Those bemoaning realignment for creating random conference opponents must remember that SMU’s two biggest wins in the last 41 years have come at Pitt’s expense. 

The 1983 Cotton Bowl victory vaulted SMU to an AP postseason No.2-ranking, its highest since the 1950 national championship year. Saturday night’s 48-25 win (and Clemson’s loss to Louisville) again put the Mustangs at their highest national relevance in a generation: a front runner in a Power Four conference. 

SMU makes the ACC Championship game if it wins its final three games against 4–4 Boston College, 4–4 Virginia and 4–4 Cal. In other words, it makes the ACC Championship if it plays like it did against Pitt.

“You want to play the early games to be able to play meaningful games at the end of the season,” senior linebacker Ahmad Walker said. “That’s what we’ve been working toward all year.”

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee’s roster building allowed the Mustangs to enter Saturday night as the ACC’s best rushing defense in its first season. That unit has propelled SMU to the ACC forefront and finished with nine tackles for loss and three sacks against Pitt. SMU’s starting defensive line of Elijah Roberts (Miami), Anthony Booker Jr. (Arkansas), Jared Harrison-Hunte (Miami) and Jahfari Harvey (Miami) are all Power Four transfers. 

The final numbers look more even than the game was after Pitt scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes with all backups in. SMU held the Panthers to 143 total yards in the first half behind a monster showing from junior defensive end Isaiah Smith. Smith had a pass breakup to force a field goal, a sack to end the next drive and then was in on a tackle for loss that led to a missed field goal.

But the offense’s clean game, and Brashard Smith’s 182 total yards and three touchdowns, was the biggest difference between last week’s nail-biting win over then-undefeated Duke and this week’s blowout. Kevin Jennings went 17-of-25 for 306 yards and two touchdowns, dealing to a wide receiver corps that’s stepped up since tight end RJ Maryland, the team’s only deep threat for vast amounts of the last season-and-a-half, was injured for the year.

Keyshawn Smith had a 43-yard catch and run that kickstarted the first touchdown drive, and tight end Matthew Hibner had an 80-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. 

“We knew coming in we were going to have to win the one-on-one matchups on the outside because they were going to focus on stopping the run,” Jennings said. “I told my receivers that all week, ‘We’ve got to win.’”

Roderick Daniels Jr., however, is the breakout star. He had the best three-yard touchdown run of the season on a reverse, added two catches for 30 yards and had a 42-yard kickoff return. 

SMU may have a bye week, but for Lashlee, there’s still an opponent - everyone who will tell SMU how great they are.

“We’re just fine with nobody talking about us,” Lashlee said. 

The problem for Lashlee is he’s built this program up where they have to.