The Mutangs are on the road against the Seminoles to open the season in what is looming as a tough outing for Lashlee's team.
The SMU Mustangs are opening their college football season against Florida State, which looms as an early litmus test for Rhett Lashlee's team.
Playing on the road, against a team that has already played a game and won, plus in what is a hostile environment with roughly 60,000 expected, the Mustangs are walking into a buzzsaw.
But the team has enough talent to take care of business, but as we know, the opening game of a season has a lot of unknowns to it.
There will no doubt be rust; how will new players gel with the team? There is a lot to consider, and while the Mustangs are favorites with many, this game could go either way.
And for Lashlee, after a long offseason, his team is ready for the real thing.
"We're at the point, we need to play somebody to find out kind of where we stand," Lashlee said. "We've been going against each other for a month. So, I think our guys are ready to play someone."
And that someone is Florida State, who already has a win under its belt, plus it has been able to knock off the preseason rust, and will no doubt look far better than they did last week against New Mexico State in a 34-17 win.
So the Mustangs can expect a lot of things to be coming at them to open the season, but what makes it even tougher is that Lashlee isn't entirely sure what his team has in its locker yet.
"Game ones are hard," he added. "They're tricky. Every coach will tell you that because you just don't always know what you're going to get, how guys are going to settle in,
“What a challenge for us. It's a new space for our program, to play in a game like this to start the season. We're excited about the opportunity, but we'll have to see where we stand."
Prior to the game, many have the Mustangs as one of the teams to beat in the ACC, and after the Seminoles clash, we will know a lot more about SMU and its chances moving forward.
But right now? We think we know what we're going to get, but you can't be entirely sure.
And Lashlee isn't either.
