Lane Kiffin at SEC Media Days: Traditions ‘dismantled for money is kind of a shame’

At SEC Media Days in Atlanta, Lane Kiffin relayed loud and clearly–and in a way that made AL.com’s Joseph Goodman say that ‘without a doubt the best spokesman for this sport amid all of its current drama is Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’–that he is not a fan of the direction college football is headed.

In speaking about the recent realignment poaches (UCLA, USC) made by the Big Ten, Kiffin chastised ending rivalries for the sake of profits. He said that ‘for those to be dismantled for money is kind of a shame.’

He preceded that by saying that ‘when you go to places, you’ve been to USC, all these different places, you see how passionate fans are about certain things.’

“What matters is rivalries.”

The SEC could keep already existing rivalries in-house by further expanding

Sure, the Pac-12’s past and future will no longer be congruent when it comes to the matchups the conference will present, but recent history hasn’t been all that historic in that conference anyway outside of Washington and Oregon in spurts. Losing rivalry games with Cal-Berkley won’t be a problem when that program and university continue to go in such a different direction to what LA’s pillar programs are after.

The SEC expanded by adding the Red River Showdown between Texas and Oklahoma and could further keep already existing rivalries in-house by adding schools like Clemson and Florida State —  who already have bad blood with in-state foes and current SEC East teams South Carolina and Florida, respectively.

New rivalries are being formed by relevant playoff games and with certain personnel changes that involve their old school. Clemson and Alabama’s College Football Playoff clashes make them new-blood rivalries, and Auburn would certainly have a built-in rivalry with Florida State based off their National Championship clash from the BCS era.