The Big 12 missed out on the SMU Mustangs, who are now on their way to the ACC title game

It’s 15 miles from the SMU campus to the Big 12 offices in Las Colinas, but the two might as well be on different planets. To the Mustangs’ never-ending woe, the old mix of the Southwest Conference and the Big Eight never wanted any part of the private school in Dallas. Now the loss falls solely on the Big 12.

The Mustangs could have saved the Big 12 from this season’s embarrassment after Texas and Oklahoma chased the SEC’s black gold (Texas tea). Instead, SMU rolled through the Atlantic Coast Conference undefeated, finishing things off with a 38-6 win over the Cal Bears on Saturday afternoon, as the Big 12 sorted through a string of two-loss teams in the conference to set up a matchup for next Saturday investigate at AT&T Stadium.

While the Big 12’s highest-ranked team this week was CFP No. 16 Arizona State, the conference is unlikely to receive one of the top four seeds that go to the conference winners in the new 12-team playoffs. Imagine being pushed aside for Boise State. Meanwhile, SMU, ranked ninth and improving again, has put itself in position to lose the ACC title game to No. 12 Clemson on Saturday night and still secure a trip to the College Football Playoff.

However, that is not Rhett Lashlee’s goal. The Mustangs are favored over Clemson, which lost a tough rivalry game to No. 15 South Carolina only to learn a few hours later that No. 6 Miami had fallen at Syracuse. That leaves SMU facing Clemson (9-3, 7-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Charlotte, N.C., which is 11-1 overall and 8-0 in the conference

While anything is possible, there isn’t much reason to believe SMU can’t continue its dominant run against the Tigers. Before this season, Louisville’s 5-3 record 10 years ago was the gold standard for teams entering the former Power Five game. SMU won eight ACC games by an average margin of 19.4 points. It won by 23 or more points five times. If this was a major step forward from the American Athletic Conference, the Mustangs never let it show, especially after switching to a young Kevin Jennings at quarterback.

In many ways, the Mustangs are a team full of veterans. It was a fitting conclusion that safety Jonathan McGill made the fourth-quarter interception, setting up running back Brashard Smith for his second touchdown of the day. McGill is a sixth-year safety who played four years at Stanford (he must have loved intercepting a Cal pass) before coming to SMU. Smith was a wide receiver in Miami for three years before Lashlee brought him to town and turned him into a 1,000-yard rusher who still makes big catches.

Jennings is a sophomore from South Oak Cliff with a world of (sometimes untapped) talent. He has made the difference this season. He finished the regular season 20 of 30 for 225 yards with two touchdown throws before handing the reins back to September starter Preston Stone, who caught star receiver Key’Shawn Smith for a 40-yard Cal Bears found a touchdown catch between three balls.

The 2024 season has been one hell of a show at SMU, but things are actually just getting started. It’s a shame that Big 12 officials lacked the foresight to see where the game would go. At some point, players were supposed to be paid for their image and likeness, although not many of us knew the money would flow so freely. Do you open the doors to the highest bidder and think SMU can’t compete at the highest level of college football?

Are you kidding?

On the same day that the Mustangs got off to a perfect start in the Power Four, UCF head coach Gus Malzahn resigned. It has been reported that Malzahn will be Florida State’s offensive coordinator in 2025. Remember when the Big 12 was adding teams a few years ago and the league just had to tap into the Orlando market and bring UCF on board? What a coup.

Who needs the Dallas market when Texas and OU already have a firm grip on it – oops. That didn’t go well.

So a Big 12 head coach would rather be an ACC coordinator. Life comes at you pretty quickly sometimes, much like the SMU defense, which held two Cal backup quarterbacks (starter Fernando Mendoza out due to an illness) to a season-low six points.

As I said, SMU has no plans to do anything other than knock off Clemson on Saturday, but what if that doesn’t happen? Would the committee eject a team that went undefeated in conference play with a ticket for losing in a title game? I heard ESPN’s Joe Tessitore breathlessly announce again and again during an eight-overtime marathon on Friday that Georgia would be “in the playoffs” with a win and that the committee could never eliminate the Bulldogs, even if they made the SEC title game Losing third would be loss in the conference.

I’m not sure who put Joe in charge, but if that’s the case, the Mustangs will have to face 12 teams in the playoffs in their first big ball season since the fall of the SWC. Miami is almost certainly out of contention with a loss at Syracuse, but if not, the Hurricanes are well behind the Mustangs, even though they lost to an ACC team for the first time on Saturday.

Nobody is too worried about it at the moment. SMU has its highest ranking since 1985. In December it’s time to climb even higher.

X: @TimCowlishaw

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