No. 8 SMU falls short in comeback bid in the ACC title game. Now the Mustangs await CFP fate

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — SMU’s magical first run through the Atlantic Coast Conference included an unbeaten regular-season record and a spot Saturday night in the league championship game. It ended with a painful final-play loss after a terrific comeback.

And now the eighth-ranked Mustangs wait to find out if it somehow derails their chances at a College Football Playoff bid.

“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 in the opening five minutes and trailed by as many as 17 in the third quarter before rallying with a final-minute touchdown to tie it — only to see Nolan Hauser kick a 56-yard field goal as time expired that pushed the Tigers to the win. It was a shocking finish coming moments after Kevin Jennings had connected with Roderick Daniels Jr. for the tying 4-yard score with 16 seconds left.

As Clemson’s players began spilling onto the field to celebrate, SMU players stood in stunned disbelief amid the chaos or squatted down in anguish. SMU linebacker Ahmad Walker stood still amid the Tigers’ party, staring at the end zone where Hauser’s kick — a record length for the ACC championship game — had split the uprights as he held his helmet down by his side.

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And so marked the first league loss for the Mustangs, who who went from being picked seventh in the league to going 8-0 in the regular season while trailing by as many as 11 only once all season (against Nevada in the opener).

Now they can only wait to see if their CFP ranking from earlier this week holds up well enough for the unveiling of the 12-team bracket Sunday.

“I mean, hopefully we showed what we can do all year and they put us in there,” Jennings said softly. “But no telling. So I’m just praying that we get the spot.”

The Mustangs have the backing of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, at least.

“Listen, that’s a playoff team,” Swinney told ESPN in an on-field interview. “SMU, they better be in the dang playoffs.”

The playoff had been a frequent topic in the days leading up to the game. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips — leading a league still stinging from last year’s omission of unbeaten champion Florida State from the four-team playoff — had gone on the offensive to say that SMU should be in regardless of the Clemson result and that a team shouldn’t be penalized for losing a game it had to earn through a season of success.

“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, meanwhile, had shrugged off any idea of opting out of the game to protect that playoff positioning out of fear of a loss in the ACC title game.

“I don’t get how you could punish anybody for that, I just don’t,” Lashlee said Friday.

He was firmer with that after the loss to the Tigers, his comments indicating frustration with the mere potential of a snub.

“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.”

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