Steve Spurrier calls out Lane Kiffin over SEC Championship game comments

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin made headlines recently with his comments about the SEC Championship Game, suggesting coaches don’t want to play in it thanks to the College Football Playoff. Those comments caught a lot of people’s attention, including former SEC head coach Steve Spurrier.

While making his weekly appearance on Another Dooley Noted Podcast, Spurrier called out Kiffin over those comments, emphasizing the importance of winning the SEC.

“I still couldn’t believe that Lane Kiffin did not want to be in the championship game because he thought he might get some guys hurt and couldn’t get in the Playoff,” Steve Spurrier said. “The odds — Ole Miss, you know the last time they won the SEC? 1963. That is what, 61 years ago, something like that?”

In its history, Ole Miss has won six conference championships. That came during a run between 1947 and 1963 when the team was coached by Johnny Vaught. Since the SEC began playing a conference championship game in 1992, Ole Miss has never participated.

For his own part, Steve Spurrier came up short to win the SEC as a player at Florida. However, in 1991, in his second season as the head coach at Florida, Spurrier led the Gators to their first ever SEC Championship. In total, he’d win six at Florida.

“If I hadn’t won an SEC, boy, I’d really wanna try and do that,” Spurrier said. “But, anyway, I don’t think his opinion was shared by others. I think Kirby Smart loves playing for SEC Championships. I think his team’s going to be ready in two weeks to do that.”

Since Lane Kiffin made his initial comments, Ole Miss lost a third conference game, meaning that this won’t be the season Ole Miss plays for an SEC Championship.

Lane Kiffin reveals some coaches don’t want to play in SEC Championship due to College Football Playoff

When Lane Kiffin made his comments on the SEC Championship Game, he shared that it’s not just him. Other coaches feel similarly about the situation, where teams are cautious about another difficult game and potential loss.

“I’ve talked to other coaches, so I’ll just kind of give you the feeling from some other coaches that. They don’t want to be in it. You know, the reward to get a bye [ in the CFP] versus the risk to get knocked out completely. I mean, that’s a that’s a pretty big — that’s a really big risk,” Kiffin said.

“I think it has ended up being a very unique situation of all postseason sports, the way that system is set up there. How you could go to [the SEC Championship] and get knocked out [of the CFP race]? And if you don’t go [to the SEC Championship game], you’re in.”

Texas and Georgia are currently atop the SEC standings, in position to go to the SEC Championship Game. However, with one week left, the Longhorns have a massive game against Texas A&M that could shake things up.