SMU heads west to take on Stanford Saturday in the first meeting between the Mustangs and Cardinal as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (photo by gostanford.com).

(photo by PonyFans.com).

The Atlantic Coast Conference preseason poll that the conference announced July 31 showed, as if further evidence was needed, that preseason predictions are anything but an exact science. After all, conference coaches tabbed Florida State to finish at the top of the standings, and the Seminoles — thanks in part to a lopsided loss a few weeks ago at SMU are now 1-5 overall, including 1-4 in conference games.

The Mustangs’ next opponent, the Stanford Cardinal, was picked by league coaches to finish dead-last in the new-look ACC, a year after going 3-9 and finishing 2023 as the only FBS team to go winless at home.

The Cardinal is 2-4 and 1-2 in ACC games, meaning it is tied (with Wake Forest) in the standings ahead of FSU, N.C. State, North Carolina and its longtime rival, Cal — each of which is winless through three conference games. When SMU heads west for a 7 p.m. (Central time) game Saturday at Stanford Stadium (capacity: 50,424), the Cardinal will be trying to snap a three-game losing streak in which it has been outscored, 120-28: Stanford lost, 40-14, September 28 at then-No. 17 Clemson, 31-7 at home to Virginia Tech October 5 and most recently got run over Saturday at No. 11 Notre Dame, 49-7 — a game that was interrupted for about an hour because of a storm and one in which Stanford actually scored the game’s first touchdown, only to give up 49 straight.

Stanford also is 1-2 in home games, and averages 25.0 points per game “on The Farm.”

“They outplayed us in all three phases,” Stanford head coach Troy Taylor said after the game. “Offensively, we didn’t sustain blocks — their block destruction was impressive. They beat us in all three phases. They were a better football team, and it showed, but we’ll lick our wounds and be ready to play next week.”

Titles, it seems, are “a thing” at Stanford: Taylor is in his second season as head coach, Andrew Luck Director of Offense and Kevin M. Hogan Quarterbacks coach.

Saturday’s matchup is just the second between the programs, whose other meeting was in the 1936 Rose Bowl, which Stanford won, 7-0.

Stanford played three of its last four games in the Eastern time zone, but now enters a more friendly scheduling stretch. Saturday’s begins a stretch in which the Cardinal will be in the Bay Area for five of the final six games of the year; in addition to three home games, Stanford will play road games at Cal (45 miles away) and San Jose State (17 miles away).

Of course, whether playing at home against SMU is any easier remains to be seen: the Mustangs have won seven straight road games, dating back to September 2023.

Stanford’s statistics through six games reflect its 2-4 record. The Cardinal has been outscored by an average of 30.83-20.33 points per game, and outgained by an average of 378.3-315.5 yards per game — the yardage totals are somewhat skewed, considering Stanford has run 401 plays thus far, compared to just 367 by opposing offenses, but it casts a spotlight on the fact that opponents have been far more explosive, averaging 6.2 yards per play, compared to 4.7 by Stanford.

A true dual threat, quarterback Ashton Daniels leads the Stanford offense in both passing and rushing (photo by gostanford.com).

In addition, the Cardinal offense has been generous with turnovers, throwing seven interceptions and losing three of 12 fumbles.

“It’s tough when you’re turning the ball over, for sure,” Taylor said. “There’s good enough defenses that (even) if you don’t hurt yourself, make it difficult.”

Taylor and his staff now find themselves in the position of trying to help their team break its three-game losing skid, in which the losses have been lopsided, while facing an SMU team that jumped to No. 21 in this week’s Associated Press ranking and No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

“It’s demoralizing, for sure, when you’re a competitor, and you’re going to feel that way, probably for another 24 hours,” he said. “As a competitor, you focus your attention on the next opponent. That’s just the way it works. If you lose, you’ve got to be able to move on. We’ve got a long season ahead of us, lots of opportunities. So this one hurts, obviously, but we’ll bounce back and be ready to play next weekend.”

While Taylor and the Cardinals were understandably disappointed after getting rolled by Notre Dame, SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee expressed admiration for the way the Cardinal plays, and said offensive opportunities likely will be limited.

“Stanford plays the game the right way, (and) Troy’s an excellent coach,” Lashlee said. “They’ve been aggressive, in terms of … I think they’ve gone for 20 fourth downs (converting 10) — most in our league, by far (Florida State is second; the Seminoles have attempted 17 and SMU 11) … They’re nothing like Navy, buyt very similar in that you might only get eight, nine, 10 possessions a game, instead of 12-plus, which is standard. So … got to be efficient on offense and value the football.”

Junior Ashton Daniels (6-2, 215) has started five of the Cardinal’s six games at quarterback; junior Justin Lamson (6-2, 210) started the other. In five games, Daniels has completed 76 of 128 attempts (59.4 percent) for 707 yards, with five passing touchdowns and six interceptions. Lamson has played less, but has appeared in all six games, completing 20 of 37 passes (54.1 percent) for 172 yards, with two touchdown passes and an interception.

“Offensively, it all starts with Daniels at quarterback — he’s a good player,” Lashlee said. “It all runs through him. You know, you could tell when they didn’t have him against Virginia Tech, that hurt them.”

The Stanford passing game has been less than prolific: the most passing yards by any quarterback this season were the 221 passing yards Daniels had against Cal Poly, an FCS team competing in the Big Sky Conference; against FBS competition, the high bar was set the following week, when Daniels mustered 178 yards in the Cardinal’s first Atlantic Coast Conference win at Syracuse.

Despite the offense’s rather anemic passing attack, Stanford does have one of the best receivers in the ACC in redshirt sophomore Elic Ayomanor (6-2, 210), a former first-team Freshman All-America and former All-Pac 12 honoree who holds the program record with 294 receiving yards in a game, which he piled up (along with three receiving touchdowns) in last year’s 46-43 double-overtime over Colorado … and did so while spending much of the game defended by CU star Travis Hunter. So far he has topped 100 yards just once this season, when he had seven receptions for 102 against TCU.

Ayomanor leads the team with 27 receptions this season for 333 yards (12.3 yards per catch) and three touchdowns, but he is not the team’s only legitimate target. Redshirt freshman Ismael Cisse has 24 catches for 215 yards and a pair of scores. Junior tight end Sam Roush (6-5, 260) has 14 receptions for 110 yards and a score.

The Cardinal leans heavily into the ground game, averaging 149.7 rushing yards per game. The quarterbacks are the most productive runners — Daniels leads the team with 64 carries for 292 yards (4.6 yards per carry, 58.4 yards per game), while Lamson has all three of the team’s rushing touchdowns.

Troy Taylor is in his second season as head coach, director of offense and quarterbacks coach at Stanford (photo by gostanford.com).

The defense operates out of a 4-3 as its base formation, and when the Cardinal wins, it is due in large part to its run defense. Stanford gives up 111.7 yards per game on the ground, but rushing defense, as always, is critical to the outcome. In the four losses, Stanford has surrendered 154.8 rushing yards per game. In the victories over Cal Poly and Syracuse, that number shrivels to just 25.5 yards on the ground per game.

“Defensively, they’re an aggressive, play-hard, physical unit. They force a lot fumbles, they stop the run,” Lashlee said of the Stanford defense. “They make you earn everything (to) beat them, and that gives them a chance to stay in every game, and then the way they play ball-control offense … we’re going to have to get (the defense) off the field, because if we let them possess the ball for four- and five- and six- and seven- and eight-minute drives, that game shrinks quickly. They want a game with less possessions, and we want a game with more possessions.”

The defensive line lost two starters and three backups from last year’s unit. The scheme is less about defensive linemen making plays at/near the line of scrimmage and more about the linemen tying up blockers so the linebackers and defensive backs can run free to make plays. Want evidence? The top tackler among the defensive linemen is senior defensive tackle Anthony Franklin (6-3, 285), who ranks 14th on the team in tackles with … seven (he also has a tackle for loss and a sack).

Graduate inside linebacker Tristan Sinclair (6-1, 235), an Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 honoree last year, leads the team in tackles (with 42) and tackles for loss (4.5), followed by senior linebacker Gaethan Bernadel (6-1, 227), who has 39 tackles, including a pair of tackles for loss.

SMU heads west with a defense that leads the country with 15 takeaways, more than double Stanford’s seven. In six games, the Cardinal defense has mustered just four interceptions — two by junior cornerback Collin Wright (6-0, 192). Safeties Scotty Edwards (6-0, 205) and Mitch Leigber (6-1, 202) are solid, with 37 and 27 tackles, respectively; Leigber also has an interception and 3.5 tackles for loss.

SMU enters Saturday’s game riding a three-game winning streak, including the 34-27 over then-No. 22 Louisville that lifted the Mustangs into the top 25. But Lashlee said that the wins over TCU, Florida State and Louisville — a streak during which the Ponies have averaged 47.3 points per game — will no effect on the outcome in Palo Alto.

“What we did the last weeks gives us confidence,” Lashlee said. “It doesn’t do anything for us this Saturday. We’re entitled to nothing, we get nothing for it. We have to go play well.”