CHARLOTTE, N.C. – SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said Friday that the Mustangs’ No. 8 ranking in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s current rankings is the reason they should make the 12-team field no matter what happens ACC championship game happened.

The Mustangs will face No. 17 Clemson (9-3) on Saturday night with an automatic playoff spot on the line. SMU (11-1) was the only team to finish league play at 8-0 in its first year in the ACC.

“I know we should be there because the committee ranked us. They said we were good enough,” Lashlee said during a press conference for the ACC championship game. “The regular season is over. All 134 teams have played their regular season. It’s over.”

“The case is closed on this and they said you are the eighth best team in the country. You said you’re better than two other teams currently at large in the field. They are better than.” These teams have not earned the right to play in a conference championship game and I don’t understand how you can punish anyone for that.

Selection committee chairman Warde Manuel offered wiggle room Tuesday when asked directly whether SMU could fall behind No. 11 Alabama (9-3) with a loss, and he answered “possibly yes.”

“You can also defy the teams. “Here too, it only depends on the outcome of the game,” said Manuel.

Manuel also said that the teams that don’t play on Saturday are essentially locked in and cannot be promoted or relegated. He said the teams playing their championship games will be postponed.

“If the ninth-place team can’t overtake the seventh-place team because neither of them have played, then there’s no way the ninth or 11th-place team can overtake the eighth or fifth-place team or whatever “I can because they’re playing this week,” Lashlee said.

There has been much debate about the role of conference championship games in the expanded playoff era, as coaches have wondered over the course of the season whether playing in an extra game at the end could result in losing teams being penalized.

Lashlee said it never occurred to him to miss the ACC championship game.

“We did the right thing. We showed up. We appreciate the opportunity to play in a conference championship game,” Lashlee said. “We appreciate the opportunity to compete for an ACC Championship with Dabo (Swinney) and Clemson. This is a big deal. “Having a chance to win our league is a bigger deal than just playing for the seeding, although that’s part of it.” But that’s the right thing for me. We’re going to show up and do the right thing because we were told on Tuesday night that we wouldn’t. T Play, you’re there at 8.

“But we also know that the committee has a tough job, so we believe and trust that they will do the right thing and reward our boys who have not only earned the right to play here tomorrow night, but also one to be one of the Twelve best teams in America because that’s how they were ranked.