SMU HC: 'Would Be Criminal' if Mustangs Left Out of CFP Bracket After ACC Title Loss

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said it would be "criminal" for the CFP selection committee to leave his team out of the playoff after Saturday's 34-31 ACC championship game loss to Clemson.

"It would be criminal if we are not in," Lashlee said, per Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger. "It would be wrong not just to our team but to what college football stands for."

Lashlee added: "We could have not showed up, and according to what we saw Tuesday night, we'd be in. We showed it. We should be in. They know we should be in."

SMU was ranked No. 8 and Clemson was ranked No. 17 in the most recent CFP rankings released Tuesday. The Tigers then claimed the ACC title with a game-winning field goal as time expired on Saturday night.

Clemson sacked SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings and recovered the fumble on the first drive of the game, setting the tone for the first half. The Mustangs gave up 14 points in the first five minutes and went into the halftime break trailing 24-7.

SMU spent the second half launching a comeback, culminating with Jennings sending a tying touchdown pass to Roderick Daniels Jr. with 16 seconds left on the clock.

But the Tigers made it within 56 yards of the field goal on their final possession of the game, and Nolan Hauser's kick sealed the Clemson victory.

The loss marked the first time the Mustangs had trailed by more than 11 points this season, as noted by the Associated Press' Aaron Beard, as well as the team's first loss to an ACC opponent.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has been attempting to prepare the selection committee for this possibility. He said in a Thursday appearance on the ACC Network that SMU should "unequivocally" make the playoff regardless of Saturday's result.

"They're 11-1. They're 8-0 in the league," Phillips said. "The only Power 4 teams that went unblemished in conference play was Oregon and SMU."

The Ducks likely locked in their No. 1 seed after improving to 13-0 with a 45-37 Big Ten championship game win over Penn State on Saturday night.

SMU meanwhile dropped to join a bevy of two-loss teams fighting for an at-large bid to the expanded playoff.

Should the Mustangs be left out of the CFP, it would mark the second season in a row during which an ACC team was arguably snubbed. Florida State earned a 12-0 regular-season record and conference championship game victory last season before getting left out of the four-team playoff.

The final playoff bracket will be released on Sunday. The College Football Playoff selection show begins at noon ET.