With a spot in the ACC Championship on the line, Wake Forest heads to Dallas to take on the 7-2 SMU Mustangs. A win would put the No. 13 Deacs much closer to a Conference Championship appearance and a potential CFP berth; a loss would take their fate out of their own hands. It's safe to say it's all on the line this weekend at SMU.

With that being said, we wanted to resume our weekly tradition of giving you a live look at the Deacs' opponent before the matchup. This week, Josh Ortega of the SMU Mustangs on SI was nice enough to answer some questions for us. Let's get into it.

A Growing Passer

Question: Kevin Jennings leads the ACC in passing yards and is third nationally in passer rating. What has made him so unstoppable in the passing game this season?

Kevin has played a lot of football across the past few seasons. I think from that standpoint you have really seen him grown as a passer since his first year as a starter. Mechanics wise he’s always had a live arm. I still can quite find a comp to him it’s like a mix of the velocity of Josh Allen, the creativity of Mahomes, and the motion like Lamar. Ultimately you have to look at the scheme as a big part of what has allowed him to light up the score board. Lashlee takes a lot from his time with Gus Malzahn. This offense is explosive and it shows on the field. Ultimately it’s the combination of the three that has allowed Kevin to throw for so many yards this season 

Rushing Bell Cow

Question: Kendrick Raphael has been the third leading rusher in the conference this season. What has his addition meant for this offense, and how do they like to utilize him?

When you have an offense like SMU’s what makes it so explosive is having to run the football. You can strip it down to its core offense is just down to getting and manipulating a defense to get the looks you want on that side. Ultimately what Raphael has meant to this offense is a big role. He’s a bell cow back that has really emerged as someone who can carry a 3 down role. They like to use him in between the tackles running hard (pounding the rock). The emergency of Derrick Mcfall, Dramecko Green, and Christian Rhoades are all a big part of the backfield too. 

Limiting Mistakes

Question: SMU has seemed to be a little inconsistent at times, but is coming off a dominant performance against Virginia Tech. What do you think flipped, and is it something that is sustainable going forward?

Rhett Lashlee has talked all year about being a team that is hard to beat. Recently they have really limited the self inflicted wounds turnovers and such. Of course they still happen in spurts that’s football. But really clamping down getting to opposing qbs, limiting turnovers, and putting up points & yards on offense has helped this team hit a stride at this point on the year. I would say that they are in the early stages of figuring out how to keep that consistently, prior to Syracuse I think they had really found their form on that front.

Expect the Blitz

Question: The SMU defense has given up the third fewest yards-per-game in the conference on average this season. What does this defense do well to fluster opposing offenses?

I would say the biggest question through this season is how would they get pressure on opposing offense. When DE Ira Singelton went down early in the year it was really tough to pin point who would step up. Ultimately the  break out  of Marques White has been really impactful to this defense. I do think also the play calling by Maurice Crum JR has gotten more aggressive in sending blitz’s. The secondary is tough too not afraid to tackle hard hitting players. The unit has turned up and pinned their ears back on downs and it’s working. 

Starting Fast

Question: Last season, the Wake defense had their way against Kevin Jennings and the SMU offense. What is different about this group, and what does Jennings need to do to have a bounce-back performance against the Wake defense?

Ultimately, I think what has helped SMU is starting fast. I haven’t had the chance to really dive deep into Wake's defense, but SMU has to come out fast in this one.