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From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU picked third in ACC preseason poll

CHARLOTTE (The ACC/SMU) ΓÇô SMU Football was picked third in the 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Preseason Poll, announced by the conference on Thursday.

The 2025 ACC Preseason Poll was conducted via a vote of a media panel, including those who were credentialed for last week's ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Clemson, the defending conference champions, ranked first in the poll with 3,083 points and 167 first-place votes. Following the Tigers, Miami was picked second with 2,679 points and seven first-place votes.

The Mustangs claimed third in the poll, improving from seventh in the 2024 ACC Preseason Poll. With 2,612 points and two first-place votes, SMU ranks as one of the most dominant teams in the conference.

SMU finished the 2024 season 11-3 with an 8-0 regular season conference record. Led by the 2024 ACC Coach of the Year, Rhett Lashlee, the Mustangs returned to prominence, illustrated by the program making its first appearance in the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2024 as the No. 11 seed, continuing a program-record run of being bowl-eligible for a sixth straight season.

SMU ranked in the top 25 in FBS in 14 different categories, highlighted by top-10 rankings in defensive touchdowns (5th), rushing defense (7th), scoring offense (8th) and team sacks (10th).

Despite the step up into a power conference, the Mustangs continued to produce at an elite level on offense, averaging 36.5 points per game on the year, the seventh-highest average for a season in program history. The 511 points scored in 2024 were the third most in program history.

The Mustangs will begin their ACC eight-game schedule by hosting Syracuse on October 8. SMU will have another home game against Stanford on October 11 before hitting the road for two games at Clemson and Wake Forest on October 18 and October 25, respectively.

To start out the month of November, SMU will host their Homecoming game against Miami on November 1. On November 8, the Mustangs will face Boston College on the road. For the home regular-season finale, SMU will battle Louisville on November 22. The last game of the regular season will be at California on November 29.

The full list of the preseason poll can be found below:


Rank ΓÇö Team (first-place votes) ΓÇö Points

1. Clemson (167) ΓÇö 3,083

2. Miami (7) ΓÇö 2,679

3. SMU (2) ΓÇö 2,612

4. Georgia Tech (2) ΓÇö 2,397

5. Louisville ΓÇö 2,370

6. Duke ΓÇö 1,973

7. Florida State (4) ΓÇö 1,920

8. North Carolina ΓÇö 1,611

9. Pitt ΓÇö 1,571

10. N.C. State ΓÇö 1505

11. Virginia Tech ΓÇö 1,412

12. Syracuse ΓÇö 1,381

13. Boston College ΓÇö 953

14. Virginia ΓÇö 871

15. Cal ΓÇö 659

16. Wake Forest ΓÇö 576

17. Stanford ΓÇö 426



First-place votes in parentheses
183 media voters

From this we know that 4 members of the media panel are based in Tallahassee.

It's hard to imagine the 'Noles will be anywhere near the disaster they were last year, but ... yeah, anyone who voted for them to win the ACC should have voting privileges revoked.

Will be interesting to see how that offense looks with Castellanos at the helm.

DallasDiehard wrote:It's hard to imagine the 'Noles will be anywhere near the disaster they were last year, but ... yeah, anyone who voted for them to win the ACC should have voting privileges revoked.

Will be interesting to see how that offense looks with Castellanos at the helm.

I imagine the offense will be maddeningly inconsistent -- just like Castellanos.

Nice that we are getting recognition.

Need to win 2/3 of Miami, Clemson, Louisville to get into the championship game again.

SMU getting major respect in year two as we should. Not sure I buy the Miami hype...their D was porous last year.

Norvell gets fired this year. His speech at ACC media day was...a bit off.