Why SMU is best-suited to succeed out of three new programs in the ACC

Three teams will be joining the Atlantic Coast Conference next fall with Stanford, California, and SMU all coming in as part of realignment. With each of the three kicking off with the rest of the league this season, On3’s Andy Staples explained why he has the most faith in the Mustangs to be the best of the trio of new members in 2024.

Staples answered which newcomer would be most successful in their first years in the ACC on his show on Thursday. He went with Southern Methodist in spite of the fact that they’re coming from a mid-major conference in the American. He did so since he likes what their coaching staff has done to field a competitive-enough roster, especially from their work in the transfer portal.

“I’m going to go with SMU, which is interesting because they’re the ones that aren’t coming from a power conference and you do worry about depth at that point,” Staples said. “I think Rhett Lashlee has done a good job building depth as best he can. They’ve done some work in the portal.”

SMU is coming off a year, which was Lashlee’s second in Dallas, where they went 11-3 overall. They had a Top-10 offense and nearly posted a Top-10 defense. That led them to winning the American Championship and earning Top-25 rankings in the AP Poll and for the College Football Playoff.

In the offseason, the Mustangs brought in 20 transfers out of the portal. That was good for the No. 41 class per On3’s 2024 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. All but one of them came from the power conferences, including several from national contenders a season ago.

With this response, Staples isn’t thinking poorly of either of the additions of the Pac-12. He just thinks each of them have some more work to do in comparison to where SMU currently is.

“Jaydn Ott at Cal, I think, is going to be one of the better running backs in the ACC. They lost Jake Spavital, their offensive coordinator, to Baylor this year. I don’t know that they’re necessarily going to be as explosive as they were. They should be able to play some stingy defense,” explained Staples. “Troy Taylor is doing, I thought, a very good job in year one at Stanford given the circumstances that he took over.”

“I do think it’s probably going to be hard for Cal and Stanford,” Staples said.

After two smaller opponents, SMU will finish non-conference play against two out of the Big 12 in BYU and TCU. From there, they’ll dive into a league schedule that starts out with both finalists for the conference title last year in Florida State and at Louisville. That’s before also facing six more, including both Stanford and Cal.

Still, Staples is assertive enough about the Mustangs to circle that matchup on September 28th against the Seminoles.

“SMU? Again, they’ve got Florida State coming to their place in September – watch that one,” said Staples. “That’s going to be a fun one.”

All of these teams are going to have to adjust to their new surroundings in the ACC. Of the three, though, Staples thinks that SMU is the best-suited to handle that change well next season.

“I don’t know that SMU is going to be quite deep enough to be competitive for the ACC title this year but I do think they can be the best of the newcomers,” Staples opined.