Perhaps the hottest debate around the 2024 College Football Playoff is about the Alabama Crimson Tide and SMU Mustangs. The Tide were ranked 11th in both the CFP rankings and Associated Press Top 25 poll last week heading into the conference championship games, while the Mustangs were eighth in both rankings.
But after the Clemson Tigers (No. 17 CFP, No. 18 AP) beat SMU 34-31 on a 56-yard walk-off field goal in the ACC championship Saturday night, debate started about if Alabama (9-3, 5-3 SEC) should jump over SMU (11-2 , 8-0 in ACC regular-season play) for what’s presumed to be the last berth. And while the CFP rankings (which are all that really matter in the end here) haven’t been released yet, the AP voters did indeed place the Tide above the Mustangs (by a single point) in that poll, released Sunday morning. (Interestingly enough, that poll had Alabama No. 11, SMU No. 12, and Clemson No. 13, but Clemson would still get in in this situation because of their status as a Power 4 conference champion.)
Of course, as mentioned, the AP poll (which is run by that news organization, but has 62 writers and broadcasters from a variety of outlets around the country as voters) doesn’t actually decide the playoff berths. But it’s notable to see those voters go that way (albeit by such a close margin), especially after so much post-game lobbying for SMU by Tigers’ coach Dabo Swinney, ESPN broadcasters Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy, and many more.
Update: The CFP committee went the other way, putting SMU at No. 10 and in. (They had Alabama at No. 11 and Clemson at No. 16.)
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.