SMU fell behind quickly by double digits and fought back to tie Clemson in the dying moments of the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night. But it wasn’t enough, as the Tigers had just enough time to drive for a game-winning field goal as time expired.
And with the win, Clemson almost assuredly secured an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff as one of the five highest ranked conference champions. And now the Mustangs are at the mercy of the selection committee for an at-large bid.
But speaking on the broadcast after the game, color commentator Greg McElroy made the case that SMU should be in for a number of reasons.
“I think they absolutely have proven that they are good enough,” McElroy said. “They just went toe-to-toe with the class of the ACC for the last 10 years and they almost pulled it off. And played bad, by the way. That was a bad performance from SMU, relative to what they’re capable of, at the beginning of the game. The committee has a very dangerous precedent that could be set if SMU is left out. Because then you are essentially telling people, you’re de-incentivizing the conference championship game. That’s a very concerning thing, I think, for the health of college football.”
Were SMU to get in as an at-large, it would most likely be at the expense of Alabama, currently ranked No. 11 and slotting into the last at-large spot, per the penultimate rankings.
And it’s perhaps telling how much McElroy believes in this case for the Mustangs, as he’s a former Alabama quarterback, and essentially making the case for an outcome that would likely see his alma mater miss the field entirely.
“I think one thing that’s gonna be fascinating in that committee room — because when you think about what we watched tonight, I don’t think anyone could come out of this thing and think that SMU doesn’t belong,” McElroy said.
