SMU has been outstanding in Novembers. Can that carry them to a College Football Playoff appearance with a win over Cal?
The Mustangs are 10-1 in November since Rhett Lashlee took over as head coach, and this year, they have even more to play for.SMU wide receiver Roderick Daniels Jr. celebrates with wide receiver Moochie Dixon and quarterback Kevin Jennings after scoring a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA football game against Pitt at Ford Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Dallas.
Chaos in the SEC led to a major shakeup in the College Football Playoff rankings, as SMU entered the projected playoff field for the first time,. While SMU is effectively guaranteed a bid if it wins the ACC championship in two weeks, a win over Cal Saturday could be critical toward ensuring it makes the playoff even if it doesn’t.Not long ago, it seemed the ACC would be a one-bid league, but now, it may even have up to three teams, including two at-large bids.
“We would like to hopefully continue to show the committee and others that we feel like we’re worthy of continuing to play this year,” Lashlee said. That means SMU will seek to temporarily forget what it accomplished in Charlottesville last week and what’s in store in Charlotte the next week. They’ll have to take down a Cal team that’s come out on the wrong side of a number of close games and that boasts the best defense in the ACC.“This is probably the most complete defense we’ve played — for sure in our league,” Lashlee said. “There’s not a lot of superstars. They’re just a really good team defense.
Lia Assimakopoulos covers the Dallas Stars, SMU and college sports for The Dallas Morning News. She joined The News in June 2022 as a high school sports reporter and previously contributed to Sports Illustrated, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and NBC Sports. A native of Bethesda, Md., Lia graduated from Northwestern University in 2022.
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