Rhett Lashlee doubled down Monday on his comments about the SEC’s depth - or lack thereof - on “The Paul Finebaum Show.”
The SMU coach and Finebaum, who last week called Lashlee’s rant ‘comical’ and ‘embarrassing,’ laughed the whole thing off.
“All I said was a comment, and unfortunately, it’s a factual comment: that the same six schools have won that league for the last 60 years,” Lashlee said. “It’s just hard to argue parity if that’s the case. Now, look, I’m not necessarily saying the SEC is better or worse. I think the SEC is, again, a league I respect. It’s done a lot of great things. But we live in a day and age where, unfortunately, we’re all forced to politick -- almost like it’s a contest or a pageant -- to get into the playoffs and certain things.
“And when that’s the case, and one league is considered to maybe need preferential treatment for bids because of their depth, we’ve gotta at least look at the facts.”
The former Auburn and Arkansas assistant argued at ACC Kickoff the SEC should not receive more automatic bids over another if the CFP expands to 14 or 16 teams.
On Monday, he also took a shot at Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, who also took aim at the SEC during the Big Ten Media Days.
“I will differentiate from what I said to what Cignetti said,” Lashlee told Finebaum. “Again, I just brought up a historical fact that can be backed up by data. I didn’t come out and throw shade at the SEC scheduling when I didn’t play a power four team on my schedule myself.”
Cignetti explained during Big Ten Media Days why his team canceled a home-and-home series against Virginia and replaced the game with an FCS opponent.
“That was a scheduling philosophy that began before I was hired. But I did sign off on it upon being hired, before our first season,” Cignetti said last week. “Look, here’s the bottom line. We picked up an extra home game and we play nine conference games. The two best conferences in college football – any football guy that’s objective will tell you – (are) the Big Ten and the SEC. Twelve of the 16 SEC teams play three G5 or an FCS game. Twelve of those teams play 36 games – 29 G5 games and seven FCS games, and one less conference game.“So we figured we’d just adopt (an) SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused in on those nine conference games.”