SMU Mustangs: The Ponies Are Receiving Recognition in 2024 Preseason Forecasts

The expanded ACC now consists of 17 teams. And college football analysts are assessing SMU’s prospects in the newly re-structured, 17-team conference.

The 17 Teams Comprising the ACC

Here are the 17 teams of the ACC, listed in alphabetical order:

1. Boston College
2. California – Berkeley
3. Clemson
4. Duke
5. Florida State
6. Georgia Tech
7. Louisville
8. Miami
9. North Carolina
10. North Carolina State
11. Pittsburgh
12. Southern Methodist University
13. Stanford
14. Syracuse
15. Virginia
16. Virginia Tech
17. Wake Forest

Preseason ACC Rankings

It’s early, but that has not stopped college football analysts from presenting predictions regarding the 2024 season. As to Southern Methodist’s prospects in the ACC, the assessments of the analysts are remarkably similar.

College Football Network projects SMU fishing seventh in the ACC, ahead of North Carolina and other newcomers Stanford and Cal, but behind traditional powers like Florida State, Clemson, and Miami.

247Sports also anticipates the Ponies ending up in seventh place in the ACC by the end of the 2024 regular season.

Likewise, Athlon Sports predicts a seventh place ACC finish for the team.

SMU Mustangs 2024 Schedule

The transition from the American Athletic Conference (ACC) to the ACC entails a significant increase in strength of schedule for SMU, as described by Lone Star Live:

[SMU’s 2024] schedule is not a cakewalk by any means; it features the top two teams from the ACC last season, road trips on the west and east coast as well as two Big 12 teams during nonconference play.

The lone patsy on Southern Methodist’s 2024 schedule is FCS opponent Houston Christian University (“HCU”), a team which SMU only scheduled after Vanderbilt belatedly canceled a matchup that had been slated for September 2024. However, the probable weakness of HCU is more than offset by the remaining schedule, which features a daunting trio of consecutive games against TCU, Florida State, and Louisville. In the 2024 Sports Illustrated preseason rankings, Louisville is No. 24 and Florida State is No. 12. Of course, And TCU was in the National Championship Game for the 2022 season.

While the Mustangs are not included in the top 25 of the Sports Illustrated preseason rankings, they are ranked No. 24 in ESPN’s preseason rankings.

The ACC’s Football Scheduling Model for 17-Team Conference

The Mustangs’ 2024 schedule is structured pursuant to a new scheduling model adopted by the ACC in the wake of the expansion of the conference.

The ACC recently rolled out its intra-conference scheduling plan for the next seven years:

“The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today its future football schedule model for the next seven years, 2024 through 2030. With the addition of the ACC’s three new member institutions next summer – University of California (Cal), Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Stanford University – the new football scheduling model will go into effect beginning with the 2024 season. After more than a month of significant discussions, the format has been adopted by the league’s athletic directors.

“The 2023-24 Football Schedule Model was revealed live on ACC PM: Football Schedule Model Release at 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

“The new schedule will continue with no divisions, feature 17 schools and will increase the number of annual conference matchups from 56 to 68. The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the ACC Football Championship Game on the first Saturday in December at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina….

“The approved format will continue to have each member institution play eight conference games per season, with all 17 teams playing each other at least twice over the next seven seasons – once at home and once on the road. The current 14 conference teams will play a total of three times each in California over the seven years and none will travel west to California in back-to-back seasons.”

The Mustangs “will now get to compete against the next level of competition” as they enter the domain of Power Five conference play. Of course, this has been SMU’s goal for many, many years.

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