USA TODAY
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin There was a claim this week that not only is the SEC the best conference in college football, but that there is a “ridiculous” difference between playing there and in the ACC or Big 12.
Kiffin, who had the greatest talent ever assembled in Oxford, has his team a disappointing 8-3 and 14th in the College Football Playoff heading into Friday night’s Egg Bowl against 2-9 Mississippi State, arguably one of the SEC’s. constants.
The Ole Miss coach also didn’t mention the Big Ten, which has a single 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 talking about us, but it’s a ridiculous difference between playing in the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12 and seeing those rankings,” Kiffin said.
“I don’t even do the Ole Miss Homer thing. You talk about Clemson’s program and who they played at Alabama. It’s stupidity. Take some of the teams that are up there that 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 it’s just beating each other, or it’s a whole bunch of above-average teams and the Big Ten is king this year.
As playoff rankings come into even greater focus, should a three-loss SEC team move above a two-loss ACC team? Big Ten doubleheader? Everything will work itself out, but the SEC’s ego might be a little inflated this season.
Ole Miss played Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern — four brownies — to warm up for an SEC schedule where the Rebels blew it in losses to Kentucky, LSU and Florida.
In their first year in the SEC — and after many questions whether Texas could hang with the big boys — the Longhorns are the top seed in the conference heading into a big matchup against Texas A&M.
Texas has won just one Big 12 championship since 2010 and could be in line to win the SEC in its first year in the conference. What does that say about SEC dominance this season?
Cracks appeared.
Alabama fell against an average Oklahoma team that is now 6-5 and hasn’t been able to figure out its quarterback all season. The Crimson Tide also lost to Vanderbilt for the first time since 1984.
Georgia lost to the same Alabama team and got owned by Ole Miss. Tennessee lost at Arkansas — which it lost to Oklahoma State, the last-place team in the conference (Big 12) that Kiffin mocked.
Texas A&M lost to Notre Dame at home in the season opener 10, got shut 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 in the midst of a disappointing four-loss season. Florida was embarrassingly dominated by Miami in the 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 of that means the Big Ten’s top four teams are a combined 41-3.
The Big 12’s Colorado Buffaloes have arguably two of the best players in college football — Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy frontrunner Travis Hunter.
SMU is pretty damn impressive in the ACC and Clemson is no slouch.
Kiffin likes to talk holier than thou about the SEC and all this tired rhetoric about the SEC being so superior is starting to ring hollow. Of course, it’s a busy conference. This season, though, Kiffin and others in the SEC don’t like to think.