Moving on up: SMU ascends to No. 21 in AP Top 25

For its next two games, Southern Methodist will travel from the Lone Star State to the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, taking on the Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto, Calif., in Week 8 and the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, N.C., in Week 9. Unlike the Mustangs, the Cardinal is struggling in its inaugural ACC season with a 2-4 overall mark and a 1-2 record in the ACC. Per FanDuel Sportsbook, SMU is favored by 15.5 points over Stanford.

After beginning its season 2-1, the Cardinal has lost its last three games in blowout fashion, most recently falling to Notre Dame 48-7 in South Bend, Ind.

The Mustangs' stats at the midway point of the 2024 season highlight the team's dominance of its opponents. SMU has nearly doubled the rushing yardage of its adversaries, with a 1,388 to 721 margin. While the Mustangs have accumulated 140 first downs, they have limited their foes to 100. Furthermore, the Ponies have won the turnover battle, hauling in 10 interceptions and yielding only two.

A prominent strength of the Mustangs has been its play in the trenches. The SMU offensive line is one of 22 FBS O-Line units named to the 2024 Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll. Only three ACC teams have offensive lines on the honor roll with Miami and Clemson joining SMU. In addition to paving the way for the ACC's leading rushing attack (203 yards per game), the Mustangs' OL has allowed only six sacks this year.  

SMU has been steadily climbing in ACC power rankings. Per 247Sports, the Mustangs are the third-strongest team in the conference, behind only Miami and Clemson.