STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Billions of dollars can buy a lot of things. It can help revitalize a football program and integrate your alma mater into a larger conference. It can buy a private jet. But it can’t add more space to a tiny regional airport.

SMU donor Bill Armstrong’s last name is on the team’s indoor practice facility. His plane, which also included two-time US Open golf champion Bryson DeChambeau and former Mustangs star running back Craig James, left Dallas around 6:30 a.m. CT for State College, Pennsylvania. However, upon arrival it was diverted to Williamsport, as were several other SMU private aircraft. The airport was full.

If one believes in harbingers, this was an ominous event, the limits of SMU’s money became apparent. From a party bus heading to the stadium, several SMU donors and former players watched on their cell phones as quarterback Kevin Jennings threw two pick-sixes. When they arrived at Beaver Stadium, the score was 21-0 and the game was all but over.

“Still a great season,” Armstrong said after the game, pulling his gloves out of his pocket and refusing to let up too much. There was no doubt in his mind that the Mustangs belonged here with eleven wins.

The final score was 38-10. As the last at-large team in the field, the discourse surrounding College Football Playoff upsets and the selection committee’s decisions turned to SMU a day after Indiana was mauled by Notre Dame.

Penn State showed the difference between a CFP darling, a funny story and a CFP contender. This gap is often evident at this stage of the season.

“We didn’t play well enough to say anything that isn’t written,” head coach Rhett Lashlee said. “It is written: Should we be there or did we belong? That’s okay. You are welcome to write it. We didn’t play well today. But this is a quality team. We had a good team. We deserve to be here. We have earned the right to be here. I’m disappointed that we didn’t play at the level that confirms that.”

It’s a shame that SMU didn’t even give itself a chance. Before kickoff, Lashlee told the broadcast that his team needed to avoid a bad start like the one in the ACC Championship Game against Clemson, when Jennings had two bad turnovers.

What happened this time? First, Jennings missed a wide-open Matthew Hibner in the end zone for what should have been a fourth-down touchdown to cap SMU’s first drive. On the second drive, Jennings threw a pick six and missed a short throw out of the backfield. On the fourth drive, Jennings threw another pick six, a desperate attempt to play on third down rather than throw the ball away.

SMU trailed 14-0 despite otherwise playing pretty well and holding its own in the trenches. The defense had been strong up to this point.

“That shocked us a little bit,” Lashlee said of the sales figures.

Jennings was prone to turnover. He had five against Duke, but the Mustangs rallied together to win that one. SMU also recovered from its two turnovers against Clemson and tied the game late. But Penn State is a step above the competition.

“We don’t have Abdul Carter,” Lashlee said, referring to Penn State’s All-America edge rusher, who was constantly in the backfield and made more than his two tackles for loss suggested, constantly shutting Jennings down the bag sent. Penn State’s defense finished with 11 tackles for loss.

For his part, Jennings said his early miss in the end zone stuck with him and led to the interceptions. Lashlee blamed himself for the red zone interception in the second quarter and said he should have just called a running play. Jennings blamed himself.

“I made three mistakes and gave them the ball with careless mistakes,” said the normally calm Jennings. “I didn’t care about the ball.”

When asked if he thought about replacing Jennings with backup Preston Stone, Lashlee didn’t indicate it was ever a consideration until the fourth quarter. Stone, who was the Mustangs’ starting quarterback last year and earlier this year, entered the transfer portal earlier this month but had remained with the SMU team. When Lashlee pulled Jennings out late, everyone decided they didn’t want Stone to get injured in the exit at that point in the game, the coach said. After the final horn sounded, several reports surfaced that Stone was headed to Northwestern.

A 38-10 game is neither close nor competitive. Penn State was clearly the better team that will win the Fiesta Bowl against No. 3 seed Boise State. But SMU finished the game with more first downs and held PSU to 5.0 yards per play, although the amount of wasted time certainly contributed to those respectable stats.

SMU scored just three points on four red zone trips and gave up 14 points on interception-return touchdowns. That’s why Lashlee was so frustrated. He knows what it looks like. He can’t argue otherwise.

“People will see 38-10 or (28-0) at halftime and say they don’t belong, but those two pick sixes and we had our chances,” he said. “We have no one to blame but ourselves. It should have been a good defensive fight in the ’20s. We didn’t do that.”

SMU has long felt that simply receiving an invitation to a power conference would show that it belongs. The Mustangs showed that they belong in the ACC with an 8-0 mark in conference play. But they have not yet shown that they are ready for this phase. Nittany Lions coach James Franklin gets a lot of heat from fans and critics for not winning the big games, but he almost always wins the games where Penn State has more talent.

Underdog stories usually end with a thud in the CFP, and SMU and Indiana join a list that includes Cincinnati, TCU and others. In the end, top talent wins, and SMU doesn’t have that yet.

Lashlee and SMU will spend the following months listening to those who say SMU shouldn’t have been in the CFP, that Alabama deserved the spot (despite Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe throwing three interceptions in a 21-point loss scored against 6-6 Oklahoma). Mid-November was almost exactly the same as Jennings at Penn State). That’s what this phase entails.

SMU was here for the first time and didn’t deliver. As the party bus drove back to Williamsport and the private planes flew back to Dallas, SMU’s coaches, players and billionaires left with a clear idea of ​​how far they still have to go.

(Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)