Friedlander: SMU deserves to be in the Playoff. But that doesn’t mean the Mustangs will get in

CHARLOTTE, NC – One year ago, on the same stage in the bowels of Bank of America Stadium, Florida State coach Mike Novell delivered an impassioned plea in the hope it would convince the College Football Playoff Committee to include his undefeated ACC championship team in the then-4 team bracket.

His words fell on deaf ears and the Seminoles were bumped in favor of 1-loss Alabama and Texas.

That experience taught Rhett Lashlee not to waste his breath after a walk-off 34-31 loss to Clemson in this year’s title game on Saturday put the SMU coach into a similar position.

“They don’t care what I say,” a somber Lashlee said of this oft-criticized selection committee, adding that “it would be criminal” if his 8th-ranked Mustangs don’t get into the expanded 12-team field. “I don’t have a message. … It doesn’t matter what I say.”

Lashlee wasn’t in the mood to do any politicking on his own, but plenty of others were happy to do it for him after the most thrilling finish in ACC Championship Game’s 20-year history.

That includes Dabo Swinney, who began advocating for SMU only moments after true freshman Nolan Hauser’s career-long 56-yard field goal at time expired earned his Tigers their 8th conference title in 10 years and the league’s automatic Playoff bid.

“Listen, that’s a Playoff football team,” he said. “SMU … they better be in the dang Playoffs.”

"SMU, they better be in the dang playoffs."

Dabo Swinney tips his cap to SMU after an epic battle in the ACC Championship. pic.twitter.com/GmNL2hnoO0

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) December 8, 2024

The Mustangs did almost everything they could to ensure their ticket into the tournament. They were a perfect 8-0 in the ACC in their first season as a power conference program. They showed incredible resilience and an explosive offense after digging themselves into a 2-touchdown hole after only 3 1/2 minutes.

And they came within 16 seconds of sending Saturday’s championship game into overtime before having their hearts broken – and Playoff possibilities thrown into doubt – by a long kickoff return and an even longer field goal.

They came into the game ranked No. 8 in the most recent Playoff rankings, high enough that they should be able to feel comfortable about their chances of staying on the right side of the bubble.

Especially since committee chairman Warde Manuel has publicly stated that teams shouldn’t be penalized for playing in a championship game.

Manuel, however, is worse than a politician when it comes to going back on his statements and changing his positions.

He already laid the groundwork for moving the committee’s darling, idle 3-loss Alabama, ahead of 11-2 SMU last week by saying the decision would “depend on the outcome of the game.”

SMU vs. Alabama if SMU loses the ACC Championship Game

"It's something we will evaluate, how it's played and the results themselves – we will just have to wait and see how the committee is going to analyze that game, depending on the outcome." – Warde Manuel, Chair, CFP… pic.twitter.com/gZmUbtxqxd

— ᴄᴏᴅʏ ᴄᴀʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪᴇʀ (@CodyCarpentier) December 4, 2024

Welp, the ball is in your committee’s court, Warde.

Bet you reached for the remote and flipped over to the Big Ten game once Clemson gave you the excuse you were looking for by jumping out to its big early lead. If that’s what happened, you missed a good game. One every bit as competitive as the one that preceded it in Atlanta.

With the losing side, 2-loss Texas, all but guaranteed to remain in a Playoff position.

That other team from the Lone Star State proved itself worthy, too. But the only guarantee SMU has is the nervousness its players and coaches will feel this morning as they sweat out the final hours before they get their hearts ripped out for the second time in less than 12 hours.

We’ve seen this movie before.

And it doesn’t end well for the ACC team when Alabama is involved.

Maybe the Mustangs should have opted out of Saturday’s championship game, after all.

“We could have not showed up and according to what we were told Tuesday night, we’d be in,” Lashlee said, referring to a comment by Manuel that teams in the top 11 that weren’t playing this weekend could not be moved out of a Playoff position. “We showed up and we competed our butts off. We’ll see what happens.”

The committee won’t have a built-in excuse this time like it did a year ago when it was able to use the fact that Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis was on crutches as its own crutch for putting the Crimson Tide in and leaving the Seminoles out.

You can bet Manuel and the committee will come up with something. Hopefully, it will be a little more creative than just that Alabama’s win against SEC champion Georgia was better than any of SMU’s wins.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter how they spin it.

The committee is going to do what the committee – with a friendly nudge from the SEC and ESPN – wants to do. And no amount of lobbying or politicking is going to change that.

Brett Friedlander

Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.