CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A lot of fans -- and maybe even some of the College Football Playoff committee members -- made judgments about SMU this season without even watching one of its full games.
On ABC primetime in a top-20 conference championship matchup, the nation got to watch SMU on the biggest stage it played all year.
Through one quarter, many of those doubters probably felt proven right.
But after a disastrous start and a 17-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, the Mustangs reminded SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee what he knew about his team all year long.
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"The positive is the team in that locker room is exactly who I thought they were," he said. "There's a bunch of winners in that locker room. There's a bunch of champions."
Many have argued the Mustangs haven't beaten a team still ranked in the top-25. After the 34-31 loss to Clemson, they still haven't. Their two losses are to No. 17 Clemson and No. 18 BYU by three points each. Some will still argue heading into Sunday's College Football Playoff selection show that their strength of schedule doesn't deserve them a spot.
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But Lashlee felt Saturday's performance showed the nation all they needed to know about his Mustangs.
"I think they showed the championship makeup they have," he said. "I think they showed what kind of team they are."
In many ways, the Mustangs' narrow loss to Clemson brought them full circle to their first game of the year.
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In that game, SMU trailed by double digits to Nevada in the second half before pulling off an improbable comeback to escape with the win.
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Lashlee said after that game he learned how his team would deal with adversity.
Faced with the greatest adversity they had seen all season, the Mustangs and quarterback Kevin Jennings responded.
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Jennings had turned the ball over twice in the first half to put SMU in a 21-7 deficit. But he went on to lead four second-half scoring drives and a three-score comeback in the fourth quarter. Jennings finished 31 of 50 with 304 yards passing and four total touchdowns.
"Two bad plays," Lashlee said of Jennings' performance. "But I thought he played brilliantly. He just brought a team back from 17 down in the fourth quarter. Made a lot of big-time plays. Looked very cool, very calm. Looked like a playoff quarterback to me. Hopefully, America gets to see him do that again in a few weeks."
The debate entering Sunday: has SMU done enough? Only the committee can answer that question.
But on the big stage with everyone watching, SMU wanted to show they could compete and had the heart of a championship team.
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While a strong kickoff return and a 56-yard field goal took away their guaranteed spot in the College Football Playoff, Lashlee and his team hope that character they demonstrated was enough.
"I'm just hurting for our guys because, for good reason, their faith in the system is shaken right now. They're wondering, are they going to be in tomorrow?" Lashlee said. "It told me everything I knew about this team, who they are. I'll just say, they're really lucky it didn't go to overtime because we had it in control."
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