Week 1 of the 2026 college football season will wrap up on Monday, Sept. 7 with the SMU Mustangs visiting the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. The Mustangs won nine games in Rhett Lashlee's second season at the helm and expect to be a factor in the ACC, while the Seminoles are trying to move to 2-0 as head coach Mike Norvell tries to retain his job after poor 2024 and 2025 campaigns. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Florida State and more college football games with the FanDuel promo code to receive bonus bets: SMU is a 2.5-point favorite on the road, per the latest FanDuel Sportsbook odds, and the Over/Under for total points scored is 54.5. The Seminoles are in the midst of a pivotal season that will have a major impact on the future of the program, while the Mustangs are trying to get back into the CFP conversation in 2026. If you're interested in betting on college football games such as SMU vs.
Florida State at the best betting apps, check out our picks for this matchup as well as what SportsLine experts and the SportsLine Projection Model have to say. Florida State looked like a team to be reckoned with early in 2025 when the 'Noles knocked off a ranked Alabama squad, but they wound up finishing 5-7 and missing out on a bowl game for the second year in a row. There may not be a single seat that's hotter in the country than Norvell's.
After going 8-13 over his first two seasons at FSU, Norvell won 10 games in 2022 and 13 in 2023. But things have hit a roadblock for the Seminoles. This is the start of a tough stretch for Florida State as Norvell's squad faces SMU, Alabama, Virginia, Louisville, Miami and Clemson in its next seven games.
The Seminoles had little trouble in Week 0, beating New Mexico State 34-17, but there are some things that need to be cleaned up. FSU was solid against the run, but NMSU passed for 272 yards and two scores. The Seminoles' run game was working well, with Ousmane Kromah rushing for over 100 yards while three other players, including quarterback Ashton Daniels, had over 30 yards each on the ground.
The Mustangs are road sports betting favorites here, and it's easy to see why. Not only are the Seminoles coming off just seven total wins over the last two years, but Lashlee has SMU in a good spot right now. The Mustangs won nine games last year and had 11 wins each in 2023 and 2024, the latter of which resulted in a College Football Playoff appearance.
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