SMU at No. 17 lands above No. 18 Liberty in latest AP Poll
SMU landed at No. 17 in the AP Poll released on Sunday following Championship Weekend. With the Mustangs above Liberty after the team won the American Athletic Conference Championship, that might be a good sign for the team’s bowl chances.
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee stumped for his team in his postgame press conference on Saturday after the 26-14 win over Tulane. The win gave the Mustangs their first conference championship since 1984.
“No offense, those other people hadn’t played that team. They haven’t played a team that good, not even close to that good all year,” Lashlee said. “We beat two of them. Memphis, UTSA, Tulane, they would all win those other leagues, in my opinion. At some point, though, you play a real schedule, you should be rewarded for it. I think anybody who watched the game knows that we won, again, it’s hard to say, in a fairly convincing fashion today. But that’s a heck of a football team.
“You beat them by one, that should matter for a whole lot more than some of the things. And I’ll say this, we did win our games in the conference by a large margin, and it’s a good conference. The Top 4 teams in our league, and Rice and USF have proven, Rice beat Houston, USF went to Tuscaloosa, it should be a layup. Hope we don’t miss a layup.”
1. Michigan
2. Washington
3. Florida State
4. Texas
5. Alabama
6. Georgia
7. Ohio State
8. Oregon
9. Missouri
10. Penn State
11. Ole Miss
12. Oklahoma
13. LSU
14. Arizona
15. Notre Dame
16. Louisville
17. SMU
18. Liberty
19. NC State
20. Iowa
21. Oregon State
22. Oklahoma State
23. Tulane
24. James Madison
25. Tennessee
Others receiving votes: Clemson 87, Troy 65, Utah 39, Kansas St. 38, Miami (Ohio) 31, Toledo 22, Kansas 8, Kentucky 4.
Click the links below to follow and subscribe to On The Pony Express podcast on all available platforms to get the latest SMU podcasts.
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
YouTube
