Gone are those days when Cinderella was only a character in fairy tales. Now, even college football has a Cinderella story. All thanks to the underdog programs that give a hard time to highly-ranked opponents by defeating them. It looks like two underdogs, Spencer Danielson’s Boise State Broncos and Rhett Lashlee’s SMU Mustangs, are all ready with the pen and paper to write their Cinderella story this season.

Broncos main character Ashton Jeanty is already in the limelight for the Heisman race. That’s when the college football analyst gave them a huge shoutout, raising the stakes by claiming they were a bigger threat than even the top dogs like Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs and Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns, among others. 

College football analyst’s vote for the underdogs

Enough of the limelight only for the top dogs. At least college football analyst Adam Breneman feels so. Now it’s time for some real shakeup as the College Football Playoffs and March Madness are knocking at the door. Quite naturally, bigshots like Georgia, Penn State, Texas, and Notre Dame are expected to land it big. But when is March Madness without any surprising upsets? However, Jeanty and co. and Rhett Lashlee’s squad might likely be the reason behind the top dogs’ upset. At least Breneman seems to be sure of the fact that this time is going to bring “attention and life-changing opportunities for the underdogs.” You must be wondering how the analyst can be so sure.

Well, seems like Breneman did not speak without facts. After all, he had the history book of college football opened in front of him as he pointed out the trend, “Every March, Cinderella teams steal the show and change their schools forever.” Well, that’s true. The 2022 March Madness memories are still fresh with the fans. All thanks to the St.Peter program as they knocked off Kentucky, who had been a strong name back then. This gave the Peacocks a $2.3 million donation. Now that the College Football Playoff has expanded, Boise State can also make the most of the lifetime opportunity on December 31. Now let’s shift focus to “the most controversial team,” Lashlee’s Mustangs. 

Back in 1987, SMU had to go through a tough time when it got hit with the death penalty due to severe recruiting violations. And look at them now. Coming off strong in ACC. So strong that they even refused to take any financial help from the media and promised, “We’ll raise that money ourselves.” That’s when Breneman concluded, “While the stakes are certainly high for big boys like Georgia, Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame, the stakes are even higher for the underdogs that can completely change the trajectory of their school’s future.” The Mustangs HC, Lashlee, is already confident about his boys. 

Rhett Lashlee holds a strong belief about his boys  

SMU grabbed the No.11 seed. So Lashlee’s army will now travel to No.6 Penn State for the first round. Even though they come off as underdogs, the Mustangs mentor believes that they have already proven themselves.  “I get it, if we don’t play well, then that’s not going to be the story that’s written. And so, yeah, to help the narrative be that we belong, we do need to go play well, but I don’t think we have to prove anything. I think what we’ve done, we’ve proved enough, and that’s why the committee put us in the playoff,” claimed Lashlee. 

However, now that they are in the first-ever 12-team playoff, it’s really special for SMU. That’s when Lashlee vows not to make any mistake this time. No matter how much they have proved themselves in the near past or get hyped up by the analysts, the Mustangs know that Happy Valley will present a unique challenge. This would take their “best effort of the year to come out of there with a win.” The fear of the unknown led Lashlee to do some self-searching. 

“We played one of our worst quarters of the year in the first quarter last week. That’s uncharacteristic of us, but we can’t afford to do that on the road in Happy Valley,” noted the HC. If Rhett Lashlee’s SMU Mustangs and Ashton Jeanty’s Boise State boys are able to beat the top dogs, college football history will be rewritten!