College Football Playoff: Current projection for SMU in the 12-team bracket
The SMU Mustangs are currently projected in the College Football Playoff as the 11-seed by On3, just ahead of newly crowned ACC Champion Clemson. That’d land the Mustangs taking on sixth-seeded Texas in Austin, which would be an epic Southwest Conference matchup.
That said, SMU’s got to pick itself up off the Bank of America Stadium turf and await the final decision from the College Football Playoff committee on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.
Alabama was the team that needed SMU to beat Clemson the most and now the Crimson Tide are sweating Selection Sunday even more. The Mustangs fell in Charlotte, 34-31, Saturday night in a game that included a 17-point 4th quarter comeback from the Mustangs.
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee wants to see his team in the playoff, rewarding the fact that the Mustangs even played in the championship game. Earning their way into the game with an unblemished record, SMU showed what Lashlee believes is enough to get in to the College Football Playoff.
“They don’t care what I say. I don’t have a message. It would be criminal if we’re not in. It would be wrong. It would be wrong on so many levels, not just to our team,” Lashlee said. “It would be wrong to what college football stands for, to what it is. We just played a playoff game basically out there and played pretty danged good. That was a pretty good game. I think for the last three quarters everybody saw what they’ve seen all year.
“Our team deserves a chance to be in. It doesn’t matter what I say, but it would be incredibly wrong. I think it would be unprecedented. It would set a really bad precedent. It would break all the principles of what we’ve been told.”
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Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney took a moment in the dramatic postgame euphoria to pitch the Mustangs for the College Football Playoff.
“What a game,” Swinney said after the win. “That’s a playoff football team. SMU, they better be in the dang playoffs. What a comeback by those guys.”
ESPN platforms will dedicate Sunday’s slate of live studio coverage to College Football Playoff Selection Day, including the exclusive reveal of the first-ever 12-team playoff field during the College Football Playoff Selection Show Presented by AT&T at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday.
During the four-hour show on ESPN, the 12 College Football Playoff teams, the associated CFP bracket and the CFP selection committee’s final Top 25 rankings will be revealed. ESPN, ESPN2, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN.com, ESPN CFB YouTube and Facebook and the ESPN App will all feature additional playoff analysis, reaction and reporting.
