Lane Kiffin isn’t exactly known for going along with the crowd, and when it comes to the future of the College Football Playoff, he’s once again marching to his own beat.
During the SEC Spring Meetings, the Ole Miss head coach made headlines by pushing back against the idea of automatic bids—something the SEC itself has been publicly supporting as it looks to shape what could become a 16-team postseason format.
Instead of backing the SEC’s proposed model, which would lock in guaranteed spots for conference champions, Kiffin called for a different approach: just pick the 16 best teams. Period.
“The best system would be 16, and it would be the 16 best,” Kiffin said this week, according to On3. His point is simple—ditch the politics, forget about rewarding conference champs by default, and let the rankings decide who gets in.
Why Lane Kiffin’s Plan Still Helps the SEC
Now, let’s be real. This isn’t just Kiffin being the rebel in the room. There’s some strategy here too. A 16-team playoff without automatic qualifiers would naturally favor conferences with the most depth—and nobody fits that description quite like the SEC. Kiffin knows it. The SEC often floods the top of the rankings, so a “best 16” format could easily result in four, five, or even six SEC teams in the playoff each year.
That’s a huge win for his league—and especially for teams like his, which might not win the conference but could still finish in the Top 16, as Ole Miss did last season. The Rebels ended up at No. 14 in the final rankings but missed the 12-team playoff. Under Kiffin’s ideal system, they’d be in without a doubt.
Meanwhile, the model that some SEC leaders are pushing —the “4-4-2-2-1” format—would hand out automatic bids to four SEC and Big Ten teams, two for the ACC and Big 12, one for a top Group of Five or Notre Dame team, and just three at-large bids. That proposal hasn’t sat well with other conferences, and it’s easy to see why. It locks in advantages for the power leagues and limits chances for rising programs that don’t play in the SEC or Big Ten.
But Kiffin’s vision cuts through the politics. By calling for the 16 best teams, he’s basically saying, “Let’s stop pretending this needs to be fair to everyone. Just pick the best and let them battle it out.” It’s blunt, sure—but also pretty hard to argue against if you’re a fan of high-stakes, high-quality football.