DALLAS — A giddy Eric Dickerson visited the SMU locker room after the Mustangs made their Atlantic Coast Conference debut with a thumping of defending league champion Florida State. Never mind that the Seminoles are in a shocking freefall since getting left out of the last four-team College Football Playoff with a 13-0 record last December.

The Mustangs, who are 4-1 overall this season, are the leaders among the three ACC newcomers — just a couple of weeks after social media was having fun with the idea of California and Stanford meeting in the league title game after their exit from the now-splintered Pac-12, known as the "Conference of Champions" in its glory years.