By Packy Moore
Saturday, August 24, 2024 – 7 p.m. CT
[RV/RV] SMU (0-0, ACC) at Nevada (0-0, MWC)
Mackay Stadium – Reno, Nevada
TV: CBSSN (Channel Finder)
Radio: The Ticket – KTCK 96.7 FM/1310 AM | Westwood One Sports – Various Outlets | Audio Streaming: SMU App (Google Play | Apple App Store)
Gameday Central | Live Stats | Ticket Info
SMU Notes | Nevada Notes | ACC Notes
SMU Football Yearbook
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SETTING THE SCENE
• [RV/RV] SMU opens the 2024 season on the road with a meeting at Nevada on Saturday at 7 pm CT on CBSSN.
• The Mustangs are coming off their fifth straight season being bowl eligible, the longest stretch in program history.
• SMU went unbeaten during its final year as a member of the AAC, capturing its first conference title since 1984.
• The Mustangs broke into the final College Football Playoff rankings for the first time in program history last year, finishing at 24th.
QUICK HITS
• The Mustangs are coming off one of the best seasons in program history in 2023, posting an 11-3 record.
• The 11 wins were most since 1982 and tied for the second most in the program history.
• SMU received votes in both the AP and US LBM Coaches Preseason Polls, the fifth straight season receiving votes in the Coaches Poll.
• The Mustangs are set to play their first game since 1995 as a member of a power conference with its official inclusion into the ACC back on July 1.
• SMU has had 20 players earn various accolades prior to the start of the new season.
• The Mustangs had at least seven receivers catch a pass in every game in 2023 and is the only team in all of the FBS with eight players with at least 300 yards receiving on the year.
• SMU was one of four FBS teams to rank in the top 11 in the country last season in both scoring offense (8th) and scoring defense (11th), joining Oregon, Georgia and Notre Dame.
• SMU’s 542 points last season were the second most points scored in program history.
• The Mustangs’ sack total of 47 last year rank second in the NCAA and second most in program history for a single season.
• SMU’s defense was supreme last season, ranking in the top 20 in NCAA in third down pct defense (3rd), defensive touchdowns (1st), rushing defense (18th), scoring defense (12th), team passing efficiency defense (13th), team sacks (2nd), tackles for loss (13th) and total defense (12th).
• SMU led the nation in points scored in the first quarter last year, averaging 12.3 per game.
• The Mustangs scored at least 55 points four times last season, the most in program history for a single season.
• SMU was undefeated (10-0) last season with scoring at least 30 points in a game, pushing its winning streak to 15 games dating back to Oct. 14, 2022 when it scores 30 or more.
THE SERIES
• This is the seventh meeting in the series, with it being tied at 3-3.
• The Mustangs have won the last two contests.
• The teams last met in Sheraton Hawaii Bowl back on Dec. 24, 2009, a 45-10 victory for SMU.
ABOUT THE WOLF PACK
• Nevada is coming off a record of 2-10 in 2023.
• The Wolf Pack were 1-5 at home last season.
• Nevada has lost its last four games, giving up at least 27 points in each contest.
THE COACHES
• Rhett Lashlee is in his third season as the head coach at SMU and has a 18-9 career record. Lashlee, who served as offensive coordinator for the Mustangs for two seasons (2018-19), also served as the offensive coordinator at Miami in 2020 and 2021. A one-time finalist (2013) and two-time semifinalist (2019, 2020) for the Broyles Award, Lashlee has the distinction of being the only coach ever nominated for the Broyles Award four different times at four different schools (Arkansas State, Auburn, SMU, Miami).
• Lashlee was named a finalist last season for the prestigious Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award, handed out to the nation’s top coach as voted on by the National Sports Media Association, the Bryant Awards’ Executive Leadership Team and the Bryant Family. The Arkansas native was also named Co-Coach of the Year by the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football publication, a finalist of the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award and a semi-finalist for Coach of the Year Award by the Maxwell Football Club for the job he did in 2023.
• Jeff Choate is in his first season as head coach at Nevada. He comes to the Wolf Pack from Texas, where he served as the co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach since 2021. Choate served four seasons (2016-19) as head coach at Montana State. There, he led the Bobcats to a combined 28-22 record, making consecutive appearances in the FCS playoffs in his final two seasons, with a run to the semifinals in 2019.
OPENING STATEMENT
• The Mustangs have a recent history of starting the year right.
• Last year, SMU won 38-14 against Louisiana Tech which pushed the Mustangs’ season-opening win streak to five, their longest since a 15-game streak from 1972-86.
SEASON OPENERS SINCE 2019
Sept. 2, 2023 Louisiana Tech W, 38-14
Sept. 3, 2022 at North Texas W, 48-10
Sept. 4, 2021 Abilene Christian W, 56-9
Sept. 5, 2020 at Texas State W, 31-24
Aug. 31, 2019 at Arkansas State W, 37-30
COURTESY SMU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
https://nevadawolfpack.com/documents/2024/8/21/082424_SMU.pdf
Nevada (0-0) vs. SMU (0-0)
Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024 – 5 p.m.
Reno, Nev. – Mackay Stadium
TV: CBS Sports Network (PxP: Rich Waltz; Analyst: Robert Turbin; Sideline: Amanda Guerra)
Radio: Wolf Pack Radio Network – KOZZ 105.7 FM/siriusxm Ch. 386
(PxP: John Ramey; Analyst: Mike Edwards)
Westwood One Radio – siriusxm Ch. 84
(PxP: Ryan Radtke; Analyst: Derek Rackley)
RENO, Nev. – The 2024 campaign gets started in Week 0 as Nevada hosts new ACC member SMU Saturday at Mackay Stadium. Saturday’s contest against the Mustangs is set for a 5 p.m. kick and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network with Rich Waltz (play-by-play), Robert Turbin (analyst), and Amanda Guerra (Sideline Reporter) on the call.
The Wolf Pack Radio Network will call the game on KOZZ 105.7 FM in Northern Nevada, online at www.thevarsitynetwork.com and on the Varsity Network app, and on siriusxm Ch. 386. John Ramey (play-by-play) and Mike Edwards (analyst) will be in the booth, with the 60-minute pregame show to begin at 4 p.m. The game will also be carried nationally on Westwood One Radio (siriusxm Ch. 84) with Ryan Radtke (play-by-play) and Derek Rackley (analyst) on the call.
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday’s meeting will be the seventh all-time between Nevada and SMU. Each team has won three times in the series, with SMU taking the last two. The most recent meeting of the teams came in the 2009 Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl, when the Mustangs beat the Wolf Pack, 45-10.
ABOUT SMU
Saturday also marks the first football contest for SMU as a full-fledged member of the ACC. The Mustangs previously played in the American Athletic Conference, capturing the conference title in 2023 with a perfect 8-0 record and a championship game victory over Tulane. The Mustangs, which received the fourth-highest amount of votes among teams just outside of the first Associated Press Poll of 2024, went 11-3 last season, and wrapped with a 23-14 loss to Boston College in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.
THE LAUNCH
The Launch of Nevada Football began Dec. 4, 2023, when Jeff Choate was named the 28th head coach in program history.
Choate brings a championship resume to Reno which boasts deep postseason runs (FCS semifinal with Montana State in 2019, College Football Playoff semifinal with Texas in 2023), top-10 programs, and Fiesta Bowl victories in 2006 and 2011.
His first head-coaching tenure came at Montana State from 2016-20, over which he guided the Bobcats to a 19-9 record over his final two seasons, culminating with an 11-4 record and a run to the FCS semifinals in 2019.
Most recently, Choate spent the past three seasons (2021-23) at Texas, serving as the Longhorns’ co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Under Choate’s tutelage, the Longhorn defense topped the Big XII in rushing defense (82.4 ypg, third in the country), scoring defense (18.9 points per game, 15th in the country), third-down conversion percentage defense (26.6 percent, second in the country), and total defense (336.7 yards per game), while ranking in the national top 10 in red-zone defense (73.8 percent, seventh), as the Longhorns racked up a 12-2 record, Big XII title, and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
COURTESY NEVADA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
