SMU will get a gown rehearsal earlier than its debut season within the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The No. 24 ranked Mustangs (11-2, 8-0) closed out their run within the American Athletic Conference by successful the league championship and can transition into the ACC in 2024 together with California and Stanford.
SMU will look to safe a twelfth win for the primary time in program historical past once they tackle ACC affiliate Boston College (6-6, 3-5) within the second annual Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Thursday (11 a.m.) at Fenway Park. SMU went 11-0-1 in 1982 with the famed Pony Express backfield.
“I think the guys are excited to play a really good opponent, a future conference opponent and we get to play in an historic venue like Fenway Park,” stated SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee.
“There are loads of issues we have been already doing to improve to a Power-5 by way of how we recruit and the way we handle our gamers. This isn’t solely large for our soccer program, it’s large for our college.
“We will find out (Thursday) how much more we’ve got to do to get ready and get a taste of ACC action. We are excited for the opportunity to add value to an already great conference.”
Boston College received 5 straight video games, three towards ACC opponents, within the center stretch of the season earlier than shedding its final three league matches.
BC coach Jeff Hafley desires to get that seventh victory to safe a successful season within the college’s 77th recreation at Fenway. BC will face the Mustangs in Week 9 of the 2024 season at Gerald J. Ford Field in Dallas.
“It is a neat way to welcome these guys into the ACC by playing a game before we kick off next season,” stated BC head coach Jeff Hafley. “It is not only a future opponent, it is one of the top teams in the entire country.”
Quarterback Report
BC mined gold within the NCAA switch portal once they introduced in Central Florida castoff quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who introduced his dual-threat capabilities to Chestnut Hill. Castellanos appeared in 12 video games with 11 begins and emerged as one of the productive area generals within the ACC.
Castellanos is third within the nation in speeding yards by a quarterback with 957 and tied the college’s QB report with 11 speeding touchdowns. His 3,103 all-purpose yards in at the moment fifth in BC historical past and he’ll possible cross Brian St. Pierre (3,109) within the bowl recreation.
On the passing aspect, Castellanos accomplished 178-of-312 throws for two,146 yards with 13 picks and 15 touchdowns. Castellanos will possible change into the sixth ACC quarterback since 1996 to have 1,000 speeding yards and a pair of,000 passing yards in a season. Two of the 5 on the books are named Lamar Jackson.
Quarterback Report II
SMU might be going with back-up quarterback Kevin Jennings towards BC. Jennings was pressed into service when dynamic starter Preston Stone suffered a damaged leg within the Mustangs common season finale towards Navy. Stone had appeared in 12 video games and accomplished 206-of-344 passes for 3,197 yards, six interceptions and 28 touchdowns.
Jennings mopped up within the 59-14 win over Navy and led the Mustangs to victory towards Tulane within the AAC title match. Jennings has appeared in seven video games and accomplished 37-of-57 passes for 427 yards with two picks and 4 touchdowns.
Jennings inherited a balanced assault that rolled up 6,060 yards of whole offense and averaged 40.62 factors per recreation. SMU has seven receivers with 20 of extra catches and two high quality working backs on a squad that accrued 2,254 speeding yards.
“We had a unique situation this year where we felt we had seven guys at wide receiver that were starting caliber and a tight end (RJ Maryland) who was all conference,” stated Lashlee.
“We had to decide should we play a few or play them all and we decided to play them all so no one was going to have elite stats. But we had eight guys between 300 and 500 yards receiving and they did a nice job embracing the team offensive role.”
Side by Side
Due to the odd configurations of Fenway Park, it’s the solely submit season bowl recreation the place each groups share the identical sideline. That has induced communication and substitute issues for coaches when their offenses are on the opponent’s aspect of midfield. Lashlee was the offensive coordinator at UConn when the Huskies misplaced to BC 39-16 at Fenway on Nov. 18, 2017, so he’s accustomed to the association.
“It is unique and there are some challenges so you do have to practice when to sub when you are on the opposite side of the field,” stated Lashlee. “Jeff and I have spoken to the officials and they understand the uniqueness and will work with both teams.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com