Having successfully dealt with two of their new rivals to the east, SMU turns its attention west when the No. 21 Mustangs make their first Atlantic Coast Conference trip to Stanford on Saturday night.
Riding high off a bye following a 34-27 win at then-No. 22 Louisville, SMU (5-1, 2-0 ACC) will face an opponent it hasn’t seen since the 1935 Rose Bowl, a game Stanford won 7-0 to hand the Mustangs their only loss that season.
Despite the defeat, SMU was declared the 1935 national champion by two prominent ranking methods — a mathematical points formula known as the Dickinson System and a strength-of-schedule calculation known as the Houlgate System.
The Mustangs haven’t won a widely recognized national title since.
The Associated Press poll made its debut in 1936.
Looking ahead to a remaining schedule that doesn’t include either ACC frontrunners Clemson or Miami and features just one other currently ranked team (No. 20 Pittsburgh), SMU will be seeking its fourth straight win against a Stanford squad that has lost three in a row.
The Mustangs head west as a ranked team. They moved into the rankings after the Louisville victory prior to having a bye. They moved up four spots in Sunday’s poll.
Being ranked is something coach Rhett Lashlee has cautioned his guys has its positives and negatives.
“We’ve had a week to hear about our press, our ranking and all that. And that’s great — our guys have earned it,” Lashlee said. “But if we don’t stay present, we don’t focus on the task at hand when we go to Stanford, then we’re going to be that statistic that they played well, but then they fell off.”
The Mustangs have averaged 40.8 points in their first six games, led by running back Brashard Smith, who currently is tied for second in the ACC with eight touchdowns, seven of which have been on the ground.
SMU will be looking for its eighth straight road victory.
Meanwhile, Stanford (2-4, 1-2) has allowed 30.8 points per game, including a season-high in a 49-7 drubbing at the hands of Notre Dame last week.
Interestingly, the game matches teams that like to play multiple quarterbacks.
After beginning the season with Preston Stone as their primary signal-caller, the Mustangs have gradually transitioned to sophomore Keith Jennings, who threw for a season-best 254 yards in a win over Florida State on Sept. 28 before bettering that with 281 yards in SMU’s most recent game against Louisville.
Stone threw just one pass in the Louisville game, but it was a big one — a 10-yard touchdown to Key’Shawn Smith that gave SMU an early lead.
Stanford coach Troy Taylor, a former collegiate quarterback at Cal, has been impressed by both guys and the game plan they share.
“Real explosive on offense. Fast tempo. They have two quarterbacks who can play,” Taylor observed. “You have to be able to really handle them tempo-wise, one of the fastest in the country. So be ready for their tempo.”
The Cardinal began ACC play with a 26-24 win at Syracuse on Sept. 20, but they have since lost conference games to Clemson and Virginia Tech by a total score of 71-21.
Stanford used both its quarterbacks — Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson — in last week’s loss to Notre Dame. Daniels returned after missing the Cardinal’s loss to Virginia Tech with a leg injury.
The Cardinal’s most productive offensive player of late has been freshman running back Chris Davis Jr., who has gone from three to eight to 10 carries in his last three games. His 233 rushing yards for the season rank second on the team behind Daniels’ 292.
