The last day of SEC Media Days wrapped up on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, and all I can say is thank goodness. It was four days full of butt kissing and stupidity across the board.
From Greg Sankey to Eli Drinkwitz, there was no shortage of clowns and some of the things I saw and heard from there were enough to make anyone lose a few brain cells.
But it appears that they saved the best for last as LSU head coach Lane Kiffin took the podium. Now Kiffin himself, is already quite the figure. Jumping ship from Ole Miss to LSU before the playoff was an interesting move to say the least and I don’t think we need to go down his resume. He’s a character to say the least.
When talking about the SEC’s move to a nine-game conference schedule, Kiffin wasn’t a fan.
“My concern is the [College Football Playoff] selection process is not fixed until it is truly fixed to reward strength of schedule,” Kiffin said. “If we keep playing each other, we don’t prove we’re better than anyone else.”
Now that is something I can agree with. We need more big-time non-conference matchups all over the country. With teams increasing their conference schedules, some schools have already decided to cancel future power four non-conference including LSU as they cancelled a future home and home series against Arizona State in 2029 and 2030.
However, where he lost me is when he started talking about the way the playoff committee should be looking at teams from different conferences. Kiffin said, “Until we can get into a world where people can actually look at teams and say, that team that is 9-3 with their schedule is a better team than that 11-1 in a different conference, which now I think we aren’t even close to doing that, I think it causes problems.”
What problems? Unless there is a direct head-to-head game between the two teams, what other metric should the playoff committee use when it comes to comparing two power four teams from different conferences.
Should a 9-3 SEC team get in over a 11-1 Big 12 team or ACC team? Absolutely not. Especially, when stats like ESPN’s FPI exist that reward SEC teams from playing a cellar dweller in their own conference more than if they were to play a top tier team from the Big 12 or ACC.
Strength of schedule should only carry so much weight. If two teams have identical records from different power conferences, then sure that can be used as a legitimate point but between a 11-1 and a 9-3 team, there shouldn’t even be a comparison to be had.
It’s bad enough that BYU was left out last season after finishing 11-1. They got punished for playing in the conference championship game and losing to Texas Tech for the second time. But if we get to a point where we are letting three loss teams into the playoff then what is the point of even trying to schedule tough teams anymore?
