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SMU head football coach Rhett Lashlee spoke at ACC Media Days this week to preview the upcoming season. The Mustangs are coming off a fantastic debut in their new league, making the title game in Year 1.
His team made the College Football Playoff in 2024, though not without criticism. Many didn’t believe SMU was deserving due to level of competition.
The conference supremacy debate is one that arises each and every season. Last year, the Big Ten earned the crown with four CFP participants and a national title win.
The SEC came in a close second. Depending on who you ask, it should’ve been first.
SEC coaches protested the College Football Playoff committee’s decision.
The league believed it was deserving of one more national title contender. Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina each finished with 9-3 records. None were included in the 12-team event.
Strength of schedule was at the root of the issue. SEC teams argued that their paths were more difficult, than say Indiana, who played just two teams with a winning record in the regular season.
“I think the SEC’s the best conference in America,” said Shane Beamer. “I think we deserve more than three teams.”
SMU caught flak, too, for its playoff inclusion. The Mustangs went 11-2 with an ACC Championship setback to three-loss Clemson.
Team Rankings listed strength of schedule ratings for College Football Playoff contenders at regular season’s end. They read as follows:
2. Alabama
6. South Carolina
8. Ole Miss
41. SMU
In the end, SMU got in. The three others were left out. SEC supporters believed wins were valued by the committee over schedule. The Mustangs’ coach had a message to those naysayers at ACC Media Days.
Rhett Lashlee hypocritically shaded the SEC.
“The same six schools have won the SEC since 1964. Not a single one is different from 1964. That’s top-heavy to me. That’s not depth.”
-Rhett Lashlee
Lashlee attempted to communicate that outside of a few good teams, the SEC is very much like every other conference in America. No better. No worse.
That attempt failed.
The ACC has been the most top-heavy league in college football over the last decade. Clemson owns eight of the last 10 league titles. That includes this past year in which the Tigers went 0-3 against the “top-heavy” SEC.
Lashlee’s data is skewed.
Outside of the fact that he conveniently left off Ole Miss’s 1963 title, he fails to mention there were only 10 SEC teams from 1966-1991.
The six teams Lashlee mentions were all in the league at the time. That’s 60% of the conference! Far from top-heavy.
In that same timeframe, later additions Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas A&M all won at least one championship in their previous conferences.
Someone might replace Lashlee’s quip with, “Twelve of 16 SEC members have won a conference championship since 1964.”
That wouldn’t fit Rhett Lashlee’s narrative. Still, he will continue to fight for the ACC as SMU moves into Year 2 as a league member.