What Could be Biggest Wildcard for Mustangs This Season in Week 3
DALLAS — It's probably a good bet television moved SMU's third game of the year to a Friday night in early September, because nobody in the state of Texas wants to schedule a game on a night of sacredness. Even if it's against Brigham Young University.
Maybe it was luck or planned, but nearby Highland Park isn't playing that night. The Scots will play on Monday afternoon at Lake Highlands, so there won't be a direct conflict. It could affect recruiting and some fans for the game in Week 3 which may be the biggest unknown of the 2024 season.
Going all the way back to that Holiday Bowl in 1980, the Mustangs have never figured out a way to beat them. Even in the New Mexico Bowl in 2023, BYU edged out the Ponies by a single point. Us old-timers remember that game in San Diego, though, when Jim McMahon hit the pass at the end of the game for a shocking 46-45 victory. Nobody can still figure out how exactly that happened.
This year is one of those games that could be all over the place in projecting. Preseason predictions call for the Cougars to win between four and eight games. They are down in the bottom half of the Big 12, which is going to look completely different this year, with Texas and Oklahoma jumping to the SEC.
BYU will have a lot of fans in Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Sept. 6. They travel well and that should be the first real test of the season for the Mustangs. Nevada isn't really good right now and, bless their hearts, Houston Christian is a school very few people even knew existed, which may be why they scheduled the game in the first place.
After all that, it's a big unknown right now. Most of that's primarily because BYU has never lost to SMU and they traditionally have a long and storied history of surprising an awful lot of teams. They even won a national title in 1984 after nearly everybody else defaulted and there was a decided lack of interest among voters.
All of that adds up to a game that could be interesting. Unless something happens, it will probably have a lot of offense, giving the Ponies' defense a chance to find out some things. With TCU rolling over to Dallas the next week, all of that could be a good thing, especially with an extra day to get ready.
PONY EXPRESS:
• Barely in Top 25 of preseason FPI, SMU's ranking above most of ACC
• 2024 SMU football early opponent preview, Game 3: BYU