Dabo Swinney, Rhett Lashlee lobby for ACC's multi-bid CFP chance

Clemson's Dabo Swinney believes Miami and SMU are both CFP-worthy ahead of his team seeking to clinch a bid on Saturday. (Photo: Brian Bishop / USATODAY)

Grayson Mann - Staff Writer - Monday, December 02 2024

Championship week is here.

Beyond the Xs and Os that will define the outcome in Charlotte, there are looming playoff implications based on Saturday’s result.

The winner will be automatically in the College Football Playoff, but there might be active discussions heading into Sunday on how many teams from the ACC are represented.

Sunday’s ACC Championship media Zoom call featured the initial previews from Dabo Swinney and SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee and lobbying for the conference’s multi-bid hopes.

As it stands, SMU is ninth in the CFP top 25, with its only loss of the season coming to BYU, which is ranked 19th.

Lashlee says his Mustangs have been in “playoff mode” since the start of November, not only trying to win the conference but also doing enough to give SMU a shot at an at-large bid.

He hasn’t been in the ACC very long but has been one of the more vocal voices about the conference's strength. Lashlee said it would be a good thing for college football for the ACC to have multiple representatives.

“I don't think there's any question that we've separated our self as one of the top three leagues in America,” Lashlee said. “And so we start looking at the top 12 teams. It's kind of hard to maybe objectively argue that we don't deserve at least two teams in the playoff.”

Lashlee argues that the committee should examine some of the SEC’s multi-loss schools in the same light as Miami, which suffered its second loss of the year in Syracuse on Saturday.

Of course, he believes his Mustangs have enough to get in, but he adds that wins and losses should matter when comparing teams from different leagues.

“I don't presume to know what the committee's going to do or think, but it feels, or at least seems, like schools like Ohio State and Tennessee that are 10-2 are in,” Lashlee said. “Then Miami should probably be looked at in the exact same vein as well at 10-2. And then there's a cluster of SEC teams at nine and three. And I think at some point, the strength of schedule and all that stuff matters, but your records have to matter, and 10-2 is better than 9-3 when you're measuring pretty close resumes. And then if you look at the fact that if we're able to lose the game, I mean Clemson automatically is in, and again, I think our body of work should put us in.”

Swinney added to Lashlee’s argument, pointing out that the league's depth has been incredibly competitive in 2024.

He knows Clemson’s path to the CFP is simple, with Saturday’s results being the final gasp for the Tigers’ playoff chances.

If Clemson is to win on Saturday, the path for SMU isn’t as straightforward. The Mustangs would be sitting at 11-2, and having to lay their fate into the committee’s hands.

Swinney believes that not just SMU but Miami should also hold one of the final 12 spots.

“I think they (SMU) should be in,” Swinney said. “And quite frankly, I can't imagine Miami wouldn't be in; they lost to a really good Georgia Tech team. We saw Georgia Tech in the crazy game they have with Georgia, at Georgia. And then, I mean, they lost to a good Syracuse team who's nine and three. So I mean, they got probably as good a quarterback as there is in the country. I mean, I think it's been a tough league this year, and again, you've got 17 teams, and for us to be one of the two that qualified to go play in this league championship, again, I'm really proud of that. But I think the league deserves the recognition, and we'll see how it plays out for us. We know; I mean, it's pretty simple with us. We got to go win.”

For the Tigers, the path to the postseason is as straightforward as it has ever been: win, and you’re in.

Should Clemson achieve that goal, the playoff committee will decide SMU and Miami's postseason destiny.

If you ask Lashlee and Swinney, the Mustangs and Hurricanes should be locks for the College Football Playoff.