ACC Media Days: SMU Head Coach Rhett Lashlee on Life in a Power Conference

“The ACC, you can’t have an off week or you’re going to get beat,” Lashlee said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re playing at Clemson, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing whoever that last-place team is at home. If you have an off week, if you play like we did in the playoff game, you’re probably going to lose. Look at our Duke game. It was a miracle we won. We went out and turned it over six times. We should have lost. And that was a good team.”

Lashlee, whose Mustangs are entering their second year in the ACC, also made a point to praise the overall depth of the conference.

“It’s just a week in, week out — that’s the league you want to be in, that’s where you want to be,” Lashlee said. “You look at our league, we had like four 10-win teams, two playoff teams, a handful of nine-win teams, 13 bowl teams, there’s just not a lot of easy wins on the schedule.”

And then came a shot against one of the big boys.

“Other leagues that claim depth. But like, the SEC has had the same six schools win the championship since 1964. The same six. Not a single one has been different since 1964. That’s top-heavy to me. That’s not depth.”