The ACC championship game brings us a showcase with the new kid on the block and the old guard. SMU, in its first season in the ACC, takes on Clemson, a repeat championship game-winner, Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC.
The Familiar Face and The New Neighbors
Clemson has won it seven of the last nine years, including a stretch of six consecutive conference championships from 2015-2020. SMU won the American Athletic Conference championship last year at a time when the Mustangs knew they would be leaving for the ACC during the Summer.
Rhett Lashlee’s team has only one loss, to BYU back in week three, and the Mustangs are a perfect 8-0 in conference play this year. Clemson is 9-3 overall, but two of the losses are out-of-conference games, including last week’s loss to in-state rival South Carolina. After the loss to the Gamecocks, Clemson had to wait to see Syracuse beat Miami to knock the Hurricanes out of contention. Clemson finished 7-1 in ACC play.
The Veteran Moves
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney told a media gathering Friday afternoon in Charlotte that his team has not finished growing. “We are not a team that has reached its full potential yet,” Swinney said. He referred to his squad as, “Battle-tested,” having taken a 34-3 beating in week one against Georgia. Swinney said his team knew they still had an entire season of goals in front of them even with the loss. “We could have scheduled XYZ University and everyone would have been real happy on the bus ride back.” He said his team gained perspective after that.
Swinney said the perspective is about learning how to block out noise. “The teams that end up here are the teams that can respond, the teams that can block out noise. Because especially when you are at a place like Clemson and you lose a game, people can lose their minds. You have to be able to stay focused on what you can control and get back to work.”
Cade’s Team
The head of that Clemson “work crew” has been quarterback Cade Klubnik. He was ordained as the future of the team two years ago. He had taken over the quarterback position from highly recruited D.J. Uiagalelei. He had a very up-and-down 2023 as the Tigers went 4-4 in conference play.
But he has found his game in 2024. He has thrown for more than 3,000 yards with 29 touchdowns and five interceptions and has done it at a 64% completion clip. Swinney said his team leader is night and day different from the young player trying to find his footing two years ago. “He’s become the leader of the team. He’s the clear-cut leader of this team,” Swinney said. “He’s had some failure, which has made him better. He’s faced some adversity.”
Swinney said he takes comfort in the fact that he has been here as head coach of Clemson so many times. “I love the fact that I know the routine and I can have a visual of it. I understand the magnitude of the moment. Again, as I said earlier, I have probably more appreciation now than I ever have because I know how hard it is to get here.”
SMU Proves Its Value to the ACC Doubters
For Lashlee, it is the first time. He was the offensive coordinator at Miami under Manny Diaz before moving on to SMU. But the Canes did not make it to the ACC championship game in his time in South Beach.
SMU joining the ACC, along with Cal and Stanford, was not an easy process. There was some resistance from some current member schools in approving the move. SMU agreed to accept the invitation without taking any of the ACC conference TV money for seven years. The fact that they are now carrying much of the ACC’s post-season water is not lost on anyone covering the game. Lashlee was even voted the ACC Coach of the Year this week.
The Mustangs sit at #8 in the current playoff rankings. However, a comment from committee chair Warde Manuel on Tuesday raised some eyebrows. He indicated that with a loss in the championship game, SMU could slide down the poll. The unknown is whether they would slide out of the 12-team format.
The Playoff Ramifications
Miami is at #12, but likely to get bumped down when they get leapfrogged by the eventual Big 12 champion Saturday. And at #17, Clemson has to win the conference championship game and the automatic bid to make the playoffs at all.
Lashlee spoke with certainty Friday about his team and where the Mustangs belong. “They said you’re the eighth-best team in the country. And they said you’re better than two other teams that are currently in the field for an at-large. They said you’re better than them. Like you are better than them; we’ve said that. And those teams didn’t earn the right to play in a conference championship game, we did. So I don’t get how you could punish anybody for that. I just don’t,” Lashlee said.
Jennings Leads the Way
The turning point for SMU this season was after the week three loss to BYU, Lashlee made a change at quarterback, replacing Preston Stone with sophomore Kevin Jennings. “I just think it’s been really impressive how his first start this year was at home against our rival, TCU, and he just played incredibly efficient. He played within himself. And he trusted his teammates. He didn’t go out there and try to win the game by himself.”
Jennings has responded with 2,700 passing yards and another 300+ on the ground. Jennings has 23 total touchdowns. “He believes in himself. He believes in the guys around him. We felt like he was the right answer for this year’s team but also for the future because we felt like he would just get better and better and better each week,” Lashlee said.
With two explosive offenses, we are not likely to see a repeat of last year’s 16-6 Florida State-Louisville championship game. And it is fitting. The ACC’s name and fortunes within the national playoffs are riding on Saturday’s championship game.
