No. 8 SMU will walk into Bank of America Stadium Saturday as the higher-ranked team but the Mustangs head coach believes his team is walking in as the challenger.

Coming into this season, No. 17 Clemson holds seven of the last nine ACC Championship titles. While the Tigers aren’t the defending champ in 2024, it’s a mantle that is very comfortable for this program. SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee knows this well and spoke highly of Clemson at his press conference Friday.

“We’re the new kid. We’re the new kid at school that everybody just
thought would just kind of hang around,” Lashlee said. “I guess, and we
decided to crash the party and show up…What Coach Swinney has done, just the consistency of success there in his tenure over the last decade and a half, they’ve been the class of our league for the last decade. I think they’re going for his ninth tomorrow maybe or something like that, and we’re just showing up for the first time. It is cool. This is the stage. This is the arena we wanted to be in, so we’re humbled to be on it.”

Diving deeper into the challenge the Tigers present, Lashlee said that the Tigers defense presents challenges all over the field. While there’s often a hole to target, he believes Wes Goodwin’s unit is a stronghold on all fronts.

Specifically the front that includes TJ Parker and Peter Woods is what impresses Lashlee, claiming there is at least four players on the Clemson front that will play in the NFL.

“The problem with preparing for someone like Clemson is — now, don’t get me wrong; they’re elite in some areas. They can rake the ball out at an elite level. I think their secondary is probably going to be the best we’ve played. They’ve got some edge pass rushers that they don’t have to blitz to get pressure,” Lashlee said. “I don’t know if they’re elite everywhere, but they’re not weak anywhere. They are solid at all three levels. They have NFL players on the D-line, they have NFL players at the linebacker level, and they have NFL players in the back end, and they play extremely hard. They run to the football, which is the sign of a great defense, which is also how they’re able to force turnovers. They’re really good on 3rd down. They’re good in the red zone. So they’re good in the critical moments, but they just don’t have that area where you say, man, they’ve got a weakness there and we can just poke at it.”

The Mustangs hold the No. 5 scoring offense and it will be just as much of a challenge for Goodwin and the Tigers on the other end. Those two units will likely decide this game and who steps through to the College Football Playoff.

Photo courtesy of Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images