• Loading stock data...
Wednesday, July 9, 2025

College Football Devolves Into Sniping As Playoff Bracket Nears

Traditionally, administrators wait until the final CFP rankings have been released to air grievances. Not this year.

Lane Kiffin
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Criticizing the College Football Playoff rankings is an annual tradition across the sport. It even spawned a lawsuit—still ongoing—after Florida State was left out of the four-team Playoff last season.

Traditionally, however, college sports administrators wait until the final rankings have been released to air their grievances. That isn’t the case this year—for the past few weeks, commissioners, athletic directors, and even coaches have begun advocacy campaigns in favor of their programs, taking shots at the committee and one another.

Those propaganda campaigns reached a crescendo after the committee released its penultimate rankings Tuesday evening. Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard criticized the committee for how it considered the strength of schedule metrics for Boise State, SMU, and Indiana—all of which had been ranked above Iowa State. 

Less than 30 minutes later, SMU athletic director Rick Hart fired back. “Jamie, respect you but bad take…Stay off my lawn!” he wrote, embellishing with a friendly crying-face emoji.

The 12-team bracket will ultimately consist of the top four-ranked conference champions in the top four spots (all of whom earn a first-round bye). A fifth conference champion, as well as seven at-large teams, will then be ranked in order and assigned first-round games. The higher-ranked team in each game will host. 

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was one of the earliest lobbyists, arguing publicly that his conference champion should be ranked higher than the Mountain West winner. The Big 12 has come down to No. 15 Arizona State and No. 16 Iowa State, both of which sit several spots below No. 10 Boise State, which still has to beat UNLV on Friday to win the Mountain West.

“I see no rationale for the Big 12’s champion not getting a first-round bye,” Yormark told Yahoo Sports last week as part of a detailed argument.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips waited until after the final rankings last year to make the case for the Seminoles, when it was already too late. He’s not being nearly as quiet this year, waging an all-out campaign in print media and the radio for Miami and SMU to earn bids. On Tuesday night, he told The Athletic that he was “shocked and disappointed” that Miami had dropped to the 12th spot. “Miami absolutely deserves better from the committee,” he said.

No one, though, has been more boisterous than Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. His 9–3 Rebels are currently ranked 13th, two slots out of the postseason. (The Big 12 champion will jump whichever team ends up ranked No. 12.)

For days, Kiffin has been posting about why Ole Miss should make the expanded field, using his X feed as a propaganda machine featuring original posts, retweets from other fans and pundits, and even reposts of articles about his own posts. Kiffin appears to have also formed an online alliance with Pollard, as the two have shared grievances about the strength of schedule arguments and retweeted each other in multiple posts.

On Sunday, Kiffin retweeted a Saturday Down South article with comments he made about South Carolina jumping the Rebels in rankings, saying, “Why do we even play the games?” Then, he wrote out a plea to the CFP, screenshotted it, and tagged the Playoff’s X account with no other context. 

He’s gotten increasingly vocal since then, quoting a post on Wednesday morning from an Ole Miss fan. “You guys actually meet for days and come up with these rankings??” Kiffin wrote, tagging the CFP’s account again. “Do you actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments (we played in one of yours this year) or just try and make the ACC feel relevant??” 

The CFP selection process has always been an imperfect and oft-criticized science. But the committee isn’t Congress—of all the considerations, it’s unlikely that administrators’ lobbying campaigns will have much of an impact. The committee members are more than used to online attacks and even harassment, and they have never bent to the will of their critics before.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

exclusive

Fox Extends Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson Contracts Ahead of NFL Season

Changes are coming at Fox, but Andrews and Thompson stay put.
Chelsea

Chelsea Club World Cup Run Banks at Least $100M for Mark Walter..

The Blues will likely take home between $100 million and $120 million.
TSU Hockey at Bridgestone

Tennessee State’s HBCU Hockey Ambitions Delayed at Least a Year

The school will not launch the first-of-its-kind program as intended.

Has the WNBA Outgrown the Matinee Madness of Camp Days?

Caitlin Clark will return from injury in a Wednesday noon game.

Featured Today

American Celebs Want to Be Sports Owners. Soccer Is Where They Start

As U.S. team prices climb, investors set their sights abroad.
July 5, 2025

Baseball’s Celebrity Row: Behind MLB’s First-Pitch Ritual

Often planned, sometimes spontaneous, the ritual throw is baseball’s celebrity row.
July 4, 2025

3,000 Hot Dogs, $20K in Prizes: Behind the Nathan’s Eating Contest

Nathan’s serves up thousands of hot dogs and $20,000 in prize money.
July 3, 2025

Geoffrey Esper Can’t Catch a Break at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

“Hot dogs is not one of my favorite competitions of the year.”
Louis, Missouri, UNITED STATES; Penn State Nittany Lions forward Nicholas DeGraves (17) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Boston University Terriers during the third period of the Frozen Four college ice hockey national semifinals at Enterprise Center

Gavin McKenna’s Penn State Commitment Cements College Hockey Supremacy

Gavin McKenna’s Penn State decision signals hockey’s rising stars now prefer college.
Nov 30, 2024; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders running back Tahj Brooks (28) runs the ball against West Virginia Mountaineers defensive back Anthony Wilson Jr. (12) in the second half at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field.
July 7, 2025

Felix Ojo’s Agent Says Texas Tech Offered $5.1M At Start of Rev-Share..

Texas Tech secured Ojo with a seven-figure NIL commitment.
A helmt is seen during the Texas Tech football team's spring game, Saturday, April 19, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
July 7, 2025

CFB’s Revenue-Sharing Era Muddles Future of NIL, Adds PE Questions

Athletic departments can pay college athletes a combined $20.5 million this year.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
July 6, 2025

Revenue-Sharing Chaos Begins as Texas Tech Secures Five-Star OT

The Red Raiders spent more than $10 million in the winter transfer portal.
July 3, 2025

Everything You Need to Know About EA’s Return to College Basketball Video..

There hasn’t been a college basketball game in more than 15 years.
Ohio State
July 1, 2025

Collectives Funnel $20 Million to College Athletes on Last Day Before Revenue..

Collectives frontloaded payments just before the revenue sharing era begins July 1.
July 1, 2025

Big Ten Commish Still Pushes for 4 Auto CFP Bids in 16-Team..

The conference wants four guaranteed spots in the Playoff.