The SMU Mustangs won’t have to leave the state of Texas for their non-conference slate of games, but that certainly doesn’t mean it will be an advantage for June Jones’ team.
In fact, SMU will have to run through a gauntlet of teams that SB Nation ranks as the second most difficult non-conference schedule in all of college football. The Mustangs kick things off in Waco, where they will take on Art Briles’ Baylor Bears, who are ranked 10th in the USA Today’s preseason coaches poll. SMU follows up that daunting matchup with a trip to Denton to face North Texas.
The Mustangs will then get a bye week before welcoming the 20th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies into Gerald J. Ford Stadium for their home opener. Finally, they finish off their grueling non-conference slate with another home game against the TCU Horned Frogs and their stout defense.
SMU’s first two games of American Athletic play aren’t exactly cakewalks either, as the Mustangs will have to travel to Greenville, North Carolina to play East Carolina, which is coming to the AAC from Conference USA, followed by a showdown with Cincinnati, the perennial favorite to win the AAC title, at home.
In all, five of SMU’s first six opponents went to a bowl game in 2013, with those teams posting a combined record of 48-17 last year. TCU didn’t make it to the postseason in 2013, posting a 4-8 record, but Gary Patterson’s team is expected to be much improved this season.
This could prove to be quite the challenge for a fairly inexperienced SMU team that lost six of its 11 starters on offense from last season, including star quarterback Garrett Gilbert. June Jones and his staff must not only deal with replacing Gilbert, but also finding a reliable running back and ensuring the improvement of a defensive unit that was the source of much of the team’s struggles in 2013.
The Mustangs had their streak of four consecutive bowl appearances snapped last year after they went 5-7, and their brutal schedule makes their quest for a return trip to the postseason that much more difficult. There’s a very realistic possibility that they could start the season 1-5 or even 0-6, which would make it nearly impossible for them to become bowl eligible.
The best chance for SMU to pick up a win during non-conference play would seemingly come against North Texas, though even that is no guarantee. The Mean Green have made great strides under head coach Dan McCarney and figure to still be a solid team, despite losing several key players from last year’s 9-4 squad. If SMU is able to beat North Texas, it will still need to pick up another victory in one of its first two conference contests to get two 2-4 and make its path to the postseason much more manageable.
With a schedule as difficult as the one June Jones and his young Mustangs face to kick off the season, they’ll have to grow up in a hurry if they are to return to a bowl game in 2014.
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