Tim Cowlishaw: SMU deserved College Football Playoff bid, which helped its case over Alabama

DALLAS SMU fans and players were forced to sweat it out for more than half an hour watching ESPNs College Football Playoff Selection Show Sunday, but ultimately they got the reward they deserved.

The key word in that sentence is deserved.

SMU, ranked No.

8 by the committee and headed for the No.

3 seed with a win Saturday based on the priority given to conference champions, fell to No.

10 after Saturdays heart-breaking 34-31 loss to Clemson at the buzzer.

That puts the Mustangs, who went undefeated in the Atlantic Coast Conference during the regular season, at Penn State in the first round of the tournament.

For more than 30 minutes, ESPNs panel dissected the basic decision that hovered over the selection process.

Pick SMU based on its superior record or pick Alabama, despite three losses, because of the Crimson Tides superior strength of schedule and list of victims? People are also reading...

Iredell County deputies charge 7 people in drug trafficking investigation 3 men face arson charges in Statesville house fire that severely burned woman Top vote-getter Houpe: Why am I not chairman of Iredell board of commissioners? Statesville native Tomlin leads Delaware State to MEAC volleyball title, NCAA berth 4 pounds of marijuana, gun seized by Mooresville police officers Iredell-Statesville Schools closed Tuesday due to snow, ice Tiny, 4 more dogs seeking homes at Iredell County Animal Services New school chairman rules 2 fellow board members out of order in Iredell Get to know Mooresville basketball player Cadence Lane 3 Eagle Scouts and 1 grateful Iredell County resident Families prepare for mass deportations: 'A sad and painful time' Colombia native brings tastes of his homeland to downtown Statesville Now streaming and on DVD: 'It Ends With Us' just prompts head shakes McKinnon breaks record, Arnold shows offensive burst in Lake Normans hot start Downtown Statesville lights Christmas tree to kickoff holiday Committee chairman Warde Manuel said last week that teams would not be penalized for losing conference title games and leapfrogged by teams that were idle Saturday.

But who knew for sure if the committee would stick to that? And what if SMU had not rallied to tie after a horrible start Saturday night in Charlotte, N.C., that saw it fall behind Clemson 21-7 in the first quarter? The Mustangs benefit from a fundamental change the committee has made this season that is rarely discussed.

For a decade of four-team playoff selections, the focus was on picking the four best' teams.

There were no other discussions to be had.

Over and over it was emphasized that deserved was not a criteria.

Pick the four best and that was the end of the story.

When the format of the first 12-team tournament was revealed, it was obvious that deserved had entered the discussion.

The top four seeds and, more important, byes were to be given to the four highest-ranked conference champions.

In the case of undefeated Oregon and Georgia, a two-time winner over Texas, there was no controversy in their landing the top two seeds.

But Boise State, champion of the Mountain West, grabbed the third spot and Arizona State, ranked 15th last week, vaulted all the way to the No.

4 seed with its one-sided win over Iowa State at AT&T Stadium Saturday.

No one at the committee thinks Arizona State, with two losses and a lack of premium wins, is the fourth-best team in the country although the Sun Devils are certainly hot within the framework of the Big 12.

But they deserved the 4 spot based on a conference championship.

SMU was one of just two teams in the field to win all of its Power Four conference games.

The other is top-ranked Oregon.

If we were just picking conference champions based on the standings, SMU would not have needed to play a game Saturday against Clemson, 7-1 in the ACC after a loss to Louisville, a team the Mustangs beat on the road.

But money speaks loudly in college football, so we are going to have conference championship games for the foreseeable future, no matter what the standings say.

Now the Mustangs can exhale.

Their first season of ACC football has been an enormous surprise and success.

Time to get ready for a trip to Happy Valley and a date with Penn State.

____ Get local news delivered to your inbox!.

This article has been shared from the original article on statesville, here is the link to the original article.