College Football Week 0: SMU vs Nevada Game Preview | CBS Sports

The ACC is adding three new teams for the 2024 season, and the most high profile of those being SMU. Eager to prove that they belong among the best of the best in college football, the Mustangs come over after an undefeated season in the American. They joined Pac 12 strugglers Cal and Stanford, who are both coming off of losing seasons in 2023, making their way to the ACC for 2024. We want to hone in on the Mustangs and to help us do that, let's welcome in college football analyst and former Utah State Aggie Robert Turbin. Turbo SMU kicks off their season Saturday night on Cbssn versus Nevada. You're going to be on the call for that matchup. And it's a team. They are heavily favored to beat. What are you expecting to see from this team led by Rhett Lashlee? Well, they had a lot of success last season and they're looking to ride that momentum heading into this year. The institution is really excited about being back into a power conference. Last time they were in power conference a long time ago, even before I was born in the Southwestern Conference. And they really believe that they can be a dark horse team in the ACC this season, but they're going to have to put on a show on Saturday in Nevada. It's not going to be easy. Nevada is a team up and coming. They got some rebuilding going on right now, but certainly a team that feels like they can have a positive season this year. As well. But I expect high profile offense from SMU and a dominant defense, especially amongst that defensive line against Nevada this Saturday. Let's talk about the quarterbacks, because Lashlee named QB Preston Stone as the starter, but it's going to be backup Kevin Jennings, who is expected to play against the Wolf Pack. How do you feel about Stone leading the way here for week zero and just the state of the QB room overall? Well, Preston Strong had a great season last year. He's ten and two as a starter. He threw for over 3000 yards, 28 touchdowns. The best part about his game is really his efficiency 60% from the field. Throwing the football. But only six interceptions last season as well. So he does a great job taking care of the football. They've got seven of their receivers coming back this season, so you want to talk about that continuity and that chemistry. That's going to be able to translate over from last year into this year. And as far as their backup quarterback is concerned. Well, you know he didn't do anything except lead the team in that AFC Championship game last year with the win. All right. So they feel very confident about that quarterback room. But Preston Stone when he's playing this team can really go far. Yeah you mentioned consistency. And certainly that's something that's pretty rare in this day and age in college football. When we talk about the transfer portal and the impact that it's been having, let's talk about Nevada more. So year one, it's year one for head coach Jeff Choate. He was hired in December. And it's been a tall task to rebuild this program that has four wins over the past two seasons. How tall is that task for him in year one? Robert. Yeah, it's going to be a tall task. It really reminds me of when I was at Utah State 2009. It was my third year ther. Utah State hired Coach Anderson, who had previously been the defensive coordinator at University of Utah, coming off a huge win in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama. So Jeff Choate comes over from Texas defensive coordinator. They were in the college football Playoff. You know, had one of the best defenses in the big 12 last season. He led the charge there. So it's going to be a tall task rebuilding this program. They've gone aggressive within the transfer portal. They've lost some players. But they really feel like they're in position to be able to rebuild this program the right way. So let's talk about the Wolfpack quarterback situation, because Brandon Lewis beating out Nebraska transfer Chubba Purdy, who was by the way, Brock Purdy's little brother for that job. Lewis started in ten games last year when the team went two and ten. So where are you at in this QB conversation? Are you more excited for Lewis or perhaps disappointed for Purdy? No, I'm excited for Lewis. I mean, he came in as the favorite to win the job at training camp. Nothing against Chubba Purdy. He's dealing with the shoulder injury right now which may have played into, you know, him losing this job. But Coach Choate was really impressed with Lewis. His elevation as far as leadership he would be in meetings with by himself, with teammates, watching tape in between practices after walkthroughs. I mean, he was putting in the work when nobody was watching, and it really sat well with not only Coach Choate but the rest of the coaching staff. He really embraced this leadership position as far as being the starting quarterback, which gave Coach Choate the confidence to name him as the starter. One of the things that he really improved on during training camp was one, his decision making, particularly in the red zone, and that was something that they really struggled with. Nevada last season. All right, a lot of interceptions for this offense. All right. The decision making was huge. All right no interceptions against the defense during training camp. That's unheard of. So his decision making is there. His IQ has grown higher. And he's becoming a