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Iowa State, SMU athletics directors trade barbs over relevance of schedule strength in College Football Playoff

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp12/04/24
Jamie Pollard
Photo by Nirmalen Majumdar / USA TODAY Sports

Many have chimed in on the merits of various College Football Playoff strategies when it comes to the rankings, including bolstering a team’s strength of schedule.

Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard had an interesting take on Twitter on Tuesday night.

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“Disappointing that strength of schedule clearly does not matter for SMU, Indiana and Boise State,” Pollard wrote. “Message is clear — win as many games as possible regardless of who you play. Time to rethink non-conference scheduling. Very different standards than the basketball committee.”

That take obviously threw some shade at SMU, which has gone 11-1 and ranked No. 8 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

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It was also met with immediate disagreement by SMU athletics director Rick Hart, who chimed in in response, defending his program’s schedule.

“Jamie, respect you but bad take. ISU had No. D, Iowa, Ark. St. non-con,” Hart wrote on Twitter. “SMU had Nev., HCU, TCU, BYU. (And scrambled due to Vandy dropping us.) SMU 1 of 2 to win all conf. games, 1 of 3 with 9 P4 wins, trailed a TOTAL of 6+ mins. last 9 games. I could go on… Stay off my lawn!”

Quite the fiery response.

However, when it comes to the College Football Playoff, it is worth noting that SMU’s strength of schedule, as calculated by the ESPN FPI, is lower than Iowa State’s.

SMU checked in ranked No. 75 nationally in strength of schedule, while Iowa State was ranked No. 68, a few slots ahead. Not enough to make a huge difference, clearly, and that extra win is bolstering the Mustangs quite a bit when compared to the Cyclones.

No matter, really.

Each team will have a chance to play its way into the College Football Playoff on championship weekend. SMU is set to take on Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, while Iowa State will square off with Arizona State in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Both should make for compelling matchups, especially given the drama surrounding a potential College Football Playoff berth.