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SMU is 29-8 over its last 37 games and 14-2 in ACC play since joining the conference in 2024, the most wins by any ACC team in that span, reaching last year's ACC Championship Game and finishing 9-4 with a Holiday Bowl win.

Head coach Rhett Lashlee called the matchup "a great opportunity" against "an iconic program," and said he's "shocked" his team isn't favored by more than the current 3.5 points given the disparity he sees on tape.

The fifth-year quarterback threw for 3,641 yards and 26 touchdowns last season and has SMU running one of the fastest-paced offenses in the country, built to attack sideline to sideline and up the seams.

SMU returns 66 percent of its offensive production, including receiver Yamir Knight (54 catches, 637 yards) and transfer running back Kendrick Raphael, who rushed for 943 yards and 13 touchdowns at Cal last season.

SMU lost six defensive starters, including the majority of last year's defensive line that combined for 34 sacks, replacing them with a mix of transfers like DT Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder and JUCO product Tavion Atkinson.

Turnovers were a real strength a year ago, with 28 total takeaways that ranked tied for fifth nationally, giving FSU's offense one more thing to account for on early downs.

Both coaches trace back to the Gus Malzahn coaching tree, and Lashlee's offenses have already given Norvell some of his most memorable results: a 52-point outburst as Miami's coordinator in 2020, a heartbreaking Jordan Travis-led comeback loss the following year, and a 42-16 SMU win in Dallas in 2024.

Defensive coordinator Tony White said SMU's system carries clear Malzahn influence. "They get in certain positions on the field and they want to take their shots. They're warp speed at times," White said, adding that Jennings is "elite" and "a tall task" to contain.

Lashlee said he was surprised the spread wasn't wider in his team's favor. "I have no idea how we aren't a 7- to 10-point underdog," he said, given how he views the talent gap on tape.

Norvell, for his part, called SMU "a championship caliber opponent" and made clear his team isn't looking past a program with real Playoff pedigree just because of a shaky Week 0 showing.

Lyons played 41 snaps against New Mexico State without recording a single stat, and with Kevin Wynn and Jordan Sanders still being brought along on a snap count, he'll again carry the heaviest interior workload against a mobile quarterback White wants contained up the middle.

Barker led FSU with eight tackles but was still talking to teammates as the ball was snapped on New Mexico State's first touchdown, and as the defense's primary communicator, he'll need to be sharper directing traffic against an SMU scheme built to attack in space.

Thomas out-snapped fellow tight end Desirrio Riles in the opener and profiles as a natural receiving threat who should see favorable matchups if SMU dedicates extra attention to taking Duce Robinson away, especially against a Mustangs secondary breaking in new starters at nickel and safety.

Norvell has landed six high school quarterback commits at FSU, four of them four-stars, and collectively Chubba Purdy, Tate Rodemaker, AJ Duffy, Brock Glenn, Luke Kromenhoek and Kevin Sperry have combined to go just 3-8 as starters, with one win coming over Charleston Southern.

Four-star 2028 quarterback Chandler Dyson, the No. 12 passer in the country, will be in Tallahassee Monday alongside 247Sports' top overall 2028 prospect Kameron McGee, giving FSU a real chance to make a statement with one of its most important recruiting classes still forming.

The 2028 class headlines the visitor list, with quarterback Chandler Dyson, safety Jaden Keelen, offensive tackles Nation Farmer and Nijal Thigpen, edge rusher Kameron McGee, defensive lineman Prince Che and tight end King Fuller all expected in Tallahassee.

Three 2027 flip targets, Nebraska's Errol Demontagnac, North Carolina's Theo Wilson and Kennesaw State's Isaac Andrews, round out the group, along with a pair of 2029 prospects in edge rusher DJ Washington and safety Alejandro Torres.

Four-star forward Ahmed Nur, the No. 32 overall prospect in the 2027 class, will take his official visit to Tallahassee this weekend after previously visiting Syracuse, Purdue and Ole Miss.

Four-star guard Jarvis Hayes Jr., who visited alongside five-stars Cayden Daughtry and Moussa Kamissoko last weekend, called his trip "awesome" and said the staff described the trio as potentially "the main guys" in their class. "He sees me as an NBA player," Hayes said of head coach Luke Loucks.

The SEC's larger television deal gives programs like Texas A&M more revenue to work with than the ACC provides, even after FSU's 2023 lawsuit reshaped the conference's distribution model.

Texas A&M is reportedly spending north of $30 million on its 2026 roster, well above the $21 million revenue-sharing cap, with total costs potentially approaching $40 million once incentives are included.

Mike Norvell's roughly $51 million buyout looms over FSU's spending picture as well. Even in a record fundraising year for the athletic department, a coaching change this season would send much of that money toward paying Norvell to leave rather than toward the roster.

Johnson, FSU's fifth-highest-rated commit in its 2027 class, is not expected to be the only pledge with a wandering eye if the uncertainty around the program continues into the fall.

Under the NCAA's new "five-for-five" eligibility model, Castellanos and other Class of 2022 athletes were initially excluded from an extra season, prompting a wave of lawsuits that left some players eligible and others in identical situations still shut out.

Castellanos won a Kentucky judge's temporary injunction granting him a fifth season and portal access, which he used to land at Texas Tech, while an appeals court has since paused the broader ruling that would have covered his entire recruiting class.

Junior midfielder Sam Erbach scored twice in the final seven minutes, tying the game in the 83rd minute and converting a penalty with 16 seconds left to complete the 2-1 comeback win at No. 25 Georgia.

The victory came on FSU's fourth road game in its first five contests, and improved the Seminoles to 4-1-0 on the season after a 40-minute lightning delay interrupted the first half.

Fullbrook won her first collegiate title at the Florida State Match Up on her home course by five strokes, then backed it up immediately with a share of medalist honors at the Coach Mo Classic.

She capped her sophomore season with a co-championship at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional and a tie for 20th at the NCAA Championship, before helping Great Britain and Ireland's Curtis Cup team over the summer.