SMU coach Rhett Lashlee is pro-College Football Playoff expansion, but wants to make it clear no Power 4 conference should receive more auto-bids than any others.
After previously slamming brand and conference biases before last season’s selection committee final vote, Lashlee gave the playoff conversation another jolt Tuesday at ACC Kickoff when he swiftly gave the SEC an unexpected uppercut during his time at the podium.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has called his league college football’s toughest and most competitive throughout the offseason, to which Lashlee disagrees.
“The SEC has had the same six schools win the championships since 1964. Not a single one has been different since 1964,” Lashlee said. “That’s top-heavy to me. That’s not depth.”
Lashlee went on to say Miami, at 10-2 last season, deserved a bit in the 12-team field from the ACC.
“I don’t think it’s up for a discussion. I think it should be 16,” Lashlee said. “I don’t think you have to go crazy over that because it is football. We saw last year what the playoff can do. On campus games, fantastic. More exposure, more access and it creates more fanbases.
“There’s only been three leagues to have teams currently in their conference to win a championship since 1990. All of the teams that have won a national championship since 1990 are either in the ACC, Big Ten or the SEC. In the last 15 years, we are tied with the second-most championships with three with the Big Ten. I don’t know why that’s not talked about. If it stays at 12, we are a multiple bid league every year. Miami should have been in last year, there is no question they were one of the 12 best teams in the country last year.”
Lashlee vouched for the ACC being one of the country’s deepest leagues in December when the Mustangs were in contention for a playoff berth. After losing to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game for the Mustangs’ second loss, Lashlee politicked one more time for his team while acknowledging he had no say in the matter.
“It would be criminal if we’re not in. It would be wrong,” he said. “It would be wrong on so many levels, not just to our team. It would be wrong to what college football stands for — to what it is.”
It worked out in SMU’s favor last season as the Mustangs were weighed against three three-loss SEC teams — Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina.
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