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Lane Kiffin, the head coach at LSU, has voiced his support for a 24-team College Football Playoff, pointing to the Southeastern Conference as a primary reason for his stance. During an appearance on the Brandon Walker College Football Show, Kiffin stated, "I think it had to happen," and elaborated on why a larger playoff field is necessary.
Kiffin argued that while a 12-team format might seem preferable, the current landscape of college football makes that insufficient. He emphasized the stark contrasts between the four major conferences, noting differences in stadiums, environments, and the quality of teams from top to bottom. "You're not playing equal schedules, they're not even close," Kiffin said. He further illustrated his point by suggesting that an SEC team playing another conference's schedule would likely win two additional games on average. "Well, that's a big deal," he added.
According to Kiffin, the expansion is necessary because the existing system for selecting playoff teams is flawed. He clarified that his critique is not directed at the selection committee, but rather at human nature. "Humans can't see football for whatever reason because it's been this way for so long," he explained. "It's all about 12 wins, 11, 10 or 9. Those means you're this. And we can't unsee that, where other sports do."
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Kiffin also drew a comparison to college basketball, where seeding often accounts for factors beyond mere win-loss records. "Basketball totally unsees it," he said. "You look at the seeding every year, and there's teams with four more losses that are above other teams in seeding, because they've figured out it's not just the wins and losses. How did you win them, how did you lose them, where did you play, did you play on the road, all the things that go into it." He pointed out that in football, a close game often leads to significant rankings shifts, whereas basketball takes a more measured approach. "But as soon as that happens, the rankings go like this (illustrates big movement) in football. Basketball doesn't do that."