SMU closes the regular season with a road trip to Stanford, and depending on how November treats the Mustangs, this could be anything from a playoff-clinching formality to the last tune-up before Selection Sunday nerves kick in.
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FRI NOV 27 · 11:00 PM CT
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The quarterback contrast tells most of the story here. Kevin Jennings is back for a fifth year in Dallas, already 18-6 as a starter over the last two seasons with 3,641 passing yards and 26 touchdowns in 2025 alone. Across the field, Stanford hands the keys to Davis Warren, a Michigan transfer trying to find his footing in a brand-new offense on the Farm.
That new offense is part of a full teardown. Andrew Luck is running the program as GM, Tavita Pritchard is the head coach, and Terry Heffernan calls the plays — all replacing a Troy Taylor regime that got fired after back-to-back 3-9 seasons and an ugly bullying investigation. Stanford went 4-7 under interim coach Frank Reich last year, and this staff is still auditioning the roster it inherited alongside the portal pieces it brought in.
SMU, meanwhile, is trying to survive the meat grinder. Notre Dame on the road, plus Florida State, Louisville, Virginia and Virginia Tech, are all on the schedule ahead of this trip — every one of them inside FPI's top 40. However Lashlee's team looks by the time it lands in Palo Alto says a lot about whether the Mustangs are playoff-ready or gassed.
SMU Mustangs
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
Stanford Cardinal
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
SMU Mustangs
Stanford Cardinal
Don't sleep on the emotional pull for Stanford here, either. It's a home finale for a rebuilding roster that's heard all year about buying into Luck's vision, and teams like that tend to play with more jump than their record suggests — especially against a visitor that might already have bigger business in mind. SMU has the O-line to lean on late, with four starters back including All-ACC tackle PJ Williams, but a long season has a way of catching up to teams in late November.
