SMU's Rhett Lashlee Ready To Face 'Complete' Wake Forest Juggernaut

The SMU Mustangs will welcome a Wake Forest juggernaut to Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Saturday, as Rhett Lashlee's team faces a serious test of its 2026 credentials.

While the Mustangs, at 7-2, are no slouches, they face a Wake Forest team at 8-1 that has blitzed every opponent in its last five weeks.

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The offense is one of the best in college football, averaging 43.3 points per game, and defensively, they only allow 15.9 points per game.

So, on both sides of the ball, Wake Forest is elite at what they do.

Which makes the task in front of the Mustangs, a huge one.

And Lashlee knows it.

"You look at Wake Forest, they're complete in all three phases more than anybody we played all year offensively," Lashlee said. "They're top 20 in like every category. Top 10 at most. Great balance. Defensively, this is going to be as well-coached and sound of a defense as we play this year, maybe since we've been here.

"They're just really, really good. They know who they are. They play extremely hard. They're top 10 in the country against the run, elite in the red zone. They do a nice job of playing to their strengths and then covering up their weaknesses. They just make you earn everything. So, complete team."

Wake Forest, in its last five games, hasn't allowed more than 14 points in a game, and that was only once. The other four? No more than seven points.

Plus, the offense has scored totals of 57, 38, 41, 51 and 77. Yikes.

So, the Mustangs' much-vaunted defense will have its work cut out for it to slow down quarterback Gio Lopez, who has thrown for 2,176 yards, 18 TDs, and just one interception. 

Not to mention receiver Carlos Hernandez (945 yards, 7 TDs), and two running backs who have a combined 11 TDs on the season.

But the Mustangs, with Kevin Jennings, Kendrick Raphael, and the emerging Yamir Knight, do have weapons to seriously challenge this Wake Forest defense, but linebacker Langston Hardy (13.5 TFLs, 5.5 sacks) looms as the key player SMU has to stop.

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This has all the makings of a superb game, on paper, at least, with the Mustangs fully aware of the challenge that awaits them on Saturday.

A matchup with a "complete" team.