College Football Playoff Rankings 2019: Projected Top 25, Week 11

Despite losing by six points in a barnburner at Memphis for their first defeat of 2019, SMU will remain a ranked squad when the College Football Playoff selection committee releases their first Top 25 list of the year. The Mustangs have been churning out close wins all season long, and this narrow defeat against a ranked Tigers squad is by no means a damning loss.

Rather than being up in the top 15, though, they will fall down to the edge of the top 25. If Memphis loses again, though, SMU will be right back in the thick of the battle for the AAC West crown. Shane Buechele threw for 456 yards and three touchdowns on 34-of-54 passing in the losing effort, but the backfield cooled down from recent weeks as Xavier Jones ran for just 22 yards and a touchdown and Ke’Mon Freeman added 74 yards and a pair of rushing scores.

SMU has no chance to rest and recuperate, as East Carolina comes to Dallas in Week 11. A bye week sits on the horizon after the Pirates visits the Metroplex, and then the Mustangs close things out with Navy on the road and Tulane at home. They still are very alive in the Group of Five race despite falling from the ranks of the undefeated.