Rhett Lashlee, Isaiah Nwokobia recap SMU win over Tulane
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee and safety Isaiah Nwokobia, the American Athletic Conference Championship Game Most Valuable Player, recapped the win over Tulane on Saturday. Check out the video at the top for the full press conference.
Nwokobia finished with eight tackles, an interception and a tackle for loss in the 26-14 win for the Mustangs. That win earned the program its first conference championship since 1984.
SMU’s hoping to be rewarded with a New Year’s Six bowl invitation. While Nwokobia let his play do the talking, Lashlee stumped postgame for his team to be rewarded by the College Football Playoff committee.
“We believe in letting our play speak for itself. I was raised by my dad to the old John Wayne saying, ‘Walk low, talk slow and carry a big stick.’ You don’t got to say a lot if you’re any good,” Lashlee said. “People will talk about you. But, unfortunately, every time we got questioned this year, which is has been weekly, we’ve had to just go out and do it with our play. And now that’s over and look I don’t envy the committee and people making those decisions, but the American Conference, without question, whoever won this game should be in a New Year’s Six Bowl. Tulane’s a phenomenal team.”
Ultimately, Lashlee feels SMU’s schedule should win out over undefeated Liberty.
“They don’t care what I think anyways, but the facts are the facts. And look, I voted Liberty and James Madison in the Top 25 this week in the Coaches Poll,” he said. “I just didn’t have ahead of us and Tulane. I think they’re excellent football teams. But we’re the only one in that group that went on the road and beat a Top 25 team. We’re the only one in that group that went on the road and played a Top 12 team. We beat a 9-3 Memphis team on the road.
“And what message does it say to schools moving forward, as we go to a 12-team playoff, if you don’t even schedule a power School? You don’t even schedule one. Yeah, you can play who’s on your schedule, but you didn’t schedule one. Why would you, if just going undefeated enough? We went out and played OU and TCU, Tulane played Ole Miss. Our league is substantially better and we both went undefeated in the league.”
