SMU football is coming to AT&T Stadium later this decade.
The program announced Thursday it will host two games against SEC opponents at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington during its 2027 and 2029 seasons.
The Mustangs will face Oklahoma on Sept. 11, 2027 at JerryWorld before hosting LSU on Sept. 1, 2029.
“We’re trying to continue to do things to put SMU back on the national stage and bring us back to national prominence, and there’s steps to that,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. “Being in the biggest games and the biggest venues against the biggest [opponents] on the biggest stages is something we haven’t been able to do for 40 years.”
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The games are just the latest opportunity for the growing Mustangs program to appeal to a wider audience. Since joining the ACC ahead of the 2024 season, SMU has made the conference title game and College Football Playoff — and will now play two premier opponents at a venue far larger than Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
The Mustangs and Cowboys have their fair share of history. The two football teams both played their home games at the Cotton Bowl from 1960-71 before the Cowboys moved to Texas Stadium in Irving. They then shared Texas Stadium from 1979-1986, including during SMU’s Pony Express days, until the Mustangs received the death penalty from the NCAA and transitioned to playing at an on-campus venue not long after.
SMU also hosts a day of its August training camp at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco each year.
SMU will play six home games at Ford Stadium in 2027 and 2029. The Mustangs often play six or seven. In recent years when they’ve played six, it’s been because their Iron Skillet Rivalry game with TCU was in Fort Worth.
“I’m always gonna want to play our games at home at Ford, without question. But there’s certain strategic things we have to do to continue to advance our program,” Lashlee said. “There’s 2-4 big neutral site games a year, and not just anybody can get in on those. You see the progress of our program to be considered for those kinds of games.”
Lashlee said he believes playing at AT&T Stadium will prepare his program for the big stages it seeks to play on in the postseason.
“If we want to get into the playoff and get past the first round, we’re going to play at neutral site venues against big-time programs,” he said. “Do I want that to be the first time that we did that? We’re testing ourselves against some of the best brands and the best venues because we believe our brand is that caliber as well.”
AT&T Stadium hosts college football’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and the Big 12 championship each year. It also hosted the Southwest Classic between Texas A&M and Arkansas until the series moved to campus sites starting last season.
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