked like a team to be reckoned with early in 2025 when the ‘Noles knocked off a ranked\u00a0Alabama<\/a>\u00a0squad, but they wound up finishing 5-7 and missing out on a bowl game for the second year in a row. There may not be a single seat that’s hotter in the country than Norvell’s. After going 8-13 over his first two seasons at FSU, Norvell won 10 games in 2022 and 13 in 2023. But things have hit a roadblock for the Seminoles. This is the start of a tough stretch for Florida State as Norvell’s squad faces SMU, Alabama, Virginia<\/a>, Louisville<\/a>, Miami<\/a> and Clemson<\/a> in its next seven games.<\/p>\n

The Seminoles had little trouble in Week 0, beating New Mexico State<\/a> 34-17, but there are some things that need to be cleaned up. FSU was solid against the run, but NMSU passed for 272 yards and two scores. The Seminoles’ run game was working well, with Ousmane Kromah<\/a> rushing for over 100 yards while three other players, including quarterback Ashton Daniels<\/a>, had over 30 yards each on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mustangs are road sports betting<\/a> favorites here, and it’s easy to see why. Not only are the Seminoles coming off just seven total wins over the last two years, but Lashlee has SMU in a good spot right now. The Mustangs won nine games last year and had 11 wins each in 2023 and 2024, the latter of which resulted in a College Football Playoff appearance. Kevin Jennings<\/a> is back for his third year as SMU’s starting quarterback, and he has a veteran offensive line in front of him as well. The Mustangs aren’t being talked about like a CFP contender, but they have a strong claim for being the No. 2 team in the ACC behind Miami this season.\u00a0Use the BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS to get bonus bets when wagering on SMU-Florida State and more college football games<\/a>:<\/p>\n

SMU vs. Florida State picks, predictionSMU -3.5<\/p>\n

Norvell’s time in Tallahassee has been a strange one, with two poor years followed by two excellent ones followed by two dreadful ones. This is absolutely a make-or-break season for the Seminoles, but it’s hard to see things going right for this squad, starting on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mustangs have been excellent with 31 wins over the last three years, and having a dynamic quarterback like Jennings under center is a big deal, especially considering he’s entering his third year as SMU’s starter. This is a Mustangs squad that finished 26th nationally in points scored and 33rd in points allowed last year. Lashlee has a good thing going here, and while it may be strange to say, but SMU appears to be the more talented bunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bet on college football with the DraftKings promo code and get a $200 bonus<\/a>:<\/p>\n

You know things are strange in Tallahassee when SMU is the money line betting<\/a> favorite on the road. But the Mustangs have key starters back across the board, and it’s worth noting three of their four losses last year were by one score. I wasn’t super impressed with the Noles’ performance against NMSU last week, and this is the start of an absolutely brutal stretch of games. I think SMU is going to contend for an ACC title this year, and kicking things off with a win at Florida State is expected. I think Lashlee’s group will not just win outright, but cover the\u00a0spread betting<\/a>\u00a0line of 10.5. SMU covered this line in all nine of its wins last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Week 1 of the 2026 college football season will wrap up on Monday, Sept. 7 with the SMU…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2531,54210,6786,4636,4638,4637,5919,156889,143,28,30,29,3731,8472,2515,4641,153323,17769,156894,156890,156891,156892,156893,4700,4682],"class_list":["post-393183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-ashton-daniels","tag-clemson-tigers","tag-college-football-betting","tag-college-football-odds","tag-college-football-picks","tag-college-football-predictions","tag-college-football-week-1-betting","tag-college-football","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-state-seminoles","tag-kevin-jennings","tag-louisville-cardinals","tag-miami-fla-hurricanes","tag-new-mexico-state-aggies","tag-ousmane-kromah","tag-smu-florida-state-bes","tag-smu-florida-state-betting","tag-smu-florida-state-odds","tag-smu-florida-state-picks","tag-smu-florida-state-predictions","tag-smu-mustangs","tag-virginia-cavaliers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393183","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=393183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}