The Associated Press

SMU’s move to the Atlantic Coast Conference hasn’t slowed the Mustangs down at all.

SMU has won 13 straight league games – its last eight in the American Athletic Conference last season and four this year in the ACC. SMU (7-1, 4-0) is one of four teams left with a perfect ACC record, a number that will go down after this weekend’s matchup with Pittsburgh (7-0, 3-0).

“We knew we had a team we felt like could compete, and that was our goal,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “Let’s just go out and prove we belong, prove we can compete, and then we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves and how we measure up and where we stand. And our guys have taken that mindset.”

The ACC eliminated its Atlantic and Coastal divisions last year, sending the top two teams overall to the conference championship game. The expansion to 17 teams this season added SMU, California and Stanford, but only the Mustangs have had an impact.

As the college football season heads into its final full month, the ACC race is coming down to four schools – all without a league loss: No. 20 SMU, No. 18 Pitt, No. 11 Clemson and No. 5 Miami. Virginia Tech has one loss in the conference, and four schools have two.

“Yes, Miami’s having a great year. Yes, Clemson’s acting like Clemson,” said Lashlee, whose team lost to Boston College in last year’s Fenway Bowl when the Mustangs were still in the American. “But there’s a bunch of teams in contention to go to the bowl and there’s still six or seven teams that are not out of the hunt for the conference with one month to play.”

Miami and Pitt are unbeaten. Clemson has lost only to then-No. 1 Georgia in the season opener, and SMU lost to still-unbeaten BYU on Sept. 6.

An unbeaten ACC champion is all-but certain to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff.

The Nov. 16 matchup between Pitt and Clemson could eliminate another team from the ACC unbeatens. But first, the Saturday night showdown in Dallas against the Panthers looms for SMU in its impressive debut season.

“Knowing the league, I did believe we could compete. I didn’t know to what level, and we’ve still got a month left to prove it,” said Lashlee, who was the offensive coordinator at Miami for two seasons. “You know, are we going to be able to hang in there week to week with the physicality, and everything that’s kind of starting to take a toll on us? But we felt like we had a team that could compete and it helped me knowing the league to feel that way.”

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said he has never coached a game at SMU but he remembers watching the Mustangs when Eric Dickerson led the Southwestern Conference in rushing in back-to-back years, gaining more than 3,000 yards on the ground in 1981-82.

“That guy was a dude,” Narduzzi said. “It’s good to have a good football team in the conference, good coaches, and I’m looking forward to going down to Dallas and seeing what they’ve got down there.”

Pitt QB on O’Brien 2024 list

PITTSBURGH — Pitt redshirt freshman Eli Holstein is one of 35 quarterbacks named to the Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2024 list.

Each player on the list is now an official candidate to win the award.

Holstein is the only freshman on the list.

On the season, the Alabama transfer has completed 64 percent of his passes (138 of 215) for 1,808 yards and 17 touchdowns with five interceptions. He is also Pitt’s second-leading rusher with 286 yards and three TDs on 62 carries (4.6 avg.).

He has already tied Pitt freshman records for touchdown passes (17) and 300-yard passing games (four), matching marks set by Alex Van Pelt in 1989.

Holstein boasts impressive top 20 national rankings in touchdown passes (14th, 17 total), total offense (15th, 299.1 avg.), points responsible for per game (17th, 17.1 avg.) and pass efficiency (20th, 156.3 rating).

— From Mirror reports