The SMU Mustangs will play the Clemson Tigers on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship Game. With a win, each team will look to secure its spot in the College Football Playoffs.
SMU enters this matchup as the ninth-ranked team in the nation despite being unranked for a large portion of the season, with the Mustangs sitting outside of the Associated Press Top 25 rankings until Week 7.
The Mustangs have an impressive overall record of 11-1 this season and are leading the ACC with an 8-0 record.
The Mustangs’ singular loss came early in the season against BYU, which is still ranked as the 18th team in the nation despite suffering two losses this season.
This matchup is also an important step for the Mustangs during their first season as a member of the ACC, making the jump from the American Athletic Conference during the offseason after 10 years in the AAC.
SMU has already become the first team to finish 8-0 in conference play in its first season after jumping into a Power-4/5 conference from a Group of Five. The team has the potential to add a conference championship to that already impressive feat, per an SMU press release.
Although the Mustangs will have to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, for this matchup, the distance should pose few issues for a team that has the second-longest active road winning streak in the FBS, at 10 games.
This championship matchup will pose a difficult challenge for SMU, as Clemson has also proven itself to be one of the top teams in the country. It is currently ranked 17th in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Clemson has an overall record of 9-3 and an ACC record of 7-1, though all three of Clemson’s losses came against teams that were ranked within the Top 25 at some point during the season.
While Clemson and SMU have never met on the field before, the two teams did face similar opponents during this regular season, which could provide insight into how this game could end.
Each team took on Stanford during the regular season and came away with victories of more than 25 points.
Similarly, each team faced Pittsburgh during the second half of the season, with the Mustangs coming out on top with a 48-25 win and the Tigers winning with a final score of 24-20.
These games do not completely answer how the ACC Championship Game will end, but fans should expect a close matchup between two teams looking to make the first-ever expanded College Football Playoffs.