DALLAS — SMU is a road favorite of roughly 3 points at Florida State on Monday night, and SMU Mustangs coach Rhett Lashlee said Thursday he cannot work out why the number is not pointed the other way.
Lashlee counted 31 four- and five-star players on Florida State’s roster. SMU does not have anything close to that.
“Honestly, I just had no idea how we’re not a 7- to 10-point underdog,” Lashlee said. “We’re playing a game on the road in a hostile environment against a team that has as much talent as anybody in our league. They’ve already played a game, got that kind of game one stuff out of the way. We haven’t. I was looking at it. I think they have 31 four and five stars on their roster. We don’t have that at all, or five stars. And then you look at what they did Alabama week one last year. So, man, what a challenge for us.”
Florida State opened the season Aug. 29 with a 34-17 win over New Mexico State, a Conference USA team that went 4-8 last season. Quarterback Ashton Daniels threw for 202 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The Seminoles led 17-7 at halftime.
Monday is SMU’s first game. Lashlee has spent a month watching his roster play itself, and he wants a measurement.
“It’s weird because it’s Thursday, but for our ramp up it’s like a Tuesday for us and our game week clock,” Lashlee explained. “We’re at the point we need to play somebody to find out kind of where we stand. We’ve been going against each other for a month. So I think our guys are ready to play someone. What a great opportunity we have. Game ones are hard, they’re tricky. Every coach will tell you that because you just don’t always know what you’re gonna get and how guys are going to settle in. And then when you’re in this world where we have so many new players on the roster every year.”
Doak Campbell Stadium seats 67,277. Monday will be SMU’s first trip there. The Mustangs beat Florida State 42-16 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in 2024 in their first game as an ACC member, the only previous meeting between the programs.
SMU is ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25 and No. 20 in the coaches poll. Florida State received no votes in either.
Rhett Lashlee On Why SMU Took A Labor Day Night Game
A marquee network slot to open the season was part of the reason SMU wanted the ACC, and Lashlee said the program has to actually do it before it can talk about it.
“It’s a big deal. It’s part of why we want to be in the ACC, to play opponents like this in our league, and then to have the opportunity to win enough to have the league and ESPN and everybody else want to put us in a kind of a marquee game on Labor Day Monday night,” Lashlee said. “It’s a prime time slot every year. That’s a cool spot for our program to be and that’s why we did it, that’s what we wanted. Obviously there’s great responsibility and expectations that come with that.”
“Going into our third year in the league and back in a power league, it’s just kind of another step of first for us. And you can’t act like you’ve been there until you’ve done it,” Lashlee continued. “Now luckily in the last two years we played in arenas like this and in games like this, but to start the season it’s a little new.”
SMU And Florida State Since The 2024 Meeting
Lashlee is 34-15 at SMU across four seasons and is in his fifth. The Mustangs went 9-4 last season and beat No. 17 Arizona 24-19 in the Trust and Will Holiday Bowl, the program’s first bowl win since 2012. They are 14-2 in ACC regular-season games since joining the league in 2024.
Florida State is 7-18 since winning the 2023 ACC championship, including 3-13 in league play. Coach Mike Norvell is in his seventh season in Tallahassee.
Last season Florida State opened by beating No. 8 Alabama 31-17. Alabama reached the College Football Playoff and won a game there.
Lashlee’s teams have opened on the road in this range before. SMU played at Clemson last season and lost at Penn State in the first round of the College Football Playoff in December 2024. Two years ago the Mustangs nearly lost at Nevada and still reached the playoff.
What Rhett Lashlee Saw On Florida State’s Film
What Lashlee took from the New Mexico State film was length on defense and three running backs he did not want to face.
“I take away that I trust what I see on film,” Lashlee said. “I look at their defense, and they have great length. The D-linemen are long. Their corners are really good. Safeties are good. They play with a robber safety, and he’s a really good tackler, and they can run. They gave up ten points until the last kind of, I don’t want to be rude, but a trash touchdown five minutes ago. They gave up ten points. That’s good against anybody.”
“Offensively, their running backs are a problem. They got three of them. Their third back right now that comes in the game was starting on a playoff team two years ago. That’s how talented their running backs are,” Lashlee added. “They got an experienced quarterback who’s huge. And Daniels, he’s big, he’s played a lot. He can hurt you with his feet just like our guy can. That’s scary when you go against that.”
Receiver Duce Robinson returned to Florida State for a senior season after catching 56 passes for 1,081 yards in 2025.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN. ACC Huddle will broadcast from Tallahassee before the game, which closes ESPN’s Week 1 schedule.
The Mustangs open ACC play in Week 1 because the league moved to a nine-game conference schedule this season. SMU will not play again until Sept. 13, when it hosts Baylor.
