When Stanford and SMU were part of the ACC's westward expansion last year, they were set up as annual rivals in football in a plan to cut down on coast-to-coast trips. The first edition of a matchup that hasn't been played since the 1936 Rose Bowl is set for Saturday night when the 21st ranked Mustangs (5-1,

This is the first conference meeting between the ACC newcomers. The Mustangs are off to a strong start and are trying to maintain their perfect conference record. The Cardinal have lost three straight games by a combined total of 92 points and seek their first home win in the ACC.

Having successfully dealt with two of their new rivals to the east, SMU turns its attention west when the No. 21 Mustangs make their first Atlantic Coast Conference trip to

At some point the world has to start taking this SMU team seriously. It might have lost in a tough home fight to BYU over a month ago, but as it turns out, that's a lot more acceptable a defeat than it seemed at the time.