SMU’s impressive first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference included an undefeated regular season and a spot in the league championship game on Saturday night. However, it ended with a heartbreaking last-play loss after a strong comeback.
Now, the eighth-ranked Mustangs must wait to see if the loss affects their chances of making the College Football Playoff.
“It would be criminal if we’re not in,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said after the 34-31 loss to No. 18 Clemson.
The Mustangs (11-2, No. 8 CFP) fell behind by 14 points in the first five minutes and trailed by as much as 17 in the third quarter. They rallied with a touchdown in the final minute to tie the game, only to see Nolan Hauser kick a 56-yard field goal as time ran out, giving Clemson the win.
The dramatic ending came right after Kevin Jennings threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Roderick Daniels Jr. with 16 seconds left to tie the game.
As Clemson players rushed onto the field to celebrate, SMU players were left in stunned disbelief, some squatting in sorrow, while others remained frozen. SMU linebacker Ahmad Walker stood motionless among the chaos, staring at the end zone where Hauser’s record-breaking kick for the ACC championship game sailed through the posts.
This loss was SMU’s first of the season, after being picked seventh in the league and going 8-0 in the regular season. They had only trailed by more than 10 points once, in the season opener against Nevada.
Now, they must wait to see if their CFP ranking from earlier in the week is strong enough for the 12-team bracket announcement on Sunday.
“I mean, hopefully we showed what we can do all year and they put us in there,” Jennings said quietly. “But no telling. So I’m just praying that we get the spot.”
At least Clemson coach Dabo Swinney supports their case.
“Listen, that’s a playoff team,” Swinney told ESPN after the game. “SMU, they better be in the dang playoffs.”
The playoff discussion had been a common topic leading up to the game. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, whose league was hurt last year when unbeaten Florida State was left out of the four-team playoff, had strongly argued that SMU should be included regardless of the result against Clemson. He said no team should be punished for losing in a championship game after working hard all season to get there.
“All SMU has done during the 12-game slate has earned their way into the CFP,” Phillips told The Associated Press earlier this week.
“If there is a penalty for playing a championship game — when you’re in if the playoffs started today and then if you lose — then there’s no incentive at all ever to play another championship game. There just isn’t. So we’re watching closely.”
Lashlee, before the game, had rejected any idea of skipping the championship game to protect their playoff chances out of fear of a loss.
“I don’t get how you could punish anybody for that, I just don’t,” Lashlee said Friday.
After the loss, he expressed frustration with the idea of SMU being left out of the playoffs.
“I’m hurting because I think, for good reason, their faith in the system is shaken right now,” Lashlee said. “I think they’re all in there wondering: are they going to be in tomorrow? Is the fix in? Or is the right thing going to be done? That’s the truth.”
