Adding Baylor to Future Schedules Helps Position SMU for Playoff Bid

SMU to face old Southwest Conference rival in 2025, 2026

Dec 2, 2023; New Orleans, LA, USA; Southern Methodist Mustangs head coach Rhett Lashlee gets a / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS – It’s been 28 years since the Southwest Conference disbanded, but a pair of it’s former members are going to meet once again.

SMU announced Tuesday the addition of Baylor to its 2025 and 2026 schedules. The Mustangs will host the Bears in Dallas on Sept. 6, 2025 and travel to Waco on Sept. 19, 2026. It’ll be the first meeting between the two schools located less than 100 miles from one another since 2016.

Baylor won that game eight years ago 40-13, which was the Bears’ 12th consecutive win against SMU. That win streak dates back to the days when both teams played in the SWC. As conference foes, SMU and Baylor met 73 times with SMU leading the series 35-32-5.

The addition of Baylor adds a Power 5 Conference opponent to the Mustangs’ future schedules, which could help them reach the 12-team College Football Playoff. SMU has a chance at automatically qualifying for the expanded playoff by virtue of joining the Atlantic Coast Conference this summer. But, should the Mustangs not win the conference championship game, adding Power 5 Conference teams to their schedule will help impress the committee. That could be enough to earn one of six at-large bids to the playoff.

Sure, SMU will need to win those games against Baylor and a majority of its ACC games to have any chance at making the playoff, but it’s not hard to envision it.

It’ll be said a million times during the next 100 days when the college football season officially begins, but the Mustangs have a chance to return to the glory of the Pony Express days. Look at ESPN Senior Writer Adam Rittenberg’s latest column ranking college footballs top 25 offenses for 2024 and beyond. Ohio State and Texas lead the rankings, but scroll a bit further and you’ll find SMU ranked 15th.

Rittenberg writes, “SMU ranks fourth nationally in scoring offense since 2018, trailing only Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma, and has maintained its production under two coaches (Sonny Dykes and Rhett Lashlee). The Mustangs are entering a more difficult league in the ACC, but they do so with a returning starter at quarterback (Preston Stone), other key holdovers and several potential impact transfers.”

That’s definitely a good start to SMU’s return to glory.