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In the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff, the James Madison Dukes, once a mighty FCS power stepped up to one of the biggest stages in college football, and got pushed around by the Oregon Ducks for four quarters.
Many around the country questioned the validity of JMUs spot in the CFP field over schools such as Notre Dame, and the ACC champion Duke Blue Devils.
At ACC Kickoff, SMUs head coach Rhett Lashlee didnt waste any time addressing those matters.
In his opening remarks, Lashlee advocated for the Blue Devils and the ACC, saying they shouldve had another spot for the ACC champs, not the champs of the Sun Belt conference.
I want to congratulate Manny Diaz and Duke on winning the conference championship, Lashlee said.
A lot of good friends there in Jonathan Patke, Jonathan Brewer, David Feeley.
What they did last year winning the league was incredible, in a very competitive league." I think we all know they should have easily been in the Playoffs.
When you win the ACC, the way they [Duke] did and who they beat, they should have been in instead of a team from the Sun Belt.
But hopefully things get learned and that doesnt happen again.
We should have been a two-bid league.
But congratulations to Duke on what they did.
Really, really incredible.
Duke beat Virginia in the ACC championship game, however due to a tiebreaker involving five teams, including CFP-bound Miami and SMU (who beat Miami), the Blue Devils got in the title game over Miami, due to Dukes opponents having a better conference record than Miami.
On the first day of the ACC Kickoff, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips announced that the tiebreaker policy would change, and a new metric called Team Success Ranking from Sports Source Analytics will now be the second tiebreaker involved if it reaches that point.
As for the SMU Mustangs, theyll look to get back to the ACC title game after coming up short in the thrilling 2024 ACC title game to Clemson.
Last season, the Mustangs finished with a record of 9-4, and 6-2 in the ACC.