Lane Kiffin was feeling frustrated and needed to vent his emotions.
Even though his team has suffered three losses, his reaction may be justified.
The Ole Miss head coach, in his fifth year, expressed his dissatisfaction with the College Football Playoff committee after the Rebels were ranked No. 13 in the latest standings.
“Seriously, you all get together for days to produce these rankings?” Kiffin tweeted on “X,” the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Do you actually evaluate the quality of the players, teams, and game environments (we played in one of yours this year) or are you just trying to make the ACC seem relevant?”
Alabama (9-3) was placed at No. 11 and could take the last playoff spot if SMU wins the ACC Championship. Given that Alabama has three wins against teams currently in the CFP’s top 20 while Ole Miss has two—along with the fact that the two teams have not faced each other—this ranking appears reasonable.
Even after losing two of their last three games against unranked teams, Miami (10-2) was still positioned at No. 12. Kiffin criticized the committee for placing the Hurricanes ahead of two SEC teams despite Miami not having any ranked victories.
“By the way, one of your teams paid us not to play again next year,” Kiffin tweeted. “It’s the same No. 12 spot you had Clemson ranked last week. How did that work out for the SEC? You might want to rewatch UGA-Clemson if you need a reminder about the two conferences.”
The Rebels had to cancel their home-and-home series with Wake Forest after the Demon Deacons chose not to play in 2025, resulting in Wake Forest paying a $1 million cancellation fee following a 40-6 home loss in September.
South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Alabama all finished with the same conference record, but the Gamecocks lost to both the Tide and the Rebels. Additionally, none of the three teams have any remaining games to play. On Tuesday, CFP chair Warde Manuel stated that any team not participating in the conference championship weekend wouldn’t be able to surpass Alabama in the rankings.
“We don’t have a reason to change those teams’ rankings,” Manuel said on ESPN. “It’s determined by how we see them going into the final week. There won’t be anything that alters our evaluation.”
The championship teams will be assessed based on their performance in the games to see if any adjustments are necessary.
Ole Miss is now left waiting for the College Football Playoff rankings to learn which bowl game they will participate in for 2024.
