Rhett Lashlee on College Football Playoff: 'If we don't win, nothing matters'
The SMU Mustangs fell a spot to No. 14 in the College Football Playoff rankings revealed Tuesday. Head coach Rhett Lashlee spoke ahead of the reveal at his weekly press conference, almost knowing what could be coming.
SMU’s alone atop the ACC standings with an unbeaten record. The team’s only loss is to No. 6 BYU — before Lashlee changed quarterbacks to Kevin Jennings — but SMU’s sitting behind Miami. The Hurricanes lost to unranked Georgia Tech last weekend for its first loss of the year, but rank ninth in the rankings.
SMU is currently on the outside looking in on the playoff bracket.
Lashlee’s team crushed previously Top 25 Pitt in its last game, but SMU debuted outside the College Football Playoff. There’s only one thing apparently for the Mustangs to do — keep winning.
“I think we’ve proven that we belong in the conversation. I’m not gonna worry as much about us and that right now,” Lashlee said to reporters Tuesday. “We got to take care of business. If we don’t win, nothing matters. We got three games right now. If we don’t win the next three games, then we don’t really have an argument. But if we do, then I think we’ve earned the right to have an argument.”
“Well, you’d like to think all you can do is win. We, in our league, we’re winning just like those other leagues are, so that should count for itself,” Lashlee responded to a question about not being able to control what the committee does. “We’re winning against those other leagues. That should count for something. Look, the great thing about our sport is it’s a human sport. In games, you got coaches, we make mistakes. You got players who make mistakes. You got officials who make mistakes. It’s no different with the committee.”
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SMU’s final three games of the 2024 season are against Boston College, at Virginia and against Cal. The Mustangs are favored in every game on the schedule and if that holds true, they’ll likely face Miami in Charlotte on Dec. 7.
Lashlee knows if SMU wins out, the College Football Playoff will have a spot (and a good one) for his team. That doesn’t stop him from stumping for his team and league.
“At the end of the day, for SMU, we just gotta win. I’m not gonna gripe or politic for us, we gotta win,” Lashlee said. “If we don’t win, we don’t deserve to be in the conversation. If we do win, we do deserve to be in the conversation. But just as a whole with the league, I don’t know what can be done. I think some of that stuff is predetermined a little bit. That’s the bias we’re talking about. And that’s no disrespect to the other leagues, that’s the problem.
“It’s hard to stump or argue on behalf of your league without making it sound like you’re being negative. I think the other leagues are great. I think we got four big time leagues in college football. There needs to be quality representation from all four.”
