Warde Manuel defends SMU being ranked behind Miami, assesses Mustangs standing in CFP

Warde Manuel, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee chair and athletic director at Michigan, spoke with the media after the latest rankings were revealed. SMU dropped a spot to No. 14 despite sitting at the top of the ACC standings with Miami’s loss to Georgia Tech.

The programs are on a collision course, but the committee has the Mustangs as the second team out while the Hurricanes are the ninth-ranked team in America.

As far as the Miami-SMU battle, it could be settled on the field in the ACC Championship game Dec. 7, but both teams must keep winning. For now, the committee sees Miami’s offense — led by Heisman Trophy hopeful Cam Ward — as an edge, despite the Hurricanes’ defense lacking consistency.

“It’s a great question because both of the teams are very similar teams,” Manuel said, comparing SMU and Miami. “We obviously have factored in who they played, who they’ve beat throughout the season, and so we just felt that in looking at Miami and SMU that Miami — their offense is very dominant in terms of how they’ve been winning. Haven’t been as consistent defensively.

“So is SMU. They were playing two quarterbacks at the beginning of the year. Great speed, a physical team. So we’ve been impressed by both. Just based on their body of work, the committee had the discussions, the feeling was that Miami was ahead of SMU in terms of their performance this year.”

Boise State and SMU are both 13th and 14th, respectively, which puts Boise State in the College Football Playoff as the highest-ranked Group of Five team. It keeps the Mustangs out, if the season ended Tuesday. Manuel recognized the lone losses both teams have as good ones. There are multiple SEC teams ahead of both programs with multiple losses.

“Well, one, they both are having great seasons. They have lost to two teams that are ranked ahead of them, one being the No. 1, and with BYU this week being a No. 6. So we recognize that,” Warde Manuel said. “We also looked at their body of work as it relates to who they played and how they played those games during the season, Boise with the win against Nevada by seven, and then obviously SMU was idle. We really judged it based on the performance overall as well as how other teams ahead and behind them performed in terms of ranking, and a lot of the discussion was in that grouping, actually.

“We spent a lot of time yesterday and today discussing about six or seven teams within that grouping to make sure that we were fully evaluating every team and looking at them against where others were ranked. Ultimately as we voted, they came out in 13 and 14 this week, and we’ll continue to evaluate them as the season progresses.”

While SMU is hoping its BYU win props up its resume, BYU is getting a boost from having SMU on its resume. Even though the Cougars squeaked by Utah, they got enough credit to move up while the Mustangs fell.

“BYU, obviously undefeated, two wins against top-25 opponents, at SMU and against Kansas State,” Warde Manuel said. “In looking at it, as we assessed all the teams, we just felt that Indiana and BYU earned the 5 and the 6 slot, and Tennessee stayed where they are.”

ESPN analyst and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy keeps stumping for BYU in the College Football Playoff. Georgia and Miami lost, opening the door for BYU to move up.

“Look, BYU was a holding foul away from losing that game and they came back and won,” McElroy said. “Now the committee does what they should’ve done a week ago, moving them up into the six spot, where they belong.”

Another Lone Star State school, Texas, is being propped up by the eye test, according to McElroy.

“Texas and Penn State being lifted up based on what they’d done and the eye test, I get that,” McElroy said. “Look, I’ve watched Texas just like the rest of us, just like the committee members. There’s seven or eight people that either played college football or coached college football. So they’re watching the players and I don’t blame them for being super impressed.”

The College Football Playoff bracket has SMU on the outside looking in, but if the Mustangs keep winning, that won’t matter and they’ll have a legitimate opportunity at a National Championship.