Oct 4, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; SMU Mustangs vast receiver Jordan Hudson (2) and offensive lineman Dramodd Odoms (75) and tight finish Stone Eby (44) have a good time a landing in opposition to the Syracuse Orange in the course of the second half at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Obligatory Credit score: Jerome Miron-Imagn Pictures SMU will carry a little bit of swagger and bravado into its sport with rebuilding Stanford, however do not suppose for a second the Mustangs will take something as a right when the groups sq. off in an Atlantic Coast Convention dustup Saturday afternoon in Dallas.
The Mustangs (3-2, 1-0 ACC) look to construct on a 31-18 dwelling win over Syracuse final Saturday of their ACC opener. Kevin Jennings hit on 29 of 35 passes for 285 yards and touchdowns to 4 completely different receivers.
SMU bounced again from a street loss to crosstown rival TCU on Sept. 27 and appeared a bit just like the Mustangs that had been gifted sufficient to earn a berth within the School Soccer Playoff final yr. However it wasn’t simple. SMU led by 28 early within the fourth quarter, but needed to make performs down the stretch to safe the win. The Mustangs surrendered fourth-quarter leads in each of their losses this season — to Baylor and TCU — however ultimately received the job completed in opposition to Syracuse.
“You have to accomplish confidence, and we did (by beating Syracuse),” stated SMU coach Rhett Lashlee stated. “Now we have been there and we are able to say, ‘No, we have completed it,’ as a substitute of ‘We nearly did it.’ It does not need to be fairly, however we completed. We received a double-digit win in convention. It was an enormous step for our staff.”
The Cardinal (2-3, 1-1 ACC) hit the street after a wanted bye week that adopted an exciting 30-29 come-from-behind dwelling win over San Jose State on Sept. 27. Sedrick Irvin scored on a 1-yard run with 19 seconds left to carry Stanford to the win, however that could not occur with out Ben Gulbranson’s 34-yard cross to Caden Excessive to transform a fourth-and-10 with simply over a minute to play.
Gulbranson completed with 444 yards and two landing passes whereas CJ Williams hauled in 11 of these throws for 130 yards and Excessive caught 5 for 110 yards. Gulbranson’s passing complete was third most in class historical past, however second most within the sport as San Jose State’s Walker Eget threw for 473 yards and three scores.
“We have the utmost respect for SMU, however our focus is extra on what we do and the way we play,” Stanford interim coach Frank Reich stated Monday. “We’re engaged on being a extra constant soccer staff in all three phases. We have made good progress in some methods, however I nonetheless really feel like we’ve a methods to go.”
It is simply the third all-time assembly between the groups. SMU received 40-10 final yr in Palo Alto, Calif. The one different sport between the Mustangs and Cardinal was within the 1936 Rose Bowl sport, a 7-0 Stanford victory.
–Discipline Degree Media
