The ACC looks like it could have a very unexpected team in the College Football Playoff.
No. 10 Miami lost 26-20 in overtime at SMU on Saturday after Carson Beck threw an interception on the Hurricanes’ possession to start the extra period.
That meant SMU simply needed a field goal to win the game and the SMU offense played it conservatively. It didn’t really matter. SMU ran the ball on each of its overtime plays before T.J. Harden won the game on a 1-yard TD run.
Advertisement
It’s the first home win over a top-10 team for the Mustangs since 1974 and comes a day after Yahoo Sports reported that coach Rhett Lashlee had agreed to a contract extension with the school that made him one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the country.
Saturday morning, SMU officially announced that Lashlee had been extended.
Despite being 6-3 overall, SMU is 4-1 in the ACC and has won 12 of 13 games it has played as a member of the conference dating to last year. The only loss came a week ago in a 13-12 defeat at Wake Forest. SMU turned the ball over three times in that game, but still lost to a Wake Forest team that turned the ball over five times.
Mustangs QB Kevin Jennings was 29-of-44 passing for 365 yards and a touchdown. The Mustangs officially finished with just 23 rushing yards, meaning SMU entered overtime with minus-2 yards on the ground.
Advertisement
The ACC’s two big preseason contenders are nowhere to be found
SMU went 8-0 in ACC play a season ago before losing the ACC title game to Clemson. The Mustangs figured to compete for the ACC title again in 2025 along with the Tigers and Miami.
Well, SMU appears to be the last team standing from that group. Clemson dropped to 2-4 in the ACC and 3-5 overall with a 46-45 home loss to Duke on Saturday and Miami is now 2-2 in the conference.
With Georgia Tech and Virginia undefeated at the top of the conference standings and Pittsburgh, SMU, Duke and Louisville all with one loss, it’s highly likely that the ACC title game will feature two out the six teams mentioned in this paragraph. Who could have seen that coming?
Advertisement
Miami’s promising season has gone south
After starting 5-0, the Hurricanes have now lost two of their last three games. A common theme in those two losses? Beck interceptions.
Beck was picked off four times in Miami’s 24-21 loss to Louisville and his overtime interception against SMU was his second pick of the day.
The Georgia transfer has now thrown nine interceptions through eight games after throwing 12 picks in 13 games for the Bulldogs a season ago. And those interceptions tend to come in bunches, too. Nine of Beck’s picks a season ago came in a four-game stretch during the middle of the season. Eight of his nine interceptions this season have come across three games as he threw two interceptions against South Florida in Week 3.
Source link
