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Week 0 kicks off with a pair of ACC foes, Florida State and Georgia Tech, taking each other on in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday morning.
The matchup headlines a four-game slate in Week 0, which includes one other ACC team in SMU taking on Mountain West opponent Nevada in Reno. The game is slated to kick off at 8:00 PM ET on the CBS Sports Network.
SMU and Nevada is the third game on the docket, after FSU-Georgia Tech and Montana State-New Mexico and ahead of the evening battle where Delaware State heads to Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Warriors.
The Mustangs are new members of the ACC, alongside Stanford and Cal, and coming off an 11-3 season this program is looking to prove they belong at the high major level and can legitimately contend for a spot in the CFP. They take on a Nevada team that is 4-20 and 2-14 in Mountain West play the past two years, hoping coach Jeff Choate will get them out of the cellar this year.
Below is a look at five keys to a victory for SMU and a strong start to the 2024 season:
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Last year the Mustangs finished with 47 sacks, second in the entire country. Elijah Roberts had ten of them, and he’s back in the mix for SMU. Meanwhile, Nevada allowed a whopping 41 sacks last year, 118th in the country. The Wolfpack certainly hope for improvement in protecting Lewis this season, but this is a rough first matchup.
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SMU got a great performance out of QB Preston Stone last year, who tossed 28 touchdowns with just six interceptions. However, the Mustangs did a ton of their damage on the ground, and with an advantage up front it would not be a surprise to see SMU run all over the Wolfpack until they prove they can stop them. It might not happen.
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Last season the Mustangs won the first quarter by a whopping 12.3 points, the highest mark in the nation. Getting an early lead and pounding the ball on the ground to maintain said lead was a big part of coach Rhett Lashlee’s game plan last season, and there is no reason not to implement it again in 2024.
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Preston Stone enters his fourth season at SMU after breaking out in a major way last season. Stone completed 31 passing attempts for two touchdowns in his first two seasons – with nine total games played – before throwing for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2023. Stone also limited turnovers, with just six interceptions, and against a Nevada team that struggled on both sides of the ball last year this is a great chance for the junior to put up big numbers while leading his team to a Week 0 victory.
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Sure, the oddsmakers favor SMU by as many as three touchdowns. And yes, the Wolfpack were 2-10 last year, and the year before that, but coach Jeff Choate has turned programs around in the past and with a home field advantage anything other than SMU’s full attention could lead to a Week 0 upset and a really rough start to the program’s first season in the ACC.
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Courtesy : https://collegesportswire.usatoday.com/lists/smu-mustangs-nevada-wolfpack-keys-victory-acc-football/