Former Miami OC Rhett Lashlee has his SMU in the College Football Playoff in year one of the Mustangs ACC membership. ‘Canes fans should be pulling for Lashlee and co. Saturday vs. Penn State.
The SMU Mustangs are road underdogs to the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, December 21st at noon on TNT/Max. PSU is an 8.5 point favorite with a 67.4% win expectancy per ESPN.
At the helm of the SMU Mustangs is Rhett Lashlee. Lashlee, a former Miami OC. has his Mustangs in the College Football Playoff in year one of ACC membership. ‘Canes fans should be pulling for Lashlee and co. Saturday vs. Penn State, and I’ll tell you why.
So how did Rhett do it in year one in the ACC where Mario Cristobal has failed in three seasons at Miami? SMU certainly was preparing for this move to the ACC ahead of time. Lashlee went back to SMU (he was formerly their OC) with the goal to get the roster up to snuff in the P4.
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
SMU has donors and boosters with deep pockets and being located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with the investment that area makes in high school football, is certainly an edge.
The Mustangs are 11th in SP+ overall while Miami is 10th. SMU’s defensive SP+ is 26th compared to Miami being 42nd. SMU’s offense is 4th while Miami’s is 1st, but the ‘Stangs have a lower rated kicking game (16th vs. 52nd).
SMU dropped their big games against BYU and Clemson but did pull out wins against Pitt and Louisville. Miami also beat Louisville but lost to unranked Syracuse and unranked Georgia Tech. Both losses came in November while SMU lost to the Cougars in week three and Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.
No bitterness towards SMU should be had- they earned their spot into the ACC Championship Game and played a close game against a Clemson squad that backdoor’ed their way into both the ACC CG (thanks, Mario) and the CFBPO.
I have perfectly good reasons Miami fans should be rooting on SMU for the playoff.
1- The roster is loaded with former ‘Canes
Say what you want about the transfer portal but many of these Hurricanes were shown the door and Lashlee welcomed them with open arms. Romello Brinson, Jakai Clark, Jared Harrison-Hunte, Jahfari Harvey, Elijah Roberts, Brashard Smith, and Key’Shawn Smith are all former ‘Canes on the SMU roster.
Not to mention former Hurricanes legend, Russell Maryland’s son RJ Maryland, is also on the Stangs roster. K. Smith, B. Smith, and Clark are starters on offense for SMU while Harvey, Harrison-Hunte and Roberts are starters on defense.
Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Lashlee has figured out how to make B. Smith a star- he has logged 1,500 total yards and 18 TD’s this season. K. Smith has averaged 16.5 yards per catch with five TD’s.
Harrison-Hunte, Harvey and Roberts are 1-2-3 on the team in tackles for loss and three of the top four Mustangs in sacks. Harvey, a player that I thought had a ton of potential, has 12 TFL’s, seven sacks, and two forced fumbles for SMU.
Roberts (5.5 sacks) and Harrison-Hunte (6.0 sacks) logged nine and eight TFL’s, respectively. It’s good to see the players we were pulling for succeed, as long as they aren’t at a rival.
2- Former Miami coaches haven’t always fared so well
A head coach has three main roles in their program that should be goals at every level.
1- Model for your players a successful path in life.
2- Coach your coaches and guide them to a promotion.
3- Overachieve on the field.
Not every former Miami head coach or assistant has fared quite as well as Manny Diaz has. Diaz landed on his feet as the DC at Penn State before taking over the head job at Duke.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Instead there’s Art Kehoe’s that went into coaching exile, Patrick Nix who went back to the HS ranks, Randy Shannon has bounced around the state of Florida, Mark D’Onofrio was fired at Houston and Josh Gattis was just fired at Maryland.
Seeing Rhett Lashlee find success is a good thing for Miami football. He was typically associated with Gus Malzahn but now is usually brought up as a former Miami OC who worked wonders with Tyler Van Dyke.
Lashlee having success shows that former Miami assistants don’t have to float around to Louisville, or as NFL position coaches, or to UTSA in order to keep making a buck. They can become head coaches and push their program into the playoff.
3- If Mario can’t get it done, maybe Rhett is next in line
Mario Cristobal is now 22-15 at Miami at 12-12 in the ACC. Rhett Lashlee is 29-11 at SMU (prior to the playoff starting) and 8-0 in the ACC in the regular season (previous two years were in the AAC).
Lashlee has coached SMU to two bowl games and a playoff appearance as well as an ACC Championship Game appearance. Cristobal has coached Miami to two bowl games in three years without a trip to Charlotte.
Rich Barnes-Imagn Images
Cristobal will absolutely have another two seasons to ‘figure it out,’ but if he doesn’t make a single ACC Championship Game by 2026 he’s gone. Even the Cristobal-friendly powerbrokers at UM won’t stand for him not making a single trip to Charlotte in five seasons of ‘Canes football.
That brings us back to Lashlee. If Lashlee can continue having success at SMU in ‘25 and ‘26 he could be the next in line at The U. He’s proven that he can win in the ACC, and do so with Miami talent as his feature running back.
While he’s an offensive coach at heart his defense is playing well. He just has to get this team over the hump and to act like they’re ready to win a big game. SMU is currently 5th in the ACC in recruiting and 33rd in the country.
But Lashlee has mixed HS recruiting with the portal to get his kind of guys. Add that to having a four-star QB signed for 2025 and Lashlee may not want to leave Dallas.
The Wrap
As a Miami fan if you’re wondering who to pull for during the College Football Playoff the answer is clearly SMU. It can’t be Clemson and Dabo Swinney. It can’t be PSU, Ohio State, or Notre Dame for obvious reasons. Maybe you’re a sicko and will pull for the G5 team in Boise State. But the clear answer is Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs.