SMU defensive end Isaiah Smith celebrates after a defensive stop during a Nov. 2 game against Pittsburgh.
GREG MADIA The Daily Progress
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Isaiah Smith already planned and was committed to moving halfway across the country to join SMU's football program when the Mustangs were in coaching transition and hired Rhett Lashlee as their new boss three years ago.
Smith, a defensive end from Washington, D.C., said he was sold on the school and city of Dallas, but that a call with Lashlee only a few days into his tenure resonated.
"I liked everything he was talking about," Smith said, "and when I finally came down and met the staff, we had a lot in common and I was ready to be part of what they were getting started there."
So, Smith arrived at SMU from St. John's College High School in time for Lashlee's first season in charge, and ever since, the Mustangs have been on a rapid ascent. They've won 15 consecutive league games dating back to 2022 under Lashlee's watch. They captured the AAC championship last year and have transitioned emphatically to the ACC this fall.
No. 13 SMU (9-1, 6-0 ACC) can clinch a spot in the ACC title bout on Saturday with a win at Virginia (5-5, 3-3 ACC), and also remain firmly in the mix for an opportunity to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff.
"We talked about it before the season," Lashlee said. "We wanted to prove we belong and try to put ourselves in position in November to be playing for something, and we are. So that part is accomplished. Now, we've got to go finish."
The Mustangs' unbeaten start in ACC action marks the most successful Group of Five to power-conference jump in the sport's history. Previously, no school moving up from the Group of Five to the Power Five or Power Four had started better than 1-1.
"It's part of what we talked about, and that's myself, my family and the coaches at SMU," said tight end Matthew Hibner, a Michigan transfer and native of Northern Virginia who starred at Lake Braddock High School. Both Hibner and Smith said they'll have plenty of family members and friends in attendance at Scott Stadium when the Mustangs and the Hoos kick off at noon on Saturday.
"But it was the ability for SMU to really have a shot at being a powerhouse in the ACC," Hibner continued. "Obviously, we didn't know if that was going to be this year, next year, the next couple of years, but we knew we had the talent. It was really about getting everybody on the same page."
He said that's what SMU has done wildly well.
Lashlee blended transfers like Hibner, who was part of the Wolverines' national-championship winning squad a season ago, as well as offensive linemen from Auburn, Texas and Miami -- in total the Mustangs have eight transfers on their roster from Miami, where Lashlee was previously the offensive coordinator -- with returners who'd been in the program for multiple years like Smith and quarterback Kevin Jennings.
Jennings was elevated from backup to starter by Lashlee in late September following SMU's loss to BYU, and SMU has rattled off seven consecutive wins with Jennings as the top signal-caller.
"We've got great team chemistry," Smith said.
Said Hibner: "It's a testament to the entire staff, the players who have come in here and the players who were already here before. To be able to get on the same page and get through those beginning-of-the-year bumps and bruises and polish up the way the team flows, I think it's been super impressive and it does seem like week to week that we are getting better whether it's quarterbacks connecting with receivers or myself or just being able to communicate with tackles and guards on the offensive line better. And that's from my point of view ... but that's what you want to do. You want to be getting to playing your best at the end of the season."
Hibner, who has nine catches for 178 yards and a touchdown, said outlasting Duke on the road for a 28-27 win in overtime on Oct. 26 was pivotal.
He said the Mustangs gained so much belief and development from improbably beating the Blue Devils with a stop on a two-point conversion in overtime that it was more useful than all of the blowout wins notched earlier in the campaign. SMU throttled TCU, Florida State and Stanford by an average of 26.6 points per game in three of the four contests ahead of the trip to Duke. The only close bout SMU had during that stretch was a 34-27 win at Louisville.
In its last two games, the Mustangs beat Pittsburgh and Boston College by double digits.
"Week in and week out, you're playing great competition against a lot of guys who will be playing on Sundays," Smith said about the difference between playing in the ACC now compared to the AAC last year. "So, you know you've got to bring it every week."
SMU is sixth nationally in scoring offense (39.9 points per game), and whether it's Jennings throwing or running or handing the ball to running back Brashard Smith -- one of those Miami transfers -- the Mustangs have proven difficult to defend. Jennings has 18 total touchdowns compared to six interceptions while Smith has 1,026 rushing yards and 12 scores on the ground.
Defensively, Isaiah Smith along with ex-Hurricanes Elijah Roberts, Jahfari Harvey and Jared Harrison-Hunte have created a wrecking crew of a D-line. They've combined for 14.5 sacks and 23 tackles for loss.
On special teams, Roderick Daniels Jr. returned a punt for a touchdown against TCU and is always a speedy threat to score.
"The tangible aspects of how the offense is playing and the defense, that has all fallen into place," Hibner said. "You can't win without those things working in sync. But the intangibles of how much it seems like the team cares about each other and the staff are there, too."
That, he said, is the commonality between what he experienced with Michigan and what he's sensing now with SMU.
"Everyone in the building is on a one-track mind and has the same goals," Hibner said, "knows what the team's goals are and everyone is doing everything they can to make sure we accomplish them. It's kind of cool to be able to see that in coming from a place where we had a ton of success at Michigan and then what carries over for championship teams."
Smith said securing a trip to Charlotte to play for an ACC crown in SMU's first year in the league, "would mean a lot," and keep growing the Mustangs' program forward.
He said when he first got there, SMU, "was probably like a sorority or fraternity school, but with the ACC move, the sports are back popping."
Hibner said he's heard from fans and older alums of the university that they just want the Mustangs to return to the prominence they had before SMU was dealt the "death penalty" by the NCAA in 1987.
"You see the stands fill up week to week," Hibner said, "and the reality is the better teams play, the more invested everybody gets in the community. And everyone in Dallas is just happy that SMU is putting itself on the map again."
Greg Madia
@GregMadia on X
ACC FOOTBALL
No. 13 SMU at Virginia
Saturday, Noon, ESPN2
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