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Teams / ACC / SMU
Index · this season
72
at its 5-year level▼ Down 3 this season
Career65since 1936
Peak881981
Last 575seasons
#41 nationally · 4-1 (2-1 conf)
Résumé #34
Schedule so far #92
Margin ±5 pts (tightens with games)
Why 72? →

SMU Mustangs

ACC · University Park, TX · Gerald J. Ford Stadium · Head coach Rhett Lashlee
Rival
TCU · also Tulsa
Established rivalry
42-54-7 all time (103 meetings since 1915)
TCU leads
Last: lost 35-24 (2025)
Wants it back
program traits are earned from history
No recognized national titles since 1936. Counted: AP poll champion, a coaches-poll champion, or the BCS / playoff title-game winner; a split year counts for both. The school claims 3.0national titles
Heisman Trophy winners1Heisman
Seasons finishing in the AP top 10 since 19366AP top-10
Consensus All-Americans since 193613All-Americans
NFL draft picks since 196760NFL picks
Winning percentage since 193646.7%win pct
History since 1936 · football since 1915. Every season →
Chemistry
Chem 64: typical64
Chem 67: typical
67Foundation
Chem 59: typical
59Gel
gel counts 40% so far
at its usual levelTrending down
early · #39 of 138
HC year5
Ret. starters46%
QB yrs w/ OC1
View chemistry →
Team chemistryearly · #39 of 138 FBS teams
Chem 67: typicalFoundation67+Chem 59: typicalGel59=Chem 64: typicalChem64Gel counts 40% so far (it grows as games are played, up to half)
Foundationwhat the program has built · moves over seasons
Foundation67Staff stability — Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnoverStaff stability62Roster continuity — Returning starters and the lineup's experienceRoster continuity76Unit cohesion — QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played togetherUnit cohesion69Administration — Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignmentAdministration49Investment — Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruitingInvestment72Fan base — How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matterFan base66
ContinuityClimate
Continuity · who has played and coached togetherlive

Who has played and coached together, and for how long, ranked against every FBS team at the same point of the season.

▸Staff stability
Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnover
62
Staff cohesion62
HC year 5 · OC year 1 · DC year 1
Assistant turnover63
42% of on-field staff new this season (FBS average about 45%)
▸Roster continuity
Returning starters and the lineup's experience
76
Returning core74
45% of last season's starters · FBS median 32%
Experience79
15 career starts per starter · FBS median 12
▸Unit cohesion
QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played together
69
QB & coordinator55
1st season together · same as 76% of FBS teams
QB & receivers85
7.8 games started together on average · FBS median 3.9
Line cohesion88
9.2 games per linemen pair · FBS median 5.2
Defensive cohesion46
3.7 games per defensive pair · FBS median 4.5
Climate · around the programlive

The administration, money and fans around the team: athletic director continuity, willingness to invest, and crowds.

▸Administration
Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignment
49
AD continuity49
Damon Evans · year 2 (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
▸Investment
Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruiting
72
Football's share63
30% of department spending goes to football
Investment trend82
+67% over three years
Football investment72
$45.3M on football (2024-25 federal report)
Recruiting spend72
$2.39M men's recruiting
Department resources68
$150M athletic department revenue
▸Fan base
How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matter
66
Sellouts66
sellout crowds (95%+ of capacity) at 12 of 43 home games (last 8 seasons)
Sells out anyway66
sellout crowds at 7 of 26 games that didn't matter: cupcakes, or a team expected to lose or having a losing season

Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures, as reported by each school. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Attendance: reported crowds vs stadium capacity.

Gelhow it is working right now · moves week to week
Gel59Playing above its parts — Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by gamePlaying above its parts44Settled & sharp — A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normalSettled & sharp62Alignment — Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one pageAlignmentsoonResilience — Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversityResiliencesoonFan & media mood — Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins laterFan & media mood55Coach security — The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new ADCoach security64
InternalOn-field fitExternal
Internal · how the program talkscoming

How the team talks in press conferences and interviews, each program against its own normal, so a naturally terse coach isn't read as upset. Being built program by program, Big Ten first.

▸Alignment
Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one page
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.
▸Resilience
Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversity
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.

Readings are team-level; we don't publish psychological readings of individual players.

On-field fit · how it is playing togetherlive

How the team is playing together this season: beating or missing its preseason expectation, a settled lineup, clean execution.

▸Playing above its parts
Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by game
44
This season44
-4.7 points a game vs its preseason projection (4 games)
▸Settled & sharp
A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normal
62
This season62
85% of starters kept game to game
External · pressure from outsidelive

Pressure from outside the building: the hard-facts hot seat now; this season's fan and media mood as it is measured.

▸Fan & media mood
Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins later
55
This season55
AP preseason #19 -> now #24 · results 4-1 (+7, recent games count more)
▸Coach security
The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new AD
64
This season64
Rhett Lashlee, year 5 · 80% wins so far · -4.7 pts a game vs preseason expectation · last two seasons +23% vs the program's norm

Dashed gold ring = typical (62). 20-50 is the warning zone; under 10 is a collapse. Spokes with no data yet are dashed and left out until they fill in. Chem blends the two halves, then places the blend among this season's teams.

Trend · Foundationeach program year runs Feb 1 to the title game
'1676'1768'1856'1968'2069'2168'2244'2353'2469'2566'262016 wk 1 vs North Texas: 65 · W2016 wk 2 vs Baylor: 78 · L2016 wk 3 vs Liberty: 67 · W2016 wk 4 vs TCU: 68 · L2016 wk 5 vs Temple: 66 · L2016 wk 6 vs Tulsa: 67 · L2016 wk 8 vs Houston: 71 · W2016 wk 9 vs Tulane: 71 · W2016 wk 10 vs Memphis: 71 · L2016 wk 11 vs East Carolina: 71 · W2016 wk 12 vs South Florida: 74 · L2016 wk 13 vs Navy: 76 · L2017 wk 2 vs North Texas: 68 · W2017 wk 3 vs TCU: 70 · L2017 wk 4 vs Arkansas State: 70 · W2017 wk 5 vs UConn: 69 · W2017 wk 6 vs Houston: 69 · L2017 wk 8 vs Cincinnati: 71 · W2017 wk 9 vs Tulsa: 70 · W2017 wk 10 vs UCF: 68 · L2017 wk 11 vs Navy: 68 · L2017 wk 12 vs Memphis: 69 · L2017 wk 13 vs Tulane: 69 · W2017 wk 1 vs Louisiana Tech: 68 · L2018 wk 2 vs TCU: 55 · L2018 wk 3 vs Michigan: 58 · L2018 wk 4 vs Navy: 55 · W2018 wk 5 vs Houston Christian: 46 · W2018 wk 6 vs UCF: 47 · L2018 wk 8 vs Tulane: 56 · W2018 wk 9 vs Cincinnati: 57 · L2018 wk 10 vs Houston: 57 · W2018 wk 11 vs UConn: 53 · W2018 wk 12 vs Memphis: 57 · L2018 wk 13 vs Tulsa: 56 · L2019 wk 2 vs North Texas: 67 · W2019 wk 3 vs Texas State: 68 · W2019 wk 4 vs TCU: 68 · W2019 wk 5 vs South Florida: 67 · W2019 wk 6 vs Tulsa: 68 · W2019 wk 8 vs Temple: 68 · W2019 wk 9 vs Houston: 69 · W2019 wk 10 vs Memphis: 70 · L2019 wk 11 vs East Carolina: 69 · W2019 wk 13 vs Navy: 68 · L2019 wk 14 vs Tulane: 69 · W2019 wk 1 vs Florida Atlantic: 68 · L2020 wk 3 vs North Texas: 69 · W2020 wk 4 vs Stephen F. Austin: 69 · W2020 wk 5 vs Memphis: 71 · W2020 wk 7 vs Tulane: 70 · W2020 wk 8 vs Cincinnati: 69 · L2020 wk 9 vs Navy: 69 · W2020 wk 10 vs Temple: 69 · W2020 wk 11 vs Tulsa: 70 · L2020 wk 13 vs East Carolina: 69 · L2021 wk 2 vs North Texas: 63 · W2021 wk 3 vs Louisiana Tech: 63 · W2021 wk 4 vs TCU: 68 · W2021 wk 5 vs South Florida: 68 · W2021 wk 6 vs Navy: 68 · W2021 wk 8 vs Tulane: 67 · W2021 wk 9 vs Houston: 68 · L2021 wk 10 vs Memphis: 69 · L2021 wk 11 vs UCF: 69 · W2021 wk 12 vs Cincinnati: 68 · L2021 wk 13 vs Tulsa: 68 · L2022 wk 2 vs Lamar: 48 · W2022 wk 3 vs Maryland: 47 · L2022 wk 4 vs TCU: 46 · L2022 wk 6 vs UCF: 48 · L2022 wk 7 vs Navy: 47 · W2022 wk 8 vs Cincinnati: 43 · L2022 wk 9 vs Tulsa: 46 · W2022 wk 10 vs Houston: 34 · W2022 wk 11 vs South Florida: 48 · W2022 wk 12 vs Tulane: 46 · L2022 wk 13 vs Memphis: 48 · W2022 wk 1 vs BYU: 44 · L2023 wk 2 vs Oklahoma: 62 · L2023 wk 3 vs Prairie View A&M: 62 · W2023 wk 4 vs TCU: 58 · L2023 wk 5 vs Charlotte: 62 · W2023 wk 7 vs East Carolina: 60 · W2023 wk 8 vs Temple: 62 · W2023 wk 9 vs Tulsa: 64 · W2023 wk 10 vs Rice: 64 · W2023 wk 11 vs North Texas: 64 · W2023 wk 12 vs Memphis: 64 · W2023 wk 13 vs Navy: 63 · W2023 wk 14 vs Tulane: 58 · W2023 wk 1 vs Boston College: 53 · L2024 wk 1 vs Houston Christian: 74 · W2024 wk 2 vs BYU: 75 · L2024 wk 4 vs TCU: 76 · W2024 wk 5 vs Florida State: 70 · W2024 wk 6 vs Louisville: 70 · W2024 wk 8 vs Stanford: 71 · W2024 wk 9 vs Duke: 71 · W2024 wk 10 vs Pittsburgh: 72 · W2024 wk 12 vs Boston College: 72 · W2024 wk 13 vs Virginia: 71 · W2024 wk 14 vs California: 73 · W2024 wk 15 vs Clemson: 70 · L2024 wk 1 vs Penn State: 69 · L2025 wk 2 vs Baylor: 66 · L2025 wk 3 vs Missouri State: 66 · W2025 wk 4 vs TCU: 63 · L2025 wk 6 vs Syracuse: 65 · W2025 wk 7 vs Stanford: 65 · W2025 wk 8 vs Clemson: 65 · W2025 wk 9 vs Wake Forest: 66 · L2025 wk 10 vs Miami: 66 · W2025 wk 11 vs Boston College: 67 · W2025 wk 13 vs Louisville: 65 · W2025 wk 14 vs California: 67 · L2025 wk 1 vs Arizona: 66 · W2026 wk 2 vs UC Davis: 67 · W2026 wk 3 vs Louisville: 67 · L2026 wk 4 vs Missouri State: 68 · W2026 wk 5 vs Boston College: 65 · W2026 wk 7 vs Virginia: 67 · next gametypical 62

Every game since 2016, one continuous line; thin rules separate seasons and the chip is where each season finished. Navy dot = win, red = loss. Big drops usually mean a new staff, a new quarterback or a rebuilt line.

Trend · Gelthis season, after each game
typical 62wk 1 · on-field 47 · fan mood 69551wk 2 vs UC Davis · W · on-field 70 · fan mood 73712wk 3 vs Louisville · L · on-field 63 · fan mood 51593wk 4 vs Missouri State · W · on-field 54 · fan mood 58564wk 5 vs Boston College · W · on-field 59 · fan mood 54575

How the team is working right now, rebuilt after each game from only the games so far: on-field fit (results vs preseason expectation, lineup settling, execution) and that week's fan & media mood. Coach security is part of today's Gel number but isn't rebuilt week by week yet. Navy frame = win, red = loss.

Continuity facts
Head coach
Year 5
at this school
Offensive coordinator
Year 1
new this season
Defensive coordinator
Year 1
new this season
HC & OC together
1 seasons
working together
QB with his OC
1 seasons
same play-caller
QB & receivers
7.8 games
started together, average
Offensive line pairs
9.2 games
started together, average
Returning starters
45%
from last season
Starter experience
15 starts
career average
Internal facts
Pressers read
soon
this season, coaches and players
Coach tone
soon
vs his own normal
"We" vs "I"
soon
share of team language
Owning mistakes
soon
vs pointing outward
Same story
soon
coaches and players agree
After losses
soon
how fast tone recovers
Leaders named
soon
players teammates point to
Newcomers
soon
transfers talked about as part of it
Openness
soon
forthcoming vs guarded
Measured from press conferences and interviews, program by program.
Climate facts
Athletic director
Damon Evans
year 2
Football spending
$45.3M
2024-25 federal report
Spending trend
+67%
over three years
Department revenue
$150M
all sports
Recruiting spend
$2.39M
men's teams
Home crowds
—
of capacity
Staff turnover
42%
on-field staff new this season
Fan mood
soon
fans and local media
Coach & AD
soon
on the same page
Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Offense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
Jennings
McFall
Knight
Smith
Cooper
Pittman
Chamblee
Nichols
Williams
Bates
Woods
QBKevin Jennings31811411591828185
WRDerrick McFall88513128881
WRYamir Knight1151149561110115
WRYannick Smith41444444444
WRJalen Cooper1139411561110115
TERandy Pittman51545555455
OLAndrew Chamblee92646598785
OLAddison Nichols18811411581816185
OLPJ Williams28810410471634164
OLJoshua Bates18811411581816185
OLAlex Woods51545555455

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Defense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
White
Davis
Alcorn-Crowder
Atkinson
Kilgore
Booker
Wyrick
Thomas
Lee
Polley
Nettles
DLMarques White22222222221
DLChristian Davis25525555352
DLMalcolm Alcorn-Crowder25525555352
DLTavion Atkinson22222222221
LBAlexander Kilgore2552201455369
LBBrandon Booker2552141655358
DBJimmy Wyrick25525555352
DBJayvon Thomas25525555352
DBJarvis Lee23323333331
DBTyren Polley25526555363
DBWilliam Nettles12219822139

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Chemistry is Scorebook's own rating of how well a program fits together, on the same all-time 0-99 scale as our other ratings (compared with every FBS team since 2016; 62 is typical, 20-50 signals something is wrong, and single digits are reserved for true collapses; each season is compared with its own era). This early version blends continuity (who has played and coached together, and for how long; it counts most) with the climate around the program; how the program talks joins as it is measured. Within continuity, quarterback-centered pairings count most because they held up when we tested them against results. How our ratings work →