Rhett Lashlee reacts to SMU's College Football Playoff matchup at Penn State
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee spoke on ESPN following the reveal of the College Football Playoff, which included the Mustangs in the 12-team bracket. Lashlee was on the edge of his seat waiting for the news to come down.
Now that the Mustangs are in and facing Penn State, there’s a sense of relief that the committee made the decision it did.
“Until we saw SMU up there, you’re just hanging hanging on the edge and just really, really happy, thankful to the committee for rewarding our guys for their total body of work, for their consistency of performance, how they played throughout the year,” Lashlee said on the broadcast. “You know, we had probably our worst quarter of football last night in the first quarter, but the way our team responded, I think, just shows the championship makeup of our team. Thankful for that and an opportunity to keep playing.”
What’s next for SMU? The team held a meeting in Dallas Sunday afternoon after getting back in the early morning hours following the tough loss to Clemson. Now that SMU’s playing for a National Championship, Lashlee can celebrate that for his veteran group.
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“When the announcement happened, honestly, I got emotional just because I’m so happy for our kids. They work so hard, they won 22 games in the last two years,” Lashlee said. “They laid it all on the line last night. We lost heartbreaking at the end to a great opponent. Just happy that they feel like they get a chance to go out and prove we continue to belong, go play a great team like Penn State up at Happy Valley. So, we’ll celebrate with our guys at 3 o’clock and we’ll get to work on Penn State.”
While SMU fell 34-31 to Clemson, the Mustangs stormed back in the 4th quarter to tie the game at 31, overcoming a 17-point deficit. Clemson made a play on special teams and then hit a pass to set up the game-winning field goal though, taking an ACC Championship from the Mustangs.
“I think what America saw last night, particularly in the second half and the fourth quarter, was just the fight and the competitive character our team has,” Lashlee said. “They saw Kevin Jennings and what a superstar he is and Brashard Smith and our defense. We just made way too many mistakes in the first quarter. I mean, two turnovers, some some special teams misuse. You get in a hole 21-7, but if you look at the stat line with other than the two turnovers, I mean, we pretty much won every other piece of that ball game until the very end. I think America saw what SMU’s capable of.”
SMU takes on Penn State at 11 a.m. CT on TNT on Saturday, Dec. 21 in the first round.
