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Rece Davis, Greg McElroy start heated debate on SMU vs BYU College Football Playoff ranking

Chandler Vesselsby: Chandler Vessels11/20/24ChandlerVessels
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Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The College Football Playoff rankings were updated Tuesday evening and there was an interesting discussion about the two teams just outside the top 12. SMU and BYU came in at No. 13 and No. 14, respectively, causing some disagreement between the analysts on ESPN’s rankings reveal show.

Greg McElroy immediately pointed out that the Cougars defeated the Mustangs by a score of 18-15 in Week 2. Given that both teams currently have identical 9-1 records, McElroy seemed to insinuate that it made little sense to ignore the head-to-head results.

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However, Rece Davis pushed back a bit and defended the committee for its choice by using several SEC teams who have beaten up on each other, rendering head-to-head less important.

“Head-to-head can’t mean everything because we just talked about those SEC teams,” he said. “…It does mean something or else they wouldn’t be being considered, but it’s a fair point if you want to stand there and say that.”

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Both SMU and BYU will still have opportunities to earn an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff if they win their respective conference championships. The Mustangs currently find themselves in the best position to do so as they are in first place in the ACC standings with a 6-0 conference record.

BYU will have a tougher path than the Mustangs after its recent loss to Kansas this past week. The Cougars are now tied with Colorado for first place in the Big 12 and have a crucial matchup against Arizona State, which can tie BYU for second place with a win.

Strength of schedule is another argument in favor of the Cougars. BYU has played the 53rd toughest slate in the country this season compared to 86th for SMU according to ESPN.

In the end, both teams still have work to do to boost their resumes for a chance to make the CFP as an at-large bid if they don’t win their conference championships. They come in behind several SEC teams as well as Boise State, and it seems a league title is their safest bet.