Rhett Lashlee takes shot at SEC in defense of strength of ACC: 'That's not depth'

Rhett Lashlee got his start as both a college football player and coach in the SEC, including playing quarterback at Arkansas from 2002-04. Of course, after six years in the ACC — the last four as SMU‘s head coach — there’s no love lost between Lashlee and the SEC.

The 42-year-old Mustangs head coach, who started as a graduate assistant with the Razorbacks before multiple stops at Auburn working under Gus Malzahn, has taken several shots at his former conference since the end of last season. It was then, when SMU’s inclusion in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff despite losing the ACC championship game to Clemson drew the ire of SEC fans and even some coaches and administrators.

Lashlee took his SEC grudge to new levels Tuesday during an appearance at the 2025 ACC Media Days in Charlotte when he called into question the SEC’s depth as a conference.

“The SEC has had the same six schools win the championship since 1964. Not a single one has been different since 1964,” Lashlee said, according to Ben Portnoy of the Sports Business Journal. “That’s top-heavy to me. That’s not depth.”

The shot across the bow aside, Lashlee’s not wrong.

Since Alabama won the 1964 national championship, six SEC teams — not counting Texas and Oklahoma, which moved from the Big 12 to the SEC in 2024 — have split 30 national titles in football, with the Crimson Tide accounting for 15 of the those. The other SEC teams to win national championships since 1964 including Georgia (four), Auburn (three), Florida (three), LSU (three) and Tennessee (two).

In fact, the only other SEC programs to even win national titles in football since the league’s founding in 1932 are Kentucky, Ole Miss and Georgia Tech, which joined the ACC in 1983.

The SEC has received its fair share of criticism this offseason after the Big Ten’s Michigan and Ohio State have won the last two College Football Playoff national titles following a run where the SEC won 13 national championships over a 17-year stretch between 2006-22.

Jim Phillips calls for ‘access and fairness’ in future College Football Playoff format

As conversations continue about the College Football Playoff’s future, the Big Ten and SEC are at the forefront. The two leagues have the bulk of control regarding the future formats, but have differing views on a model.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips addressed where things stand Tuesday during the conference’s media days. He pointed out his emphasis on championship games, but also said he wants “access and fairness” in the bracket, as well.

Two proposed College Football Playoff formats are front and center with a Dec. 1 deadline for a decision. The SEC supports a 5-plus-11 model while the Big Ten backs a 4-4-2-2-1 format with automatic qualifiers for each power conference league and the Group of 6. Phillips said he’s open to ideas, but reiterated the importance of conference title games and access.

“I think some of my comments have been public, relative to the CFP,” Phillips said in his opening remarks. “I’ve always believed in rewarding conference champions. And if you are in a really good conference – like we have across the P4 – and you’re also part of the G6, conference championships matter. And that’s been consistent in my five years, that they should be rewarded. Fairness and access should also be part of the equation.

“We have a really good Playoff right now. It’s the 5-and-7 model. I’m open to 5-9 and 5-11. I always look to our championships to try to have as much access as possible within reason. It has to make sense.”

The 5-plus-11 model would include the five highest-ranked conference champions with 11 at-large spots. The 4-4-2-2-1, meanwhile, has four spots each for the SEC and Big Ten and two apiece for the ACC and Big 12. The Group of 6 would get one bid and there would be three at-large teams to round out the bracket.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.