There are five Southeastern Conference teams in the top-11 of the latest College Football Playoff rankings, and four of them are poised to be safely in the inaugural field of 12.
Tennessee, despite being the No. 11 team this week, is outside the field as of now due to Boise State at No. 12 and BYU, the Big 12's top-rated team, at No. 14.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, his team needing to secure a road win this week at Florida and cap the regular season with a win against in-state rival Mississippi State to virtually cement its CFP bid, is joining the chorus of stumping for SEC superiority -- while also revealing a hilarious, pointed message sent to the head coach in a rival conference.
"Well, I said it earlier: when people want to talk about other conferences or playoffs, or coaches make a statement about their conferences ... conference bias ... it’s very different going on the road in this conference," Kiffin said on Wednesday's SEC coaches' Zoom. "Joking, I sent a text and said to one of these other coaches, he made a statement [about their conference being the best in college football], and I said, 'Try going to 100 Sanford Drive (home of the Georgia Bulldogs) and see if you still say that.
"It’s different."
In fact, Kiffin explains, his team's open date this past weekend is additional evidence of SEC superiority.
"Kirby (Smart) has made mention, the SEC is different. I aint’ saying that cause I’m here," Kiffin emphasized. "It ain’t rocket science when you watch football. During our bye week, I watched football in other conferences. The SEC is different. Playing in the SEC environments is different than a lot of places those guy play.
"It's hard to go on the road in this conference, which always has the most NFL players, and win. It's very much like the NFL, playing in the SEC."
Earlier this month during his weekly press conference, veteran ACC coach Pat Narduzzi's comments on the ACC show his staunch contention that the ACC is tops.
The additions this year of both Oklahoma and Texas also leave Kiffin believing the SEC needs to stick at just eight intraconference games -- particularly as perhaps one or more SEC team is facing the very real possibility of missing an CFP invite.
"To add another conference game to it, I understand money is involved and you gotta make those decisions, I don’t know that that’s in the best interest of programs to play another game and beat each other up," Kiffin said.
Do his coaching brethren in the SEC agree?
"I don’t know that; the ones I talk to think that," Kiffin added. "I think that’s changed, years ago we were OK going to nine (conference games), but with the Playoffs in terms of knocking each other out and other conferences and who they get to play, I think it’s probably changed that."