The College Football playoff selection committee met over the weekend. And though No. 4 Texas lost the SEC title game to No. 2 Georgia on Saturday, there was little doubt the Longhorns would make it to the final dozen.
But a mystery remained over who might get tapped for the final at-large spot. Would it be No. 11 Alabama or No. 12 SMU?
In an outcome will likely be debated for a long time to come, the Mustangs made it in for what will be the team’s first appearance in the college football playoffs.
Danny Davis covers Longhorns football for the Austin American-Statesman, and he joined the Standard to discuss the prospects for the two Texas teams in the playoffs. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Two Texas teams, SMU and the Longhorns, in the CFB bracket. How big of a surprise to you that after losing on Saturday, the SMU Mustangs would wind up in the playoffs and not Bama?
Danny Davis: I’m not completely shocked. They were ranked pretty high going into their championship game, and I think the committee, for probably a lot of reasons, didn’t want to punish SMU too much for losing in that championship game, especially the way that they lost.
It wasn’t like they got blown out by 30 points. They lost the 56-yard field goal to a Clemson team that’s won two national championships in the last ten years. So I don’t think it was too shocking.
I think ESPN probably milked it a little bit on Sunday for their selection show, but I don’t think people should have been too shocked that that Alabama team with three losses – two really bad losses – got left out while SMU, which had a great regular season, got in.
I want to get back to SMU in a moment. But big disappointment on Saturday for the Longhorns who stood to become the first first-year SEC team to win the championship. Alas, it was not to be.
Before we get to the first round matchups, what happened on Saturday for the Longhorns? You were there at the game. They were looking really strong in the first half, even if the scoreboard didn’t show it.
I mean, that was the problem: they looked really strong, but the scoreboard didn’t show it.
They kicked Georgia’s butt in the first half and only had two field goals to show for their effort. And you can’t do that against a team like Georgia. Georgia was not going to get shut out. Eventually Georgia was going to get a touchdown or two. And Texas was not able to cash in on their opportunities.
I mean, there’s probably a dozen things. We only have five minutes to chat, so we can’t go over every single one of them. But, you know, there were a lot of opportunities Texas had to put touchdowns on the board and they just could not take advantage. Georgia is too good of a program to not go up for the knockout punch and Texas let them hang around and Georgia took advantage.
Yeah, penalties come to mind.
Penalties come to mind, not scoring touchdowns, not returning interceptions for touchdowns. There is a long list.
Yeah. Let’s forget about last Saturday and fast forward to Dec. 20. Texas will be back home. Who will they be trying to beat?
Well, it’s actually Dec. 21. They’ll be playing Clemson, the team that just beat SMU in the ACC championship game – obviously a team that has a lot of championship pedigree, a championship coach and actually a local boy as their quarterback.
So it’ll be fun to see Cade Klubnik come home and try to beat some of his friends on the Texas team. And I’m sure he has a little bit of a chip on his shoulder wanting to beat the local team for sure.
I totally get that. And the winner goes on to the Peach Bowl to face Arizona State. Let’s turn to SMU. What’s the plan for the first round? I believe it’s Penn State that they take on, right?
They’ll be headed to Penn State. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot colder up there in Pennsylvania State College than it is at home for the Mustangs. But that’s a good first round matchup for them.
Obviously pretty tough. And then obviously Boise State in the next round.
First time in the playoffs for SMU. Any strengths or weaknesses that stand out to you based on what you’ve heard about the team?
It would be tough for me to go too in-depth. But obviously this is a team that’s in their first year in the ACC and has competed well. I’m sure the butterflies are not going to be too much for them, even though they had to go on the road. And they will be underdogs in this game.
But they’ve played well this entire season and I’m sure everyone in Dallas will be very excited for this game.
I was looking at the brackets there – SMU on the left, Texas on the right. Both have to work their way through all of this, but is it conceivable we could have an all-Texas championship game?
It’s conceivable, but if you’re a betting man, I would not put my house on that. I don’t think it’s going to happen.
But sure, if a couple of things happen and both those teams get hot, sure. Why not? But that is not what I’m predicting for this year.
Well, what are you predicting then? I mean, you know, No. 1 is Oregon, right?
Oregon’s undefeated. And maybe I’m a little biased because Oregon was my dream school growing up, but I think the Ducks probably have the best path to a national championship.
I think they will probably face Texas at the Cotton Bowl on the 10th, but I would say Oregon on one side and then and I guess Georgia on the other side. I can’t really buy Boise State, even though I do think they have the Heisman Trophy winner on their team. That’s who I voted for.
But I think it’s probably Georgia-Oregon. Pretty boring picks for me.
