Paul Finebaum responds to Rhett Lashlee's 'top-heavy' comment regarding SEC programs

USA Today

3 days ago

Rhett Lashlee led SMU to the College Football Playoff last season, but took an opportunity to blast the SEC during his time at ACC football media days.
Last season was a great year for former Auburn offensive coordinators, as Rhett Lashlee and Kenny Dillingham led SMU and Arizona State respectively to the College Football Playoff in the first year of its' expanded format.
Lashlee, who served as Auburn's offensive coordinator from 2013-16 under his high school coach, Gus Malzahn, stood at the podium at ACC football media days this week to represent SMU as their head coach. During his time, he took a shot at the SEC by saying that the conference is not as deep as fans perceive.
'The SEC has had the same six schools win the championship since 1964. Not a single one has been different since 1964,' Lashlee said at ACC football media days via On3. 'That's top-heavy to me. That's not depth.'
Auburn was not the subject of this shot, as the Tigers won the 2010 national championship, a year that Lashlee was coincidentally a graduate assistant on Gene Chizik's staff. However, the conference's flagship programs of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee are the only SEC teams to win titles since then. Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma have each won a national championship since 1964, but were members of other conferences.
Still, Lashlee's comments struck a nerve with SEC supporters, including Paul Finebaum. Finebaum, who hosts a national talk show on SEC Network and ESPN radio on weekday afternoons, went after the Mustangs and Lashlee during a recent appearance on ESPN's Get Up by referencing SMU's death penalty in the 1980s and Lashlee's alma mater.
'Do you know what happened at SMU? They shut the program down. While he's making fun of the SEC for winning national championships all over the place. SMU is the most corrupt program in the history of college football. Rhett Lashlee has the nerve to get up there and throw stones? By the way, he played at Arkansas. That should have nothing to do with it. That was one of the most comically embarrassing rants I have heard and I am glad the audio wasn't clear because I would have come right through that screen.'
On3's Dan Morrison broke down the SEC's national championships since 1964, the year Lashlee used as a starting point. Alabama has won 15 titles in that span, while Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee have won at least two, totaling 30 national championships. As for the ACC, only Clemson, Florida State, and Georgia Tech have won national titles as members of the conference.
Lashlee is not the only coach to take a shot at the SEC. During Big Ten football media days, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti ignorantly criticized SEC football scheduling by saying that the Big Ten's nine-game format gives the Hoosiers an advantage when scheduling non-conference games against Group of Five programs.
"So we figured we'd just adopt [an] SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don't like it. I'm more focused in on those nine conference games," Cignetti said, via Trojans Wire.
Cignetti's comments follow Indiana's cancellation of a series with Virginia, leaving them with zero non-conference games against Power Four opponents through 2029. Meanwhile, every SEC team except Ole Miss will play at least one non-SEC game against a Power Four team. Teams like Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina, will play two non-conference games against Power Four foe this season.
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