Baylor Adds SMU to Schedule for 2025, 2026

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 The Baylor Bears have signed a home-and-home contract with the SMU Mustangs for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Coach Dave Aranda and Baylor will travel to Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas on Sept. 6, 2025, and Baylor will host coach Rhett Lashlee and the Mustangs at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas on Sept. 19, 2026.

This season the Mustangs are now members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which solidifies Baylor’s schedule in back-to-back years where the Bears will play 11 Power Four teams.

Baylor also has a home-and-home series in 2025 and 2026 with the Auburn Tigers. All Big12 Conference teams play a nine-game conference schedule.

With an open date left on both the 2025 and 2026 schedules for Baylor, it’s a good bet that either a Group of 5 school or an FCS school will be added. It is highly unlikely that Baylor will schedule a 12th Power Four school for either of those two years.

Baylor’s conference opponents in 2025 are Arizona, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Central Florida, Houston, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU and Utah.

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As previously stated, SMU joins the ACC this season so they will play eight conference games and in 2025 the Mustangs will play at least 10 Power Four games. Along with the Baylor game, SMU travels to Fort Worth for their annual tilt with rival TCU. That series, unfortunately, ends with the 2025 game.

SMU’s conference opponents in 2025 are Boston College, California, Clemson, Louisville, Miami, Stanford, Syracuse and Wake Forest.

The 2026 Mustangs only have Baylor so far for their out-of-conference schedule so there is room for more Power Four opponents. There is also the possibility that the ACC will move to a nine-game conference schedule in 2026. If that happens SMU would again play at least 10 Power Four games.

Baylor holds a 39-36-7 record against SMU, the last game having been played in 2016. That game, a 40-13 Baylor victory, extended Baylor’s current win streak in the series to 13 games.

Baylor safety Orion Stewart was the MVP of the 2016 game as he finished with 8 total tackles and 2 interceptions with one being returned for a touchdown.

The longest win streak for SMU in the series is eight games. Both SMU and Baylor played annually as members of the Southwest Conference. However, the SWC folded in 1995 when Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech all left to join the Big 8 Conference to form the Big 12.