ACC football coach takes shot at ‘depth’ in ‘top-heavy’ SEC

Much was made of the fact that SMU made the 2024 College Football Playoff over a number of SEC teams, including Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina.

Mustangs head coach Rhett Lashlee has bristled at that criticism, and fired back at the SEC at ACC Media Days on Tuesday. Lashlee — a former Auburn offensive coordinator — claimed the ACC is in fact a deeper league than the SEC, noting that no one out of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee has won the SEC championship in the last 50 years.

“It’s just a week in, week out — that’s the league you want to be in, that’s where you want to be,” Lashlee said, via On3’s Dean Ralsky. “You look at our league, we had like four 10-win teams, two playoff teams, a handful of nine-win teams, 13 bowl teams, there’s just not a lot of easy wins on the schedule.

“And there’s other leagues that claim depth. But like, the SEC has had the same six schools win the championship since 1964. The same six. Not a single one has been different since 1964. That’s top-heavy to me. That’s not depth.”

Lashlee’s note that only six teams have won the last 50 SEC championships is a fact, though the ACC has been largely dominated by Florida State, Clemson and Virginia Tech in the last 30-plus years. The Seminoles and Tigers have won all but one SEC title since 2011 (Pittsburgh in 2021), with the Hokies winning five in seven years from 2004-10.

So maybe they’re both top-heavy.

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