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SMU coach: Duke should have made CFP, not JMU
Posted on 7/20/26 at 10:56 am
Posted on 7/20/26 at 10:56 am
quote:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- SMU coach Rhett Lashlee went to bat for reigning ACC champion Duke, saying the Blue Devils should have made the last College Football Playoff instead of Sun Belt champ James Madison.
Lashlee, speaking Friday at the ACC Kickoff, congratulated Duke on its title and said the team "easily" should have made the CFP despite five regular-season losses and not being ranked in the CFP standings. The previous CFP formula called for the five highest-rated conference champions to receive automatic berths, which allowed James Madison, ranked No. 24, to join American Conference champ Tulane (No. 20) in the CFP.
Duke finished outside the final top 25 despite upsetting Virginia in the league championship game. James Madison lost 51-34 at Oregon in a first-round CFP game.
"When you win the ACC the way they did, and who they beat, they should have been in instead of a team from the Sun Belt," Lashlee said of Duke. "Hopefully, things get learned, and that doesn't happen again. We should have been a two-bid league."
Beginning this season, the champions of the four power conferences -- ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC -- will receive automatic berths, including the highest-rated team from a Group of 6 conference (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, Sun Belt). The ACC on Wednesday announced a new tiebreaker formula for its championship game, which will rely on head-to-head results but also a team's "body of work," determined by the Team Success Ranking from SportSource Analytics, also used by the CFP.
quote:
Duke coach Manny Diaz told ESPN he did not like the tiebreaker change because the "body of work" metric includes nonconference games.
"I don't like it at all," Diaz said. "You can't have non-conference games dictate who wins the conference. Forget about our scenario last year. Is a good loss better than a bad win out of conference? The only way to make it a true competition is head to head and then what was the record of who you beat? And that's it. Anything else pulls in analytics that no one really knows, and they can be skewed. It's like determining the English Premier League champion based on how they played in the Champions League. They're not the same thing."
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Posted on 7/20/26 at 10:59 am to ragincajun03
In a completely unrelated note, SMU would have received $$$ if Duke had made it in.
Posted on 7/20/26 at 11:06 am to ragincajun03
Hot take - a 5-loss team or a G5 (G6?) team should never be in the CFP to begin with but here we are
Notre Dame & BYU were obviously better than Tulane & JMU (& Duke) last year but were any of these teams beating Indiana? No, so what’s the point
Notre Dame & BYU were obviously better than Tulane & JMU (& Duke) last year but were any of these teams beating Indiana? No, so what’s the point
This post was edited on 7/20/26 at 11:11 am
Posted on 7/20/26 at 11:08 am to ragincajun03
Try not losing 5 games next time.
Posted on 7/20/26 at 11:19 am to ragincajun03
quote:
SMU coach: Duke should have made CFP, not JMU
I said this and got downvoted to hell
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:03 pm to chalmetteowl
Don’t lose 5 games then. No team with a 60% win percentage should sniff the playoffs. People can bitch all they want about 2 G5 teams getting in.
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:05 pm to OhioLSUfan
quote:
In a completely unrelated note, SMU would have received $$$ if Duke had made it in.
Would they have?
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:07 pm to chalmetteowl
quote:
SMU coach: Duke should have made CFP, not JMU
I said this and got downvoted to hell
If Lashlee was on this board he would be downvoted as well
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:10 pm to ragincajun03
Are we expecting coaches in the same conference to not talk up their comrades? See Pat at Pitt
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:15 pm to ragincajun03
I am interested in what Diaz and Mensah would have done against Oregon in that first round game, could've been exciting
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:25 pm to Gen Patton
quote:
I am interested in what Diaz and Mensah would have done against Oregon in that first round game, could've been exciting
They wouldn't have been as close as JMU.
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:26 pm to RedSoloSpitCup
Now do BYU vs Oregon
Posted on 7/20/26 at 12:59 pm to MikeHoncho47
quote:
Don’t lose 5 games then
What would JMU have done in a P4?
Posted on 7/20/26 at 1:09 pm to ragincajun03
I like Lashlee a lot but he’s wrong here. The regular season has to count for something
Posted on 7/20/26 at 1:11 pm to chalmetteowl
Who cares?
Posted on 7/20/26 at 1:43 pm to ragincajun03
The problem is there is not uniformity in college football, which gives rise to these arguments. In the NFL is it not all that uncommon for a team in a bad division to make the playoffs over a team with a better record in a stronger division.
But for the ACC championship game, Duke is not even in the conversation. But if the championship game is meaningless in terms of playoff selection criteria, then why have it (aside of the real answer...it's a money grab)? On the flip side, how can you say a team like James Madison who played only one power con opponent, and lost, should be in ahead of a team that played a much, much tougher schedule?
But for the ACC championship game, Duke is not even in the conversation. But if the championship game is meaningless in terms of playoff selection criteria, then why have it (aside of the real answer...it's a money grab)? On the flip side, how can you say a team like James Madison who played only one power con opponent, and lost, should be in ahead of a team that played a much, much tougher schedule?
Posted on 7/20/26 at 1:44 pm to ragincajun03
Neither should make it
Posted on 7/20/26 at 6:14 pm to ragincajun03
Ok, instead of 51-34 against Oregon, it'd have been 51-37. Go Devils!!!!
Posted on 7/21/26 at 11:03 am to ragincajun03
Wait a min
All the people beating the drums for playoff expansion said that expanded playoffs would remove controversies about who deserved to be in
All the people beating the drums for playoff expansion said that expanded playoffs would remove controversies about who deserved to be in
Posted on 7/21/26 at 11:12 am to theCAW
quote:
All the people beating the drums for playoff expansion said that expanded playoffs would remove controversies about who deserved to be in
They weren’t talking about controversies at the bottom of the rankings… you’ll always have that
But anyone even remotely a natty contender got in
This post was edited on 7/21/26 at 11:13 am
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