Lane Kiffin Rips CFP After Ole Miss' No. 13 Bracket Ranking: 'Do You Actually Watch'
December 4, 2024
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin called out the College Football Playoff selection committee after the Rebels were 13th in the newest CFP rankings.
Kiffin questioned whether the committee members "actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments" and "just try and make the ACC feel relevant."
Lane Kiffin @Lane_KiffinYou guys actually meet for days and come up with these rankings?? <a href="https://twitter.com/CFBPlayoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CFBPlayoff</a> Do you actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments (we played in one of yours this year 💤) or just try and make the ACC feel relevant ?? Btw one of your teams paid us not to… <a href="https://t.co/2WZucjAQSX">https://t.co/2WZucjAQSX</a>
A pro-ACC bias from the committee might be news to the ACC.
This is the conference whose unbeaten champion couldn't crack the top four in 2023. Florida State is also the only full ACC member other than Clemson to qualify for the playoff since its inception.
Not to mention, Kiffin is getting frustrated about something that's largely irrelevant for now.
Yes, Miami is ranked ahead of Ole Miss, but neither is on track to make the College Football Playoff. By virtue of winning the Big 12, Arizona State (No. 15) or Iowa State (No. 16) will vault ahead of the 12th-ranked Hurricanes and claim the last playoff berth.
It's abundantly clear that Kiffin believes the ACC and Big 12 are weaker conferences than the SEC, and that's a fair conclusion to draw. However, his wider beef should be with how the playoff is formatted.
Under the current rules, the five highest-ranked conference champions qualify. That basically guarantees one or both of the Big 12 and ACC will have one representative, and the decision is out of the committee's hands.
And the fact of the matter is, Ole Miss wouldn't be in this position at all if it managed to beat Kentucky, Florida or LSU, none of whom was exceptional in 2024. The Wildcats lost eight games and went 1-7 in the SEC.
If the Rebels were sitting at 10-2 right now, then they'd almost assuredly be ranked above 9-3 Alabama and on track to make the playoff.
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