Football’s biggest day arrives for local favs

By David Mullen

For the SMU Mustangs and University of Texas Longhorns, their December rally cry should be carpe diem.

The two most popular college football programs in Dallas — with apologies to Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU and North Texas alumni and fans — will play two of the most significant games in their history on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, Dec. 7.

It is a chance for both schools to “seize the day.” A successful Saturday could have a lasting impact on the schools’ athletic programs for years to come. And both teams appear up to the task.

The Longhorns play the Georgia Bulldogs for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship at 3 p.m. at the “neutral” site Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, 70 miles from the Georgia campus in Athens. At 7 p.m., the Mustangs play the Clemson Tigers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship. Both games are nationally televised on ABC.  

If Texas and SMU win, they can each claim their conference championship and a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff (CFP). In Texas’ first year in the SEC, the Longhorns are 7-1 in the conference and 11-1 overall. The Ponies, in their first year in the ACC, are 8-0 in the conference and 11-1 overall.  

Joining a new conference normally takes teams a while to get acclimated to a completely different set of opponents, first time visits to storied campuses and often insane travel requirements. SMU football traveled more than 13,000 miles for five ACC road games this season. 

The success of Texas and certainly SMU seems to have caught the CFP Committee off guard. They should have done their homework. It’s college.

The CFP claims neutrality in their decision making, stating that their choices are primarily statistically driven. But there is a lot of unscientific decision making that goes into the process. Committee members call it the “passing the eye test” if a team looks good despite their record. Unless a student plans on becoming an optometrist, there are no eye tests in college. 

When the latest CFP rankings were released on December 3, Texas was ranked No. 2 behind the 12-0 Oregon Ducks. SMU, winners of nine straight games despite pundits anointing the No. 14 South Carolina Gamecocks as college football’s hottest team with six wins in a row, is a deserving No. 8. 

A win over Clemson almost certainly catapults SMU to No. 3 in the CFP poll, guaranteeing a first-round bye in the 12-team playoff introduced this year to determine the National Champions.  

The CFP guarantees the top four spots in the final CFP poll before the playoffs to the four highest-ranked conference champions. In this case, the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 are the highest ranked conferences. The fifth highest conference champion is guaranteed a playoff bid.

The Pac-12 used to be in the mix, but they folded. An independent team, like the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, will drop in the rankings without losing a game because they are not in a Power Four conference.  

Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC in 2024, making it a 16-team conference. SMU, Stanford and Cal joined the geographically challenged ACC in 2024. Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado joined the numerically challenged 16-team Big 12 Conference this year and Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA left the Pac-12 in 2024 for the similarly numerically challenged 18-team Big Ten Conference. 

Apparently, a knowledge of basic arithmetic and U.S. geography are no longer required on major college campuses, at least in realigning conferences. 

The bloated conferences has led to a scheduling nightmare. Some teams play eight conference games, while others play nine. Some teams, like SMU, didn’t play formidable conference opponents like Miami, Clemson or Syracuse during the regular season. And the Committee lives in the past, giving teams like No. 11 Alabama a chance to compete for a National Championship despite three losses and basically shunning No. 9 Indiana (11-1) because they are a “basketball school.” College football only exists in the Southeast Conference for those that live in the Southeast.

Texas can avenge a 30-15 loss to Georgia in mid-October with a win on Saturday. Everything seemed to go wrong for Texas at home against Georgia in their first meeting. They found themselves down 23-0 at halftime. But Texas is one of the best two teams in the nation (with Oregon) and should be more focused with the prospects of a National Championship on the line. 

The Longhorns are a 2.5-point favorite over the 10-2 Bulldogs. 

SMU can continue its Cinderella ACC season with a victory over 9-3 Clemson. SMU’s only loss was to CFP No. 18 ranked Boise State (10-2) by three points. The SMU offense is in the Top 5 in the nation, led by QB Kevin Jennings. They have averaged 40.8 points per game during the current nine-game winning streak and have won their last 10 road games. The Mustangs are a 2.5-point favorite, despite opening as an underdog.

For SMU and Texas and the loyalists on the CFP Committee, it’s a whole new ball game. It is not inconceivable that two Texas teams play each other in January in the Cotton Bowl or Orange Bowl with the winner going on to the National Championship. Seize the day.