Lane Kiffin fires shots across the CFP bow on behalf of SEC and its teams’ tough schedules: ‘It’s ridiculous the difference between playing in the SEC and the ACC and Big 12’
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss football is ranked No. 14 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. Whether Rebels agree with that or not, they can rest assured their head coach is not pleased with some of the teams ranked ahead of Ole Miss and other Southeastern Conference teams — and he voiced his opinions at Wednesday’s Reb Talk with David Kellum.
Currently, Indiana is at No. 10 after a blowout loss to Ohio State last weekend. Clemson is ranked No. 12, while Alabama comes in at 13. Clemson holds two losses — including overwhelming defeats at the hands of Georgia and Louisville. Alabama and Ole Miss, on the other hand, though they have three losses, each notched big wins over Georgia, with the Rebels defeating the Bulldogs by three scores. Georgia is currently No. 2 in the Vegas odds to win the national championship. So, that begs the question of which of those teams should be ranked higher?
On Wednesday, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin made it clear what he thinks. The Rebels’ coach talked about the College Football Playoffs and expressed his annoyance with the way the rankings are falling right now.
“We need to play really well, first off [against Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl],” Kiffin said on Wednesday.
“That’s what’s in our control, and other need things to happen. I’m not saying because of us, but it’s ridiculous the difference between playing in the SEC and the ACC and Big 12 and see these rankings. I’m not even doing the Ole Miss homer thing. You’re talking about Clemson’s schedule and who they’ve played over Alabama. It’s stupid. Take some of those teams that are up there who haven’t played anybody and put them in the SEC, they’re .500 teams.”
Lane Kiffin
If one takes a look at the strength of schedules for Alabama (11th toughest schedule), Ole Miss (27th) and Clemson (57th), it’s easy to see why Coach Kiffin feels the way he does. Then, throw in Indiana’s No. 51 strength of schedule and the fact that the ACC, definitely NOT the strongest conference, has three teams in the top 12 (Miami, ranked No. 6; SMU ranked No. 9 and Clemson coming in at 12), it’s clear why Kiffin is annoyed.
SMU has the No. 77 hardest schedule. Miami’s comes in at No. 59, and Indian’s aforementioned No. 51.
The three ACC teams currently ranked ahead of Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina have combined for 0 wins this season against Top 25 teams.
The Tide, Rebels and Gamecocks have totaled 7.
Make it make sense.
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) November 27, 2024
The fact does remain, however, that Ole Miss hindered its own chance at the playoffs due to the Rebels’ losses to Kentucky, LSU and Florida. In the Kentucky and Florida games, Ole Miss was a double-digit favorite in each.
Nevertheless, by being ranked just a few spots outside the top 12, the Rebels technically do have a path to the playoffs, and it first starts with a convincing win in the Egg Bowl. Then, Kiffin’s bunch would need a lot of chaos to happen, as it did last weekend. And keep in mind, this is college football and anything can happen.
Still, it doesn’t sit well with Coach Kiffin that weaker conferences have teams ahead of teams in the SEC — which Kiffin believes is the hardest in the nation. He went so far as to say he thinks some of those non-SEC teams who are in the top 12 would not fare well in an 8-game SEC schedule.
“I’m not going to name them, but take some of those teams up there and put them in the SEC. They’re .500 teams. If you play a way harder schedule and (go to) way harder places to play. Just because you’re 11-1 but you played one team that was really good and you got beat. You didn’t beat anybody good. Well, that doesn’t matter. You could schedule 20 games against bad teams and win 20 it still doesn’t prove a whole lot.”
Lane Kiffin
After Tuesday night’s rankings release, CFP chair Warde Manuel spoke on a zoom call with media and offered up an explanation for why Clemson is ahead of Alabama and Ole Miss.
“Well, Clemson slid up with some losses ahead of them by Alabama and Mississippi, and they had a win against Citadel, obviously, but that wasn’t the big reason,” Manuel said. (Citadel? Are you kidding me right now?)
“Obviously they’re at 9-2, with only two losses,” Manuel continued. “The teams right behind them have three losses. We just felt as a committee as we looked at their body of work, with three straight wins after their loss to Louisville, including back-to-back wins against Virginia Tech and Pitt, that they deserved to move up into that 12th position,” he finished.
Brutality of SEC schedules
Will the committee begin to consider strength of schedule as they get closer down to the final rankings? Will they consider the fact that the Southeastern Conference is a brutal league in terms of physicality? Week after week, there are no breathers with the conference schedule in terms of competitiveness of the teams and in their physical toughness.
The teams are comprised, as Coach Kiffin says, of more future NFL players than any other league. There are no ‘gimmes’ in the SEC, and the toll the weekly beatings take on each team is substantial. The injury reports will attest to that. Every opponent can beat you up, and that’s not the case in other conferences. (Why would ANY SEC team want to go to a nine-game conference schedule, especially when the CFP rankings are shaking out like they are?)
So what will the committee do? There’s no telling, but you can bet Lane Kiffin has fired shots across the bow for his conference and its teams’ tough schedules.
Recruiting, National Signing Day and the Transfer Portal
The start of the early signing period opens next week with National Signing Day on December 4. Then, on December 9 the transfer portal opens. It will close three weeks later on December 28.
On Reb Talk, Coach Kiffin was asked what he and his staff will look to do in the portal.
“A lot will have to do with who leaves,” Kiffin explained. “We don’t know that, yet. We’re so focused on this game that we’ll get to those meetings next week.”
Ole Miss is set to host Mississippi State Friday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ABC.
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.