SMU looks to celebrate historic season despite New Year’s Six omission
DALLAS — The exclusion of the SMU Mustangs from a New Year’s Six bowl berth might have left some puzzled. Hours removed from the College Football Playoff committee rewarding the Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide for facing off during nonconference play and both making the playoff, the Mustangs were on the wrong end of the committee’s inconsistent views on difficult scheduling.
Despite winning the American Athletic Conference title with a dominating defensive performance, the Mustangs (11-2, 8-0) were still ranked below 13-0 Liberty in the final CFP rankings ahead of the postseason.
The Flames’ impressive record doesn’t tell the full story with Liberty also owning the weakest schedule in college football this season. Nevertheless, the Flames earned a spot in a premier bowl.
SMU coach Rhett Lashlee, less than 24 hours removed from the title victory on Saturday night, spoke during a press conference about the CFP committee’s decision to rank the Mustangs below Liberty and why they’re not too focused on the omission with what’s on the horizon.
“The bottom line is we’re still celebrating what happened last night,” Lashlee said. “And we’re not going to let news of this afternoon, that maybe we don’t agree with, overshadow that.”
The Mustangs didn’t gather together just to watch the selection show which placed Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama in the playoff and sent eight more teams to New Year’s Six bowls.
The coaching staff watched together, but Lashlee said they weren’t too surprised with the result. After not making the prior rankings ahead of the AAC title game, Lashlee felt the odds were low.
“Most people involved understand what probably should’ve happened except for the 13 people making the decision. And it’s out of our control,” Lashlee said. “So we’re going to choose to celebrate last night because these guys deserve to be celebrated. They earned it.”
Lashlee stumped for his team the night before after the 26-14 victory over Tulane in New Orleans, but the second-year head coach always prefers to let the Mustangs’ work and performances speak for themselves.
Even though Lashlee said he felt Liberty was as an equally a deserving choice for the Fiesta Bowl against Oregon, he would’ve been curious to “see what Vegas would set the line at” a game between the two top Group of Five teams.
“If you watched our game and you watched the [Liberty] game on Friday night, anybody who knows football couldn’t have deduced anything different than who would give Oregon the best game,” Lashlee said. “Good for Liberty. Good for us. We did what we needed to do and we’re going to choose to celebrate this team. And we’re going to choose to try and finish this season on a high note.”
That high note could be a kickstart to SMU’s inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference next season when the Mustangs face Boston College in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28 in Boston, Massachusetts.
As SMU transitions into a power conference, it will bring in its first conference title in almost 40 years and showcase as a program with lots of energy in recruiting and growing facilities.
“It gives us confidence, continues the momentum our program has had over the last several years,” said Lashlee. “I feel like our program is leaving the American better than when we got into it. I think as a program we’re leaving the best way we possibly could have. I think our guys have handled it with class. I know we’re very grateful to the American. We got a lot of momentum going in the offseason.”
While some SMU players searched for answers as to why they didn’t make it to a New Year’s game, Lashlee said that the team overall handled the news fairly well.
“We didn’t have a lot of disappointed, dejected guys. I mean, sure they wanted that opportunity. But they were just so fired up about last night, because that was what our goal was,” Lashlee said. “They’ll be fired up to go up to Fenway.”
The Mustangs can see the historic run they’re currently on and could make a little more with another victory. Another win would tie the program record for victories in one season with the 1935 Mustangs that went 12-1 and was named national champions.
At the end of the day, the Mustangs seem at peace with how their season has gone, accomplishing their main goal of winning the conference title and having the chance to do even more with their bowl game.
“We’re worried about us,” Lashlee said. “And we know who we are. We’re very sure of who we are. I think we’ve shown the country who we are. And, you know, everyone else’s opinion is really out of our control.”
