The Dallas Morning News’ Lia Assimakopoulos on SMU football’s breakthrough season

SMU is the face of this brave new world of college football. In their inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference season, the Mustangs are contenders for the expanded College Football Playoff.

Picked to finish seventh in the preseason Atlantic Coast Conference poll, they are at the top of the conference. If they win at Virginia on Saturday, they will clinch a berth in the ACC title game in Charlotte, N.C. on Dec. 7.

With two games left in the regular season, it looks like SMU is on its way to claiming one of the 12 playoff spots. In the latest CFP rankings, it is No.13, but it could earn an automatic berth and a first-round bye by winning the ACC championship. If SMU doesn’t win the ACC, its chances become dicey. To learn more about how the Mustangs became a championship contender so quickly, we recently caught up with Lia Assimakopoulos of The Dallas Morning News. Assimakopoulos has been the newspaper since 2022 and also covers the Dallas Stars. 

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: What has been SMU coach Rhett Lashlee’s reaction to the CFP rankings?

Lia Assimakopoulos: “His mindset is that if SMU continues to win, they deserve to be in. I don’t think anyone is contesting that. If they win the ACC, they deserve a first-round bye. They deserve to be in the playoff. SMU fought all these years to be in a power conference. They finally got there in the ACC, and now the ACC isn’t being given respect in this expanded 12-team playoff. It’s a little confusing why Miami’s above SMU. It’s a little confusing why the ACC doesn’t have a lot of teams ranked in the top 15. So, I think that was kind of his frustration.”

How well-positioned are they now to make the playoff?

“It looks like if they win out, they get in. They’ll probably be a top-four seed unless somehow Boise State jumps them. They can lose one of their last two games and still make the ACC championship game, but it looks like if they lose the ACC championship game, they’re probably not going to get in as an at-large bid, just based on the last few weeks of rankings, and kind of where the committee is considering ACC teams.”

Is there a dream scenario matchup for SMU in the ACC title game?

“That’s interesting. We were talking about this earlier today. It’s pretty much between Clemson and Miami. There are a lot of reasons you don’t want to play Miami. They have a Heisman candidate at quarterback who could take over the game. (However,) in a lot of ways, a Miami matchup might be better for SMU. Rhett Lashlee was Miami’s offensive coordinator three years ago. I want to say there are 10 or 11 Miami transfers on the roster. So there’s a lot of familiarity between the programs. And I think SMU’s offense will match up a little better with Miami’s defense. There isn’t really a dream scenario, but it looks like that might be the more likely matchup at this point.”

Before the season, what were reasonable expectations for SMU?

“People within the program were pretty hopeful. They came off a great season last year, won the American (Athletic Conference), and returned a lot of their star players. Going into the year, they felt like they could build on that, but also reasonably expected there were going to be some growing pains. We started to see that in the first few games. They had a little bit of a complicated quarterback situation at the time. They were rotating two quarterbacks. They hadn’t figured it all out, but then once they made the switch and put Kevin Jennings as their starter, they hit the ground running. They’ve exceeded their own expectations.”

What have been the keys to their success?

“Kevin Jennings was their backup last year. They returned their starting quarterback, Preston Stone, but came into the season wanting to play both. Kevin had started the last two games of the year because Preston Stone went down with a broken leg during their last regular-season game last year. So, Kevin got a chance to show what he could do, and they named both of them captains. They wanted both of them to play, but they learned early on that having two quarterbacks is having no quarterback, and that was just not working for them to rotate them. Once they stuck with Kevin, he’s been the bright spot.

“They also brought in Brashard Smith, a Miami transfer who was a wide receiver. They moved him to running back. He’s rushed for over 1,000 yards and has been their go-to guy. They brought in some key transfers from the defensive line, which is the top rush defense in the ACC right now. Those additions exceeded some expectations and have allowed them to do what they’ve done.”

What is it like covering Lashlee?

“This is my first year covering SMU. I was always told by other media and some of the people within the program that he gets it. That’s how I would describe it as well. He is not too rehearsed. He doesn’t do the whole coach-speak thing too often. He’s authentic, which we appreciate, and he understands we’re here to do our job. Sometimes that comes with asking tough questions. Obviously, this season he’s avoided a lot of those because they’ve been so successful. It’s a small beat. There are only maybe four or five of us who are there consistently, but we have a pretty good relationship with him. He’s a good quote, so we appreciate that too.”

Florida State and Clemson have tried to leave the ACC. How does SMU feel about the stability of the conference?

“We asked them about that a lot earlier in the year. Their answer was: ‘We’re just happy to be here. If other people aren’t, that’s up to them.’ It’s funny because Florida State in their lawsuit, cited SMU as a reason they wanted to leave the conference saying that SMU hadn’t been in a power conference in decades. ‘They let them into the ACC, and that says something about the conference.’ Then, of course, SMU beats Florida State, and we see what has happened to Florida State this year. I think they take a little pride in that moment. SMU spent three decades trying to get to power conference status. They’re a little less concerned with what the other teams in the conference are doing. They’ve been able to show they belong this year.”

Is the perception that SMU would thrive in the NIL and transfer portal era due to its big-money donors accurate? 

“Definitely. In this era of college football, it is a business now. It is about money. That is something that SMU has going for it. That is a reason why a lot of people say that Lashlee’s in a great position at SMU because he has all he can want in terms of NIL and the transfer portal and them being able to go after bigger names. Now they have the ACC backing behind them. I think all of that plays a factor.

Where does SMU fall in the pecking order of Dallas sports?

“Dallas is a football town. People here still really love Texas. People love A&M. Those programs are very important, but I think you are seeing more pride around SMU sports. They’re selling out their games every week. That wasn’t the case a year ago. They have a legitimate game atmosphere. Their student section has been packed every week. The Cowboys are always going to be king here. High school football is always going to be important. But SMU is making a name for themselves, and people in Dallas are noticing.”

As a Maryland native, did you experience culture shock moving to Texas?

“The Friday Night Lights football culture shock was big for me because I went to a small private school with 120 kids in my graduating class. So going to an Allen High School football game where the school has 7,000 people, that’s the size of my college pretty much. So just seeing the theatrics of all that and what high school football means here, that was an adjustment, but it’s super fun and very cool to experience.”