After the first 12-team playoff field was revealed, there was no shortage of chirping from SEC teams - most notably Ole Miss, Missouri and some from South Carolina even - that felt they were left out of the field in favor of teams that played a schedule that was less challenging.
When those comments were made, it didn't take a college football super fan to decipher the fingers were pointed at Indiana, Clemson and SMU as teams that filled the last available spots that could have gone to another SEC or Big Ten team with a tougher strength of schedule.
It's exactly that type of chatter that has driven off season debates around the Big Ten and SEC getting automatic qualifiers for future playoff fields.
Indiana's Curt Cignetti, who led one of the most impressive immediate turnarounds in the history of college football last season leading the Hoosier's to an 11-win season before punching their ticket to the playoff, has never been one to mince words, so when asked about his Indiana squad not belonging in the field by ESPN's Adam Rittenberg as Big Ten Media days kick off, he took the opportunity to deliver a pointed message.
"When a newbie like us breaks into the status quo, that's going to create some waves. A team comes out of nowhere. But everything's earned, not given. There's no entitlement," Cignetti told Rittenberg.
"Nobody deserves to be in the playoffs because they've been in the playoffs four of the last five years. Do it on the field. If you get upset by a couple teams, you shouldn't get upset by it."
I read that and immediately starting clapping, sitting alone in my office. Well said coach Cig!
Ask any coach today one of their biggest battles with student-athletes we work with, and entitlement is sure to be a hot-button issue.
As Cignetti's comments point out masterfully, that same feeling of entitlement can also be attributed to teams, coaches, and fans thinking they're more deserving than a different team from a completely different league.
On the same note, Rhett Lashlee did some defending of the strength of the ACC, which his squad took part in for the first season last fall, while pointing a finger directly at the SEC.
"The SEC has had the same six schools win the championship since 1964. Not a single one has been different since 1964," Lashlee said.
“That’s top-heavy to me. That's not depth,” he added.