SMU Falls Short vs. Clemson in ACC Championship, Still Makes CFP

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00:00It was SMU. They went down in the ACC Championship game but rallied from down by as many as 17

00:10in the second half to force a Clemson field goal at the very end. Nolan Hauser from 56

00:18yards out, the only 50-plus walk-off field goal in the history of the ACC Championship

00:25game. We knew that the Tigers of Clemson, DRS, could be a big stealer. They technically

00:31were but not to the team they upended in SMU but Alabama. Donnie, I know that you wanted

00:37the Crimson Tide into the college football playoff. When we reached Sunday, though, in

00:43the overall sentiment it seemed that SMU would be that last at-large team, what was your

00:48initial reaction? Well, now at least I don't have to watch the game where SMU plays in.

00:53That was my initial reaction at that point. But they are deserving to play in. But also,

00:56you know what I want to see play up in? If they would have lost by seven points or more,

00:59which they looked like they were destined to do, I think that might have shifted a little

01:02bit. So I think the committee was like breathing a sigh of relief that they came back and made

01:06it where it was like, not even, Ben, where you're down ten points with ten seconds to

01:09go and you score the late touchdown to make it three. No, that game was tied up where

01:13Clemson had to make a 55-yard field goal to get in. So under the guise of, and you saw

01:17the odds, particularly in the FanBlue Sportsbook, is when we were doing the show live an hour

01:22before the show, it was minus 1,000 for SMU to get in the playoff. And then it dipped

01:26a little bit to that like minus 740, which again, in the odds market is still just about

01:30a slam dunk they're going to get in. So the intrigue wasn't there once you saw the odds

01:34that were posted. But I just think it would have been a little bit different if, let's

01:37just say, Clemson didn't hold on for a double-digit victory over SMU. I don't know if they would

01:40have made it in despite the previous week, what they were talking about. Oh, SMU's in

01:44the championship game. We're not going to hold it against them.