If No. 22 SMU is going to contend for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, there obviously are going to be big games along the way.
Count Saturday night against host Duke at Durham, N.C., among those.
SMU (6-1, 3-0) is riding a four-game winning streak and is trying to stay unblemished in league play along with Clemson, Miami and Pitt.
Duke (6-1, 2-1) is in the mix as well, but the Blue Devils need to take care of business Saturday in their penultimate home game of the season.
SMU has 34 or more points in four consecutive games. The Mustangs are 22-1 under coach Rhett Lashlee when racking up 30 or more points.
Despite the production, there wasn’t a sense from the Mustangs that all of it has been smooth.
“A lot of things to clean up as we get ready to go play a big-time defense,” Lashlee said.
Much of SMU’s firepower comes from dual-threat quarterback Kevin Jennings, a sophomore who posted a career-high 322 passing yards in SMU’s 40-10 victory over Stanford last Saturday.
So disrupting what Jennings is able to do is among the priorities for Duke’s defense.
“To put pressure on somebody where they had to throw to win,” Blue Devils coach Manny Diaz said.
Part of the plan for Duke will come with using a steady diet of fresh linemen on defense.
“You got to get subs in all the time, especially with the tempo they play,” Diaz said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons on offense, but football always starts with the big guys up front.”
SMU has lost tight end RJ Maryland for the season with a knee injury, Lashlee said Tuesday.
Duke defensive back Chandler Rivers and linebacker Ozzie Nicholas were picked as ACC Players of the Week at their respective positions based on performances in a 23-16 win over Florida State last week.
On offense, there were snags for the Blue Devils, particularly with the passing attack. After reviewing the footage, Diaz said it was nothing “to hang in the passing game Hall of Fame.”
Duke is trying to figure out the tight end position after it was revealed that Nicky Dalmolin is out for the season with a lower leg injury. Jake Taylor played 55 snaps in the Florida State game as his replacement.
The Blue Devils could have receiver Jordan Moore available for a heavier workload considering he was limited to special situations against Florida State.
The Blue Devils notched a piece of history by defeating Florida State. That was the first time in 23 all-time meetings that Duke beat the Seminoles.
SMU has won eight straight road games, matching Texas for the longest streak in the country. Saturday’s game will be the Mustangs’ third straight road assignment.
Duke is 15-2 at home across three seasons.
“Wallace Wade (Stadium) is just a difficult place for folks to come and play,” Diaz said. “That’s what the facts say. … The more you win at home, the more special home games you get.”
Duke and SMU haven’t met since 1956. The Mustangs are 2-0 all-time in the series.
SMU, a first-year ACC member after being in the American Athletic Conference, is going for its 13th consecutive victory in conference play dating to November 2022. The 12-game string for league games already is a program record.
