The SMU defensive line is pretty good. They forced Louisville to give up on running even when the game was tied. A lesser experienced QB for Louisville would have probably made several TOs and gave up more sacks. It makes me feel a little better about our offensive performance against them. In general, I think SMU's defense is a little underrated because all the talk is about the offense.
Obviously our defense did a great job limiting SMU to 15 points and not allowing them to get into the endzone. You can argue their new quarterback would have made it more difficult but SMU seem to be able to run the ball with a lot more success against Louisville when they needed to so I think we might have been more effective against him.
I'm pretty sure after this win SMU will crack the rankings having had a road win against a ranked team as they were already getting votes before. This will greatly enhance our resume as very few teams have as good as wins as we have already. It will be a lot harder for pollsters to justify any bias without looking like clowns and being called out but then again, that hasn't stopped them in the past. 🤷