Lane Kiffin tells why a SEC team should be ‘No. 1’ in playoff rankings

Lane Kiffin feels Texas A&M should be the No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff rankings.

The Aggies are currently ranked No. 3 as the highest-ranked SEC team in the official rankings. Indiana and Ohio State reside in the top two spots, with the Buckeyes at No. 1 and the Hoosiers at No. 2. The SEC has eight teams currently ranked in the CFP Top 25.

Kiffin was asked if he was encouraged by how the SEC was represented in the first playoff rankings of the 2025 season.

“I think in some ways a little bit, but I think that some other people pointed out in other ways no, like Texas A&M being three,” Kiffin said. “What more do you want them to do to be one? Like I said, when people want to schedule and they say, “okay, man, we need you to schedule hard teams. You’re going to have nine SEC and then play another hard one.” Well, they went up to Notre Dame and won. So those people that say, Man, those schedules are worth it to play that. What if they didn’t play Notre Dame? They just played whoever and just had an easy win. They’d be ranked in the same spot. So what good did that do if that’s not rewarded? You know, so they got the highest metrics of everybody. They’re not number one. So I don’t know, again, you talk about those two teams right there, put them on a neutral site, ask Vegas who would win, what’s the spread? And that to me shows more than people sitting around a room just guessing.”

Texas A&M and Alabama are the two highest-ranked SEC teams at No. 3 and No. 4, and both appear to be on a collision course to meet in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game.