SMU will get a dress rehearsal before its debut season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The No. 24 ranked Mustangs (11-2, 8-0) closed out their run in the American Athletic Conference by winning the league championship and will transition into the ACC in 2024 along with California and Stanford.

SMU will look to secure a 12th win for the first time in program history when they take on ACC affiliate Boston College (6-6, 3-5) in the second annual Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Thursday (11 a.m.) at Fenway Park. SMU went 11-0-1 in 1982 with the famed Pony Express backfield.

“I think the guys are excited to play a really good opponent, a future conference opponent and we get to play in an historic venue like Fenway Park,” said SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee.

“There are a lot of things we were already doing to upgrade to a Power-5 in terms of how we recruit and how we take care of our players. This is not only huge for our football program, it is huge for our school.

“We will find out (Thursday) how much more we’ve got to do to get ready and get a taste of ACC action. We are excited for the opportunity to add value to an already great conference.”

Boston College won five straight games, three against ACC opponents, in the middle stretch of the season before losing its last three league matches.

BC coach Jeff Hafley wants to get that seventh victory to secure a winning season in the school’s 77th game at Fenway. BC will face the Mustangs in Week 9 of the 2024 season at Gerald J. Ford Field in Dallas.

“It is a neat way to welcome these guys into the ACC by playing a game before we kick off next season,” said BC head coach Jeff Hafley. “It is not only a future opponent, it is one of the top teams in the entire country.”

Quarterback Report

BC mined gold in the NCAA transfer portal when they brought in Central Florida castoff quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who brought his dual-threat capabilities to Chestnut Hill. Castellanos appeared in 12 games with 11 starts and emerged as one of the most productive field generals in the ACC.

Castellanos is third in the country in rushing yards by a quarterback with 957 and tied the school’s QB record with 11 rushing touchdowns. His 3,103 all-purpose yards in currently fifth in BC history and he will likely pass Brian St. Pierre (3,109) in the bowl game.

On the passing side, Castellanos completed 178-of-312 throws for 2,146 yards with 13 picks and 15 touchdowns. Castellanos will likely become the sixth ACC quarterback since 1996 to have 1,000 rushing yards and 2,000 passing yards in a season. Two of the five on the books are named Lamar Jackson.

Quarterback Report II

SMU will be going with back-up quarterback Kevin Jennings against BC. Jennings was pressed into service when dynamic starter Preston Stone suffered a broken leg in the Mustangs regular season finale against Navy. Stone had appeared in 12 games and completed 206-of-344 passes for 3,197 yards, six interceptions and 28 touchdowns.

Jennings mopped up in the 59-14 win over Navy and led the Mustangs to victory against Tulane in the AAC title match. Jennings has appeared in seven games and completed 37-of-57 passes for 427 yards with two picks and four touchdowns.

Jennings inherited a balanced attack that rolled up 6,060 yards of total offense and averaged 40.62 points per game. SMU has seven receivers with 20 of more catches and two quality running backs on a squad that accrued 2,254 rushing yards.

“We had a unique situation this year where we felt we had seven guys at wide receiver that were starting caliber and a tight end (RJ Maryland) who was all conference,” said Lashlee.

“We had to decide should we play a few or play them all and we decided to play them all so no one was going to have elite stats. But we had eight guys between 300 and 500 yards receiving and they did a nice job embracing the team offensive role.”

Side by Side

Due to the odd configurations of Fenway Park, it is the only post season bowl game where both teams share the same sideline. That has caused communication and substitute problems for coaches when their offenses are on the opponent’s side of midfield. Lashlee was the offensive coordinator at UConn when the Huskies lost to BC 39-16 at Fenway on Nov. 18, 2017, so he is familiar with the arrangement.

“It is unique and there are some challenges so you do have to practice when to sub when you are on the opposite side of the field,” said Lashlee. “Jeff and I have spoken to the officials and they understand the uniqueness and will work with both teams.”