Lane Kiffin eviscerates College Football Playoff committee, ACC after penultimate CFP Top 25

Lane Kiffin is never one to back down from a good Twitter debate, and the fiery Ole Miss head coach went off on another one Wednesday morning following Tuesday night’s release of the College Football Playoff’s penultimate Top 25 rankings.

Kiffin took direct aim at both the CFP’s 13-member selection committee and the ACC after the Rebels (9-3) were ranked No. 13, behind both No. 12 Miami (10-2) and No. 11 Alabama (9-3), the latter of which would secure the Playoff’s final at-large bid if the current rankings stand.

Given its No. 13 ranking, Ole Miss is firmly on the outside looking in on the Playoff’s 12-team field, especially after CFP committee chairman Warde Manuel confirmed there would be no future movement with teams that aren’t involved in their conference championship games.

“Those who are not playing, we will not adjust those teams,” Manuel said Tuesday night on ESPN following the rankings reveal. “Because they don’t have another data point, obviously.”

You guys actually meet for days and come up with these rankings?? @CFBPlayoff Do you actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments (we played in one of yours this year 💤) or just try and make the ACC feel relevant ?? Btw one of your teams paid us not to… https://t.co/2WZucjAQSX

— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) December 4, 2024

In a quote-tweet to an Ole Miss fan’s post comparing the Rebels’ cherry-picked playoff resume to Miami’s, Kiffin called out the Playoff committee’s selection process, citing the SEC’s “quality of players, teams and road environments” compared to the ACC. Kiffin even made sure to remind the ACC that one of their own programs, Wake Forest, opted to buy out of the return game in a home-and-home series with Ole Miss on the same day the Rebels blasted the host Demon Deacons 40-6 in mid-September.

“You guys actually meet for days and come up with these rankings??” Kiffin tweeted. “@CFBPlayoff Do you actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments (we played in one of yours this year [sleep emoji]) or just try and make the ACC feel relevant?? Btw one of your teams paid us not to play again next year. Same #12 spot you guys had Clemson ranked last week. How did that go against the @SEC??? Rewatch UGA Clemson closely if you want a reminder of the two conferences. #SpotTheBall anywhere. @ACCFootball #RemeberTakeAKnee”

Greg McElroy backs College Football Playoff committee on Ole Miss ranking

Ole Miss hearts broke on Tuesday night when seeing their College Football Playoff ranking. The committee slotted the Rebels at No. 13, ending their chances of being included in the 12-team field. Not what anyone in Oxford wanted but ESPN’s Greg McElroy was not too upset by it.

McElroy backed the committee on where Ole Miss was ranked, citing the poor relative strength of schedule. Losses to unranked opponents were mentioned as well by the ESPN analyst. The Kentucky loss at home, in particular, plus the late-season defeat to Florida.

“While Ole Miss has an outstanding win against both Georgia and South Carolina, their strength of schedule is 31,” McElroy said. “So by some of the teams in front of them in comparison, not quite as strong knowing that they lost to some teams not in the top 25 like Kentucky and LSU and obviously, that third loss against Florida is a tough one to stomach.”

The 31st-ranked SOS McElroy mentioned is per ESPN. Alabama is two spots in front of them, coming in at No. 17 in the metric. Miami was deemed good enough to be placed in front of Ole Miss by the committee as well but ranks No. 55.

Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.