DALLAS – The residue of an evolving college football landscape was clearly visible to the naked eye when SMU (8-2) hosted North Texas (3-7) in Week 11. First off, a regional rivalry that dates to 1922 was a conference game for the first – and last – time as the Mean Green and the Mustangs pass quietly in the AAC night before SMU heads to the ACC. Second, the game was at 8 p.m. on the first Friday night of the Texas high school football playoffs so that ESPN2 could counter program the NBA aired on ESPN. 

North Texas hung tough in the first half to head into the locker room trailing 17-14 thanks to some key defensive stops. The second half was as lopsided as the rivalry’s history, however, as the Mustangs increased their all-time series lead to 36-6-1 with a 45-21 victory. Running back Jaylan Knighton enjoyed a big day against the nation’s worst rush defense by gaining 129 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. As a team, the Mustangs ran for 306 yards and four touchdowns on 54 carries. They threw the ball 20 times with only five of those attempts taking place in the second half. 

The Mustangs defense also settled in during the third quarter and began forcing North Texas mistakes. The Mean Green’s first two drives of the second half resulted in a fumble and an interception, respectively. SMU’s offense converted that into seven points and outscored North Texas 14-0 in a pivotal third quarter. 

THREE THOUGHTS 

SMU is the AAC favorite: The betting odds match the eye test – it is time to consider the Mustangs the favorites to win the AAC and clinch the G5 spot in a New Year Six bowl. SMU’s only losses are to Big 12 opponents Oklahoma and TCU in non-conference play. The win over North Texas moves its AAC record to 6-0 with games against Memphis and Navy remaining. The Mustangs have outscored those six conference opponents 270-88 and are winning by an average margin over 30 points.  

North Texas offered a fine measuring stick for the top of the AAC over the last four weeks of play. The Mean Green nearly came back against Tulane in Week 8 during a seven-point loss. They fell by three points to Memphis the next week and by eight points in a competitive game against UTSA last week. In all three of those games, North Texas battled in the second half and the outcome was undecided well into the fourth quarter. That wasn’t true against SMU. The Mustangs put this game to bed in the third quarter and never let North Texas creep back into the game in the fourth quarter. 

An evolving identity: Close your eyes and picture an SMU football team this century and the most likely image is of a high-flying passing team without the defensive acumen to beat the best teams on its schedule. That was even true when the Mustangs won 10 games in 2019 – the program’s only double-digit win season since the Death Penalty. They allowed 32.9 points that year. They allowed 33.8 last year. SMU has only allowed fewer than 30 points a game once in the last 10 seasons. 

That’ll change in 2023. SMU entered the North Texas game allowing 15.9 points per game, which is good for ninth in the nation and tops at the FBS level in Texas. Last year, the unit ranked 119th – two spots above Rice. 

The success can be contributed to two major factors: defensive coordinator Scott Symons is in his second season in charge and the Mustangs hit on nearly every defensive player they brought in from the transfer portal. The secondary was revamped with the likes of Jonathan McGill and Charles Woods. Ahmad Walker solidified the second level. Jordan Miller and Kori Roberson helped add size and depth to the defensive line. 

Styles make fights: North Texas went toe-to-toe with the top of the AAC over the last month and officially ran out of gas on Friday night on the Hilltop. The Mean Green simply aren’t big enough and that was clear against an SMU team gearing up for a move to a Power Four conference next year. Walking on the field pregame made the size differential between the two schools noticeable. Nearly half of Mustangs’ starters played P5 football before transferring to SMU. That size difference began to show itself in the second half as SMU leaned on North Texas until the Mean Green broke. 

Taking a leap forward sometimes requires a step backwards. North Texas won’t reach a bowl game for the first time since 2019. The team reached a bowl game in six of Seth Littrell’s seven seasons, though two of those were reached without winning six regular season games. Head coach Eric Morris has experience building teams from the ground floor after doing so successfully at UIW. The turnaround won’t require as long at resource-rich North Texas. Mean Green fans should expect an instant turnaround in 2024 after a year of rebuilding the roster through recruiting and the transfer portal. The first order of business is to get bigger.