Death. Taxes. And people being upset about the College Football Playoff rankings. Add Lane Kiffin to the list of people who are upset with the penultimate rankings. Last night, feathers were ruffled when a 3-loss Alabama was projected to be in the postseason despite an awful loss to Oklahoma a few weeks ago. Ole Miss was ranked 13th, behind Miami and just ahead of South Carolina. The Rebels’ head coach was not happy and made his frustrations known.
Lane Kiffin Reacts To The College Football Playoff Rankings
There are many different arguments happening about the rankings. Lane Kiffin has a problem with conference inequality. He ripped the committee choosing the teams questioning whether they “actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments.” He then followed it up with a very curious statement, claiming the committee is just trying to “make the ACC feel relevant again.” The ACC would probably be much happier if the committee was trying to help them.
Last year will live in infamy after the undefeated Florida State Seminoles were left out in favor of the Crimson Tide. This year, it is Alabama again who is taking the spot of an ACC team with a better record. Miami is ranked 12th, one spot behind Alabama but out of the playoff due to the guarantees that come with being a conference winner. Hurricanes Mario Cristobal expressed his displeasure with the rankings as well after they were released. In terms of Kiffin, his case is much weaker.
Ole Miss Resume
There is no question the Ole Miss Rebels are a good team but they had plenty of chances to impress the committee and failed. They lost three games in the SEC this season and did not have a signature non-conference win. One of their losses was to Kentucky who only one a single game in conference play, their victory over the rebels. Losses to LSU and Florida also hurt their playoff chances.
Their best wins were a 28-10 victory over the Georgia Bulldogs who are currently in the College Football Playoff and South Carolina who has been a media darling over the past month. Overall, the committee believes other teams have better resumes than the Rebels. Lane Kiffin doesn’t necessarily have a problem with the SEC teams. He seems to take issue with the other conferences.
Conference Inequality
One of the reasons Ole Miss and Miami are out of the playoffs is the automatic bids for conference championship winners. Arizona State and Iowa State are ranked below both teams, but the winner of this weekend’s game will get an automatic spot in the College Football Playoff. There’s nothing the committee can do about that. They are bound by the rules to let the conference champions in. In future years, there will likely be many teams that have superior resumes but are left out because of the automatic bids. We see this in basketball all the time when a team comes out of nowhere to win the conference tournament and knocks someone out. It will happen in football, too.
Final Thoughts
It’s hard to feel sorry for a team with three losses. While we can’t know for sure, the Rebels would likely be in the College Football Playoff if they were 10-2 rather than 9-3. As long as the system exists, there will be teams that will feel slighted. This will hopefully motivate Lane Kiffin to make sure his resume is air tight come playoff time next year.
