Jim Phillips sends strong warning to College Football Playoff committee in defense of SMU

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips joined ESPN’s broadcast of College GameDay on Saturday morning, where he had a lot to say about the College Football Playoff.

One area of focus for Phillips pertained to the SMU Mustangs. While Rhett Lashlee and company are firmly within the field at the moment, some have theorized that a loss to Clemson in the ACC title game could knock them out, with Alabama getting in over them. Phillips believes that would set a terrible precedent for the future of the sport.

“Rece, unequivocally, SMU needs to be in,” the ACC commissioner proclaimed. “They’re 11-1. They’re 8-0 in the conference. There’s two teams in the 68 Power Four schools that went undefeated in the conference, the Oregon Ducks and the SMU Mustangs. They’re 9-0 with Kevin Jennings as their quarterback. Last year, we suffered through having to hear about Jordan Travis being out and (Florida State) not being the same. Well, it cuts both ways. Since Kevin Jennings took over, they’re 9-0. They have more Power Four wins than Texas does.

“If you start to take teams in, championship weekend, that are supposed to be protected inside the 11 or 12, and some sit home, and others have to play, and you could potentially lose and be disinvited to the championship? You’ve turned it into an invitational. There’s not another team in the country that would want to play. Another week of rest? Everybody would want to do that. So, if you get penalized for playing in a championship game and you’re inside the bracket and get disinvited? That’s not a tournament anymore. That’s not a championship.”

While Phillips may be a little biased towards his own conference, he does make some salient points. Regardless, SMU can control the narrative and their destiny with a win, something aforementioned Florida State evidently didn’t in 2023.

The Mustangs will be looking to clinch the ACC and represent the conference in the College Football Playoff with a win over Clemson on Saturday night. Time will tell if they’re able to do it, but it’s evident Jim Phillips believes they should have a ticket to the dance no matter what.

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