Since Day 1, Lane Kiffin has openly opposed the new nine game SEC schedule.
“This is nothing I haven’t said to the commissioner or didn’t say when it was brought up years ago about making this decision – that this was going to really be a poor decision and really not thought out,” Kiffin said in the SEC's teleconference a month ago.
His tune hasn't changed as LSU sits at 2-2 in the SEC with five more conference games to go.
But is he onto something, or is he on a hill he will die on?
Kiffin's Up-To-Date Feelings
On Monday, Kiffin was asked about the nine-game schedule as he prepares for Auburn. He talked about it pretty extensively.
"And they kinda said when it was proposed, they said, 'Well, okay, you're going to take on eight more losses,'" Kiffin said. "I mean, that's going to be real, there's no way of changing the math, that's going to happen."
"So you see that, I think somebody said there's two SEC teams in the top-10 right now, and I said before it started, I said, 'Take away the first SEC game that you play because that's going to be brand new, the ninth one came early and got added and replaced an early win, you know where's that going to put you?" Kiffin asked.
"Look at this team [Auburn Tigers], if you took away their first SEC loss, and it was just a win versus a Group of Six team, they'd be a top-10 team right now," Kiffin argued. "They'd have one loss, on the road at Tennessee to a really good team. And somehow now, because of adding an extra game, they're not even ranked and they just beat the number one team in the country."
He concluded the answer by saying, "It's just where football is, and they can't see like they do in basketball or baseball, metrics, so it is what it is."
His Point
“There was a graphic sent today to some of the SEC coaches, and it was top-25 teams and ranked opponents left,' Kiffin said on that teleconference in September. "It really puts it into perspective, in the Power Four, how ridiculous this is."
He gave an example explaining his point.
“It starts with Texas playing seven top-25 teams left,” Kiffin said before the Texas A&M game. “Then you have other conferences – and I’m not ripping on any school. I’m just saying these are the facts. You have a Big 12 school that doesn’t play one ranked team the rest of the year, and you have an ACC team that plays zero ranked teams the rest of the year.”
Kiffin Has a Point
The nine-game schedule is a way for the conference to ensure that its members have a strength of schedule that can undeniably get them into the playoffs with two losses.
The problem that Kiffin sees is health, and that really good teams that deserve playoff spots will have too many losses - even though quality - to make the 12-team playoff.
Look at the SEC right now.
Not a single team is undefeated, and only four teams have just one loss.
There are still five more games to be played. And for almost everyone, at least 3 are against ranked opponents.
The argument is valid, but the timing of the nine-game conference schedule comes right as the SEC reaches a point where every team is capable of beating each other.
The parity of the conference is why the losses are stacking up in the SEC, and the nine-game conference just makes it one game worse. It's not the reason the SEC is how it is this season.
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