Woah! You can definitely feel the heat this weekend. After all, Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are going to face one of their toughest challenges this season for the ACC Championship. That’s none other than Rhett Lashlee and the SMU Mustangs. But it looks like the SMU coach is “choosing to believe.” Believe what? Well, Lashlee and co. are not bothered much about the weekend championship fight. Their main motive is the College Football Playoff selection. And the HC seems to be all confident about sliding into the playoffs. After all, they are ranked above Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers and Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama Crimson Tide. 

As per the AP Top 25 college football poll, Lashlee’s Mustangs got a No.8 rank, while the Hoosiers are at No.9 with the same 11-1 streak and Alabama at No.11 with 9-3. The final ranking will be released on Sunday, December 8 and by that time SMU will be already done with their game against Clemson. However, Lashlee is already soaring high with confidence and believes that no matter what the outcome of the Saturday, December 7th game is, the College Football Playoff selection committee will keep an open door for the Mustangs as an at-large team. During the ACC championship news conference, the HC boldly stated, “The reason I know we should be in is because the committee has ranked us in. They’ve said we’re good enough…And they said you are the eighth-best team in the country.”

He continued, “They said you’re better than two other teams that are currently in the field for an at-large…Those teams didn’t earn the right to play in a conference championship game, and we did.” And what about their ACC rivals? Well, Swinney and the Tigers are ranked much below at No.18. But guess who added some spice to the drama? None other than CFP chair holder Warde Manuel, who acknowledged the possibility of the Mustangs falling behind No. 11 Alabama if they lose, saying “potentially yes'” when asked about it. 

But mind you, it’s not easy to break Lashlee’s morale. As he stated, “If the team ranked No. 9 can’t jump the team ranked No. 7 because neither of them played, then there’s no way the team ranked ninth or 11th can jump the team ranked eighth or fifth or whatever because they are playing this week.”

For them, getting a chance is a big deal altogether. As the HC said, skipping the ACC championship game had never been an option. “We did the right thing. We showed up. We value the opportunity to play in a conference championship game,” he said. Unfortunately, the college football analyst is surely standing on opposite shores of the debate and landed a grounding alert for Lashlee. 

A bold upsetting prediction for Rhett Lashlee 

Yes, we know how things are tough for the Tigers. After all, Swinney’s boys are coming off a fresh loss to rivals the South Carolina Gamecocks. They got a bit lucky though, because that defeat didn’t completely kill their playoff chances. All thanks to Syracuse’s power, as the orange army was strong enough to crush Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes on December 1. With this, Clemson now has a shot at redemption only if they can give Lashlee’s program a tough time.

And here is where FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt makes an entry. Yes, he is the one who believes that the much-awaited ACC Championship is going to turn in Swinney’s favor. Being the 2.5-point underdog, the Tigers are going to clench the victory. Here came his prediction that’s surely going shake college football fans, “I’m going with the outright upset here. Clemson wins this game.”

“They cover that two and a half, and they get the win outright. 35-31 in a high-scoring game, Clemson wins this thing and punches their ticket to the college football playoff,” Joel Klatt sounded all confident. Will this make Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs saddle up tighter for a stampede on the field?