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Rhett Lashlee reacts to SMU getting College Football Playoff nod over Alabama brand

Stephen Samraby:Steve Samra•12/10/24•

SamraSource

Rhett Lashlee
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

After a last-second field goal won Clemson the ACC Championship Game, the final spot in the College Football Playoff came down to SMU and Alabama.

In the end, Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs were chosen over Kalen DeBoer’s Crimson Tide, with the Selection Committee unwilling to drop SMU from the expanded Playoff due to a razor-thin loss in their conference title game. Some believed Alabama’s brand would’ve been enough to get them in, but it wasn’t meant to be.

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“Definitely,” Lashlee said, regarding being happy about Alabama’s brand not helping them jump SMU in the final rankings. “I mean, you know, we had a chance to slam the door and not only leave no doubt, but get a bye. We didn’t do that. So yeah, I mean — look, like I said, brands like Alabama, brands like Clemson with what Dabo [Swinney] has done there. The blue bloods of our sport, as people like to call it. They’ve earned that right. Now, that doesn’t mean they should get the nod in situations like this. I mean, the committee — I credit them for doing what was right, and what, as we saw, most of the country felt was right.

“That’s not a slight to Alabama. But it’s tough, because — I mean, we’re all human. You go, ‘Man, look at the laundry list of things this program has done,’ and here we are, the new guys. So, I was really proud and thankful that that didn’t play into the final decision. It was, you know, who you beat, who you lost to, who you scheduled, your whole body of work, your good days, your bad days, qualifying for a championship, the way your team competes. All those things went into the final decision, and I’m really thankful for that.”

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SMU is in the College Football Playoff, but it won’t get any easier for the Mustangs moving forward. Rhett Lashlee has to take his team on the road in the first round, heading to Happy Valley to face Penn State in what will be another iteration of their famed White-Out game. It’s easy to say it’s going to be bonkers at the home of the Nittany Lions.

Regardless, SMU deserved immense credit for their 2024 campaign, and the Selection Committee honored that. Now, we’ll see if they can make a little run over the next couple of weeks.