Lane Kiffin wasted no time responding to Ole Miss being excluded from the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
The Rebels’ head coach, who had been actively campaigning for his team in the days leading up to the reveal, took to social media after the CFP committee released its rankings. Alabama landed at No. 11, followed by Miami, Ole Miss, and South Carolina, effectively putting an end to Kiffin’s hopes for a CFP berth.
Lane Kiffin shared an ESPN “anger index” article featuring a photo of himself, highlighting the Rebels’ frustration at being left out of the latest CFP rankings. While the article argued that the Miami Hurricanes had the strongest case for being upset, Ole Miss was ranked No. 2 on the list.
The article pointed out key metrics supporting Ole Miss:
“So, on average, the Rebels’ losses weren’t as bad as Alabama’s. Their wins were markedly better than Alabama’s. Their underlying stats are better than Alabama’s. Their schedule strength was effectively equal to Alabama’s.”
Despite finishing with identical 9-3 records, Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina were ranked differently. The Gamecocks lost head-to-head matchups against both the Tide and the Rebels, yet Alabama was ranked highest among the trio. CFP chair Warde Manuel confirmed Tuesday night that with no games remaining for any of these teams, there would be no opportunity for Ole Miss or South Carolina to surpass Alabama in the rankings.
CFP chair Warde Manuel clarified the committee’s reasoning during an appearance on ESPN, explaining the limitations for teams not participating in conference championship games.
“Any team that is not playing right now, we don’t have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked,” Manuel said. “That is set in terms of how we see them going into the final week of championship week. There’s nothing that’s going to change for us to evaluate any of them differently than we have now.
“Those teams who are not playing cannot be adjusted in terms of where they are compared to other teams that are not playing. But the championship teams, we will evaluate that data point to determine if there needs to be any movement based on how the performance of the game goes.”
This statement effectively solidified the current rankings for Ole Miss, Alabama, and South Carolina, barring them from any upward movement as they do not have games remaining.
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