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The College Football Playoff begins Friday and emotions are running high for many fans.
Notre Dame was ranked 10th in the penultimate CFP rankings, but missed the playoffs to Alabama, which lost a third game, and Miami, who were ranked lower before championship weekend but beat Notre Dame during the season, seemingly taking over.
Ed Orgeron didn’t have to worry about his playoff status as he coached LSU to a title in the midst of a perfect season in 2019, but he has an idea of who should be in and out this year.
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LSU coach Ed Orgeron leaves the field with his team before an NCAA college football game against Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Clubb)
“I don’t think a team with three losses should be playing for the national championship. Notre Dame should have edged Alabama,” Orgeron told PK Press Club Digital in a recent interview.
Bama has received calls of bias and/or collusion, given that the playoffs are broadcast on ESPN and ABC, the same network with which the SEC has a major media rights agreement.
“The SEC was dominant. But now the Big Ten and the Big 12 are catching up. They’ve had the national champion for a few years now. I don’t know what happened with the SEC and the bias and all that. Is there any chance they have it? I’m not going to get into that. But I do know this: They’re very strong,” Orgeron added.
The SEC appears to remain strong, as Lane Kiffin moved from Ole Miss to Orgeron’s former LSU in a controversial move. Orgeron, however, said Kiffin, his former colleague at Tennessee and USC, made the right choice, given he had little choice.
Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin (left) and LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron (right) shake hands after a game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. (Petre Thomas/USA TODAY Sports)
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“Look, the timing, when he did it, it’s his choice. But he had to do it at that time to get the job he wanted. The schedule is not good in college football. I wish they had the rule like the NFL, that you can’t talk to a coach until the end of the season,” Orgeron said.
As for tips for getting LSU back to the promised land?
“Keep doing what you’re doing. He knows what he’s doing. Recruit, evaluate like he does. He’s the king of the transfer portal. He’ll be able to dominate the SEC like he did. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
Orgeron last coached in 2021, but his career is certainly not over. In fact, he expects to be somewhere soon, potentially even facing Kiffin.
Ed Orgeron, then head coach of the LSU Tigers, talks with quarterback Joe Burrow after a victory against the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff national championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. (Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports)
“We’ve been in contact with people. I would take a head coaching job, it’s not necessarily a head coaching job. I’ll take a D-line coach or a recruiting coordinator, but the right situation hasn’t presented itself. I’m in a good position where I could take a job, I don’t have to take a job, but if the right situation presents itself, I’ll definitely take it and I’ll be a coach. I believe within the next month, something could open up, and I’ll be coaching again.”
