SMU's 1st ACC meeting vs. No. 10 Miami comes after end of Mustangs' 20-game conference win streak

“The worst offensive performance since we’ve been here. Not even close,” said third-year SMU coach Rhett Lashlee, who was Miami's offensive coordinator before that.

The Mustangs didn't have to play Miami when not losing a conference game on the way to the league championship game and 12-team College Football Playoff in their ACC debut last year. Now when they do Saturday, while trying to get back on track offensively, it will be against one of the nation's top defenses — the ACC leader allowing only 14.1 points and 270 total yards per game.

“I think I can probably confidently say it’s the most complete team we’ve played since I’ve been here,” Lashlee said. “They’re national championship good on defense. I mean, they’re really, really good. And then offensively got a championship-caliber quarterback and a lot of playmakers. Where they’re great is they’re big on both sides of the line of scrimmage. I mean, they dominate the line of scrimmage.”

Miami (6-1, 2-1) is leaving the state of Florida for the first time this season, after being the only FBS team to get into November having played only one game away from their home stadium. The only road game until now was Oct. 4 at Florida State. After going to Dallas, the Hurricanes play Syracuse and North Carolina State at home before trips to Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh to wrap up the regular season.

Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal raved about SMU’s defense and lauded Lashlee, whose Mustangs are 17-2 in their last 19 home games while averaging 46.5 points.

“Offensively, obviously, they’ve scored a lot of points for a long time,” Cristobal said. “He’s done a great job and certainly there’s a lot of explosive playmakers in all areas with a really good and physical offensive line, as well as a quarterback that can beat you with his arm or with his feet by extending plays, but has become an excellent pocket passer as well."

Beck closes in

Miami quarterback Carson Beck enters this week 136 yards shy of 10,000 yards of total offense in his college career.

Only five active FBS quarterbacks already have that many yards. Arkansas’ Taylen Green, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Miami-Ohio’s Dequan Finn, Fresno State’s E.J. Warner and Georgia Tech’s Haynes King are on the list, with Kansas’ Jalon Daniels only 84 yards away from joining them.

Jennings hurting

While not elaborating, Lashlee said quarterback Kevin Jennings has been playing hurt.

“He’s a competitor,” Lashlee said. “That’s not an excuse for how we played last week, because he’s been hurt in some other games and played better. ... When you have a consistency of performance like he’s had for so long, even when we don’t have good games, consistent on offense as we have, you don’t take one game and throw everything out and just panic."

The loss at Wake Forest was SMU's second on a game-ending kick. Baylor beat the Mustangs 48-45 in double overtime after overcoming a 14-point deficit in the final 5 1/2 minutes of regulation. They also blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter of a 35-24 loss at TCU.

Miami’s defense

The Hurricanes are one of five teams that entered the week having held opponents to under 100 points this season. Miami gave up 99 points in its first seven games.

The other teams allowing fewer than 100 points: Ohio State (41), San Diego State (73), Indiana (87) and Texas Tech (99).

Hello, again

SMU and Miami have played only once, when the Mustangs won 7-3 in the 1965 season opener in the Orange Bowl.

Lashlee was offensive coordinator for the Hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. One of Miami’s first coaches — J. Burton Rix, who went 3-2 with the Hurricanes in 1929 — was SMU’s coach from 1917-21.

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

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