Lane Kiffin couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

The Ole Miss coach posted on social media a reaction to Warde Manuel’s comment.

“I want to make sure everybody understands that we value strength of schedule,” the CFP committee chairman said during the Selection Show.

The selection committee preferred the Mustangs (11-2), losers of the ACC title game, who had a far less difficult schedule than Alabama (9-3) of the SEC but, ultimately, still one fewer loss.

The debate raged Sunday between taking a team which reached a conference championship game over a team with a stronger strength of schedule. The Ole Miss coach posted several arguments for strength of schedule over anything else, which certainly would have helped his Rebels’ case.

The Tide had the 16th toughest schedule and went 3-1 against teams in the top 25. SMU’s numbers: 60th in strength of schedule and 0-2 against the top 25.

But the committee also indicated it was reluctant to penalize teams that play in conference title games. SMU did. Alabama didn’t. And the way the Mustangs fought back from a three-touchdown deficit before finally losing to Clemson almost certainly had an impact among the 13 people making the decision.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.