Fenway Bowl Could be Trap Game for SMU This Week

Mustangs can't let over-confidence run bowl trip against low-regarded Boston College

DALLAS — Rhett Lashlee needs an angle this week he may have used earlier in the season. After avoiding running off the rails all season, SMU didn't get into a New Year's Six game, but that's not their fault. That was a selection committee judgement a lot of folks didn't agree with.

He doesn't need me to help him coach, but Rhett's going to get some free advice: Use what you did against some of the AAC opponents through the season. The Mustangs can't let the fact they are 10.5-point favorites in the Fenway Bowl on Thursday let them start feeling the swagger now.

Boston College was 3-5 in ACC play this year, but don't get fooled into thinking that was anything special. They didn't exactly beat anybody good. But they will be playing in a place they called home until the 1950's and are likely treating it as a de facto home game, which it is. There's also the humbling reminder of Tulane's 41-20 loss to a 6-6 Virginia Tech team out of the ACC to point to as well.

All of that is why the Ponies can't have some sort of bowl game letdown. Lashlee knows all this, and headed to the ACC next year, SMU has another golden opportunity to raise eyebrows in its new conference home starting in a few months. The Mustangs did it in basketball last week, downing Florida State in Tallahassee.

Now they have the chance to do it in football on national television. Boston College has shown signs of life. The Eagles beat Georgia Tech, Virginia and Syracuse in the ACC. None of those were really good teams, but they were conference games.

SMU is better. Especially with a defense that competed well in the Ponies' only two losses against Oklahoma and TCU. It was a nationally-ranked defense that had a certain edge all year and maintained it.

Lashlee did a good job of keeping his team sharp and hungry throughout a rather uninspiring AAC schedule. When the Mustangs beat Tulane in the AAC championship game, it wasn't even close. They have to avoid an emotional hangover potentially created by bunch of guys who didn't think they were as good as a Liberty team with the nation's easiest schedule.

A loss will cause everybody in the ACC to shrug and go on about their business. A win gets their attention. A big win has them talking.

SMU may have been snubbed by the playoff committee, but Lashlee knows he can't afford to let them think they made the right decision. His Mustangs need to look like a hungry predator going into next season, not the next light snack on the menu.

The Wasabi Fenway Bowl kicks off at 10 a.m. on ESPN and fuboTV. You can listen in DFW on The Ticket 96.7 FM and 1310 AM.

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