SMU Ranked a Top 25 Program and a Near Lock to be a Preseason Top 25 Team

DALLAS, Texas – In two weeks from today, it will officially be a month until the SMU Mustangs kick off their 2026 College Football campaign in Tallahassee, Florida, at Doak Campbell Stadium against the Florida State Seminoles on Labor Day. With weeks until the first AP Poll comes out, SMU finds itself being named in USA Today's top 25 football programs this week in the lead-up to the start of the season.

The offseason is always a tricky time to “predict” anything in college football without a snap being played. It's like deciding to cook a dish using a recipe, even with exact measurements; eyeballing when to put the salt in can easily oversalt the end product.

Nonetheless, across the offseason, there has been one constant across the various “rankings” of the nation's top 25 teams across the summer.

SMU has been well in the summer fold to crack into the upper echelon of college football's very best again. With the program's resurgence being one of the major talking points in college football over the last five years.

As the Mustangs head into their fifth season under Head Coach Rhett Lashlee and the program's third season in the ACC its without question that SMU has come a long way since its 1987 “Death Penalty” that devastated the program decades ago.

It’s been under Lashlee that the program atop the Hilltop has continued to reach a milestone each year on the football field since he took the reins as Head Coach. In year one, the Mustangs won five conference games, the second most at the time in five years, while also reaching a bowl game for the first time in three seasons at the time. In year two, SMU secured its first conference championship title and won the most games in a season since the 1980s, and were ranked for the first time since 2021.

In Lashlee’s third season, the Mustangs won double-digit games again while navigating their first year in the ACC, in which they went undefeated in conference play, finishing runner-up in the conference championship. SMU also had the emergence of now-senior quarterback Kevin Jennings take over the starring job, with his play helping the Mustangs rattle off 10 straight wins to end the season

The cherry on top was the Mustangs’ trip to the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. Although SMU’s postseason ended in the first round against No.5 Penn State 38-10 in State College. That season not only put the Mustangs front and center of the country once again, but it also continued SMU’s streak of being ranked, climbing as high as No. 8 in the nation.

Last season SMU’s went 9-4, maintaining its standard of achieving with the program's first Bowl Winn since 2012 with a 24-21 win over Arizona in the Trust & Will Holiday Bowl. SMU also pushed the program's three-season streak of being ranked inside the top 25.

Paul Myerberg, Blake Toppmeyer, Jordan Mendoza, and Eddie Timanus from their USA TODAY article had this to say about SMU as the number 25 college football program.

25. SMU
The Mustangs have returned to national prominence after their move the ACC. There’s a Wild West vibe to the school’s football history, with marquee names like Doak Walker and Eric Dickerson weighed against the infamy of the NCAA death penalty. The program has made it all the way back in the 40 years since, making the College Football Playoff in 2024 and contending for the conference title the following season.
USA Today

To bring everything full circle, the Mustangs are and have been trending in the right direction heading into the upcoming season. From navigating the SWC, WAC, and CUSA, to now the ACC in 2026, SMU is among a handful of potential contenders who are looking to add ACC Championship Winners to their name on the championship trophy. With Jennings returning for one last ride with a plethora of returning and new offensive pieces.

The crux of it all is how the defensive side holds up. In its four losses last year, SMU lost by less than a score in three of them. With the plethora of turnovers and two co-coordinators- Maurice Crum Jr calling plays and Rickey Hunley Jr also co-coordinating and coaching the secondary if there is one side of the ball that will be under the microscope, it is the defense in 2026.

Nonetheless, with football season close to being months to weeks away, SMU will hope to be inside the top 25 for the second season in a row when the first preseason poll drops in August. Based on the “love” from a handful of polls throughout the long summer, it could be in the cards for the folks on Mockingbird and Hillcrest as part of a long resurgence to this point.

More on SMU Mustangs on SI

• What we know about SMU's basketball's Non-Conference Schedule

•SMU launches Heisman campaign for QB Kevin Jennings

• SMU's Football Non-Conference Schedule Includes Two Wins and One Toss-Up

• The Recruiting Message from SMU behind the Kevin Jennings Recovery Center

Stay up-to-date with the Mustangs by bookmarking SMU On SI.

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