USA TODAY
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin popped off this week making the claim that not only is the SEC the best conference in college football but that it’s “ridiculous” the difference between playing there and in the ACC or Big 12.
Kiffin, who had the most talent possibly ever assembled in Oxford, has his team at a disappointing 8-3 and No. 14 in the College Football Playoff rankings heading into Friday night’s Egg Bowl against 2-9 Mississippi State, apparently one of those SEC stalwarts.
The Ole Miss coach also didn’t mention the Big Ten, which has the lone undefeated team left in Oregon and three one-loss teams in Ohio State (whose only loss came to Oregon), Penn State and Indiana (both of which only lost to the Buckeyes).
“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,” Kiffin said.
“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.”
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Maybe. But the jury is still out on whether the SEC is the best conference in college football this season and just beating up on each other or it’s a whole bunch of above-average teams and the Big Ten is king this year.
With the playoff rankings coming into even more focus, should a three-loss SEC team get in over a two-loss ACC team? A two-loss Big Ten squad? It will all work itself out but the SEC ego might be a little inflated this season.
Ole Miss played Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern – four cupcakes – to warm up for the SEC schedule where the Rebels blew it in losses to Kentucky, LSU and Florida.
In its first year in the SEC – and after many questions whether Texas could hang with the big boys – the Longhorns are the tops in the conference heading into a big showdown against Texas A&M.
Since 2010, Texas has won only one Big 12 championship and could be in line to win an SEC one in its first year in the conference. What does that say about SEC dominance this season?
Cracks have shown.
Alabama flopped against an average Oklahoma team that is now 6-5 and could not figure out its quarterback situation all season. The Crimson Tide also lost to Vanderbilt for the first time since 1984.
Georgia lost to that same Alabama team and also got owned by Ole Miss. Tennessee lost at Arkansas – which lost to Oklahoma State, the last-place team in the conference (Big 12) that Kiffin was mocking.
Texas A&M lost to Notre Dame by 10 at home in the season opener, got blown out by South Carolina and lost to a struggling (to put it mildly) Auburn team, 43-41.
Vanderbilt lost to Georgia State. LSU lost to USC amid a disappointing four-loss season so far. Florida got run in embarrassing fashion by Miami in its season opener. Auburn lost to Cal. Mississippi State lost to Arizona State and Toledo – Toledo?!?! – and the Bulldogs’ only wins came against Eastern Kentucky and UMass.
All this to say the Big Ten’s top four teams have a combined record of 41-3.
The Big 12’s Colorado Buffaloes has arguably the two best players in college football in Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy frontrunner.
SMU is pretty damn impressive in the ACC and Clemson is no slouch.
Kiffin likes to speak holier than thou about the SEC and all of this tired rhetoric about the SEC being so superior is starting to ring hollow. Of course, it’s a loaded conference. But, this season, it’s not what Kiffin and others in the SEC like to think.
