Clemson Tigers Dissed by Lane Kiffin at SEC Media Days

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is no stranger to speaking his mind, especially when it comes to talking about the College Football Playoff.

In a loaded SEC conference, Kiffin has a strong belief in the best teams making the 12 spots for the postseason, making every spot an at-large bid. The Clemson Tigers are thrown into the mix of this situation due to making the College Football Playoff by winning the ACC Championship, which saw another team miss the postseason due to an automatic qualifier.

Because of this rule, the Tigers slipped into the No. 12 seed in the playoff, eventually revealing it sent out Alabama, an SEC team, who took the No. 13 seed.

In a piece by ESPN about the expansion and format of the tournament, Kiffin recalls hearing a SEC coach speak about playing the Tigers every week in place of facing a different SEC team on a schedule.

“I had a coach that played Clemson last year say, ‘Put Clemson on my schedule every week compared to playing SEC teams,’” Kiffin said during SEC media days on Tuesday, “but there might be years that also the ACC really does have real teams.”

The Tigers faced three teams from the conference last season, losing all of them: a 34-3 routing from the Georgia Bulldogs in Week 1, a home defeat to the South Carolina Gamecocks, and a season-ending loss to the Texas Longhorns in the College Football Playoff.

However, like what Kiffin alluded to, the ACC can hold multiple contenders that belong in the postseason; it would just change on a yearly basis.

“It might change every year, but not where people are just in because [they win the conference championship] or even worse, you have a really good record in the conference, you're the second team in the conference,” Kiffin said. “You didn't win the championship, but you only lost one or two games, but you didn't play anybody.”

In addition to the callout, Kiffin also talked about changing the selection committee so there’s no personal bias due to a school’s affiliation with a given member. The head coach believes that the 13-man committee should consist of “educated media people” who watch a ton of football.

"What, are you gonna put Robert Kraft in to decide whether the Dolphins get in?" Kiffin said. "An AD of a school? Like, what?"

Loaded with returning talent on both sides of the ball, this might not be the season that a team wants to see Clemson every week. It will be up to the Tigers and the rest of the ACC to change the national narrative surrounding the conference.