No. 19 SMU closes Week 1 at Florida State on Monday night, the only game on the national board and the last word on an opening weekend that started five days earlier. The Mustangs are ranked, on the road, and favored; the Seminoles are coming off a Week 0 win that did more to raise questions than settle them.
Monday, September 7, 2026. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.
| Date and time | Monday, September 7, 2026, 7:30 p.m. ET |
| TV channel | ESPN |
| Location | Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida |
| Spread | SMU by 2.5 to 3, depending on the book |
| Over / under | 53.5 |
| Records | SMU 0 and 0, Florida State 1 and 0 |
What Channel Is SMU vs. Florida State On Tonight?
ESPN. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET and it is the only game on the national board, so there is no window to share and no alternate national channel to check.
| Channel | ESPN, national |
| Kickoff | 7:30 p.m. ET, 6:30 p.m. CT, 4:30 p.m. Pacific and Arizona |
| Announcers | Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek and Taylor McGregor |
| Second feed | ACC Network is running a Command Center feed of the same game at 7:30 |
| Streaming | The ESPN app, with either a TV provider login or an ESPN Unlimited plan |
The Weather Could Decide the Total
Tallahassee has had showers and thunderstorms in the forecast all day, and the National Weather Service put the chance of a shower or storm near kickoff as high as 80 percent, with the temperature dropping into the low 80s by game time and humidity staying up. Later readings have softened that toward scattered evening storms and about a 50 percent chance, but either version points the same direction.
Doak Campbell is natural grass, so a wet surface slows both offenses and tends to drag a game toward the run. That matters because the betting market has gone the other way: roughly three quarters of the handle at DraftKings is on SMU at -3, and the lean on the over at 53.5 is even heavier. If the storms arrive, the under is the side of this game the public is not on.
What to Watch
Kevin Jennings is back at quarterback for SMU after 3,641 yards and 26 touchdowns, running Rob Likens’ pass heavy offense in Rhett Lashlee’s fifth year. The Mustangs won nine games last season, have gone to a bowl four years running, and rank near the top of the country in returning production. They also added Cal running back Kendrick Raphael and East Carolina receiver Yannick Smith.
Florida State opened with a 34-17 win over New Mexico State but gave up 17 points to an offense that had managed six a game against its two previous power conference opponents. Ashton Daniels is under center. Mike Norvell is the coach most often named when people talk about the hot seat this fall, and a home loss to a ranked road favorite on national television in Week 1 would not quiet that.
The matchup that decides it: SMU forced 28 turnovers last season, fifth most in the country, and had the fourth best red zone defense in the FBS. Florida State turned it over 19 times and ranked 97th in red zone scoring.
Trends
- SMU has won each of its last seven season openers.
- Florida State has lost six of its last seven September games against AP ranked teams.
- SMU has failed to cover in each of its last five games as a ranked team.
- The home team has covered in six of Florida State’s last seven games.
Prediction
SMU 30, Florida State 26. The Mustangs are the better and more settled team, but a road favorite of less than a field goal in a hostile primetime environment is exactly the spot where Florida State has historically hung around. Take SMU on the field and the under.
The Backstory Worth Knowing
If the broadcast spends time on how SMU got here, the short version is that this program was shut down entirely by the NCAA in 1987 and did not have a winning season for most of the next 20 years. The full story is on our SMU death penalty page.
These two have met exactly once. SMU won 42-16 in Dallas in 2024, in the Mustangs’ first season in the ACC, and the full series is on our SMU vs Florida State all-time record page.
The rest of the opening weekend results are on the Week 1 schedule, and next Saturday’s slate is on the Week 2 schedule.