WATCH: Rhett Lashlee previews SMU vs. Charlotte
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee met with the media on Wednesday to preview the AAC opener against Charlotte. Watch what the coach of the Mustangs said as the team looks to regroup after the TCU loss.
He’s been impressed with how his team’s moved forward after the Battle for the Iron Skillet.
“Good spirited yesterday and today,” Lashlee told reporters. “A couple of coaches, as we called them up on Wednesday, were just saying ‘Man, they’ve practiced hard. They’ve practiced with intentionality this week.’ And, not that I’m surprised at that, but you never know. Right? So I’ve been proud of that.”
Charlotte, which like SMU also faced two Power Five teams in non-conference play, is playing its first ever AAC matchup. The 49ers head to Dallas with upset on their mind.
“I guess it’s a good narrative, probably on the outside. It doesn’t matter to our guys,” Lashlee said of getting Charlotte’s best shot. “I don’t know how much it matters in the real games. I don’t know, you’d have to ask the other opponents. I think the bottom line is, it’s a conference game. It’s Charlotte’s first conference game in this league. We’re still excited to be in the American this year and we want to do everything we set out to do at the beginning of the year and that’s compete to put ourselves in contention at the end.
“You know, the bottom line is if we would have gone 4-0, 0-4 or 2-2 in the non-conference, we’d be sitting in the same situation today knowing we’ve got to go beat Charlotte and try to get to 1-0 in conference play. We don’t try to make too much of that stuff internally.”
SMU kicks off at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU for its third home game of the 2023 season. The Mustangs are 2-2 overall while Charlotte is 1-3.
