By Mark Pszonak
The latest College Football Playoff rankings resulted in plenty of new thoughts and opinions. Some of these were shared by Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin who spent an interview opportunity promoting the SEC and slamming the ACC and Big 12. The problem is that he is wrong and personally responsible for the situation that Ole Miss is in.
The Rebels were a preseason favorite by many to contend for a SEC Championship, make the Playoffs and have a realistic chance to win the National Championship. And none of the three will likely happen. Ole Miss is 8-3 and needs several miracles during the final weekend of regular season games to have any opportunity to make the playoffs.
Yet, Coach Kiffin still decided to throw a Hail Mary during an interview to preach how powerful the SEC was and how weak the ACC and Big 12 were:
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Many in SEC country agree with these thoughts, but when it comes to Ole Miss this season it doesn’t make any sense. Aside from their game against Georgia, which they did win, the Rebels avoided the rest of the SEC powers this season. They didn’t play Texas, Alabama, Tennessee or Texas A&M, yet they still lost three conference games.
This doesn’t mean that the SEC is a powerhouse, it just means that the Rebels lost three games they shouldn’t have. They lost three games (Kentucky, LSU, Florida) to teams that have a combined 17-16 record. Kentucky is 1-7 in the SEC this season with their only win coming against Ole Miss, and that was at home. No matter how much you try to hype up the SEC, this is not the resume of a playoff team.
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Ole Miss also had an opportunity to create a better resume by playing a strong out-of-conference schedule and instead played Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Georgia Southern and Wake Forest. While these games are scheduled years ahead of time, there was no effort to make it challenging.
And when it comes to his bashing of the ACC and Big 12, lets take a quick look at Miami. Maybe Coach Kiffin didn’t know or didn’t want to remember, but the Canes beat the Gators in Gainesville 41-17. These are the Gators that just beat Ole Miss on Saturday to likely knock them out of the playoffs.
Lane Kiffin is usually entertaining, but at times it is better to say less. And this was one of these times.
