The SMU Mustangs have officially made the College Football Playoffs and will travel to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in the first round.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee ranked the Mustangs as the 11th-best team in the country after their loss to Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
While the Mustangs are not guaranteed a berth in the second round of the playoffs, SMU could take on the Boise State Broncos with a win in the first round against Penn State.
SMU has put together an incredibly impressive record in its first season in the ACC, finishing with an overall record of 11-2 and a conference record of 8-1 with the inclusion of the ACC Championship.
Despite entering championship weekend as the eighth-ranked team in the country and playing an additional game, SMU was unsure whether they would make the playoffs over the University of Alabama.
Both SMU and Alabama believe they have a claim to one of the final playoff spots, but the teams’ arguments for why they belonged in the playoffs were vastly different.
Alabama argued that its overall strength of schedule and record, which ranked ninth-best and 16th-best in the country, should have moved them into the playoff picture.
However, Alabama also picked up multiple losses to unranked teams during the season, losing to Vanderbilt in Week 6 and Oklahoma in Week 13.
On the other hand, SMU argued that the team was already in the Top 10 of the College Football Playoff standings before the ACC Championship and that losing in that game should not result in missing the playoffs.
Although SMU had just the 15th-best strength of record and the 60th-ranked strength of schedule, the Mustangs took down nearly every opponent they faced and only suffered two losses to ranked teams throughout the season.
Many on both sides of the argument have been critical of the Selection Committee’s decision, but former Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban said the first year of the expanded playoffs should be a learning opportunity for everyone involved.
“No coach should complain about their position in or out of the playoff. They all controlled their own destiny. This is a learning opportunity for those teams and coaches,” Saban explained, per Barstool Sports’ Kayce Smith.