Lane Kiffin: 'The SEC now is really the NFL'

The SEC race is in full swing with Halloween and the final month of the regular season around the corner. It’s a race that Ole Miss and head coach Lane Kiffin find themselves firmly planted in now, coming off a win over Oklahoma.

Ole Miss doesn’t have another team currently ranked in the AP Top 25 on its schedule. That doesn’t mean that the Rebels can afford to take things easy, though. Not in the SEC. As Kiffin explained during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, the SEC has almost become like the NFL regarding how tough competition is weekly, which means anybody can beat anybody.

“Yeah, they can,” Lane Kiffin said. “There’s examples all over the place of it, and in college football, but the SEC now is really the NFL. You look at these games. So many games are one score, or now you’ve got so many teams go into overtime to beat teams that they were supposedly much better than. That’s what we’re in. That’s the world we’re in.”

If there’s a coach in college football who would be qualified to make that distinction, it is Kiffin. The former Oakland Raiders head coach has had stops in the Pac-12 and C-USA before getting to his second stint in the SEC. He’s been around and does have that experience to speak from.

This week, Ole Miss is returning home to take on South Carolina. On paper, Ole Miss should be a heavy favorite. However, this same Gamecocks team came into the season with College Football Playoff aspirations and nearly just upset Alabama. In other words, they’re no easy out and the Rebels need to be ready.

“So, we’ve got to get up every single week and tell guys about that,” Kiffin said. “And this is a really good example. This is an extremely talented South Carolina team. This is an off the charts talented quarterback that can beat you. So, we’re going to have to be ready to play. These guys were ahead of Alabama just a few days ago. Alabama is a great team. So, this is what we’re in. We’re in the NFL in the SEC, and you better be ready every week.”

Ole Miss certainly will need to avoid a letdown. The Rebels are 7-1 overall and 4-1 in SEC play. That has them in a good spot to make the College Football Playoff, but it’s a tight race and an upset loss could end up being very costly.