The Mustangs and Cardinals meet Saturday in a ranked matchup that could shape the ACC Championship race and SMU's College Football Playoff resume.
College football's attention will be squarely on Oxford this weekend, where Ole Miss hosts LSU in the marquee matchup of the season so far. That is where the eyeballs go, and reasonably so.
But there is an excellent appetizer on the schedule before that, and for the ACC, it might carry more long-term weight than anything else played this month.
No. 16 SMU travels to face No. 23 Louisville on Saturday afternoon, and the stakes extend well beyond a single conference result. Both programs have played in the ACC Championship Game within the last three years, and both entered this season viewed as primary challengers to Miami.
Here is the wrinkle that makes this matchup so significant. Neither SMU nor Louisville plays Miami during the regular season. If either team is going to get a shot at the Hurricanes, it has to happen in Charlotte. And if Miami arrives there as expected, only one spot will be available.
That spot could effectively be decided Saturday.
SMU arrives at 2-0 with a conference win already banked. The Mustangs survived a power outage and their own sloppiness to beat Florida State 27-24 in Tallahassee, then dismantled UC Davis 56-10 in the home opener. Kevin Jennings threw for 337 yards and five touchdowns in a single half against the Aggies before the backups closed it out.
Jennings has been remarkable through two games. He has completed 40 of 52 passes for 767 yards and eight touchdowns, leading the nation in yards per attempt at 14.8. He is also the ACC's active career leader in passing yards with 8,476 and owns a 21-7 record as SMU's starter.
He has also had Louisville's number. In two career wins over the Cardinals, Jennings has completed 78% of his passes for 584 yards and three touchdowns without throwing an interception, including a 303-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 38-6 rout last season.
Louisville brings a quarterback playing at a high level, too. Lincoln Kienholz has completed 68% of his throws for 639 yards and four touchdowns while adding 111 rushing yards and three more scores. The Cardinals nearly stunned Ole Miss in the Music City Kickoff before losing 41-38 on a 48-yard field goal at the buzzer, then hammered Villanova 59-13.
The obvious question is whether either defense can hold up. Both teams allow 24.0 points per game, both rank in the 79th percentile nationally in explosive-play rate, and both are coached by former quarterbacks. Louisville has generated 31 pressures through two games but only one sack, which matters against a quarterback who has been sacked once all season.
Jeff Brohm has built a reputation for showing up in games like this. He will need to on Saturday, because a home loss would put Louisville behind in a race it cannot afford to fall out of this early.
WHAT: No. 16 SMU (2-0) at No. 23 Louisville (1-1)
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 19, at 2:30 p.m. CT
WHERE: L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium | Louisville, Kentucky
TV: ESPN2 | Roy Philpott (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (analyst), Sherree Burruss (sideline)
RADIO: KTCK 96.7 FM / 1310 AM and SiriusXM
BETTING ODDS VIA DRAFTKINGS
SPREAD: Louisville -1.5
TOTAL: 59.5
MONEYLINE: SMU +100 | LOU -120
