By Chris Marler
SEC coaches and conference leadership will head to the beach this week for meetings centered around the same offseason buzzwords that have dominated college sports: realignment, NIL and expansion. Most of the conversation will feel familiar by now, but there are still people who believe this week could end up being a pivotal moment for the future of college athletics.
Here’s what to watch this week.
How much will Lane Kiffin stir the pot?
It’s been awhile since Lane Kiffin has been in the headlines. Well, by “awhile” I mean a few weeks. Since the Vanity Fair article heard around the world, Kiffin has laid low. He spent a few days at the beach and got out of the limelight.
Events like these are usually when he thrives. The back-and-forth is as playful as it is a reminder that, despite fanbases battling over the coaches and programs they represent, most of those coaches are friends once they step away from the field.
After the fallout from the Vanity Fair interview, it’ll be interesting to see whether Lane Kiffin takes a more reserved approach this week or still finds time to jokingly jab at some of the other coaches.
Lane Kiffin congratulated Pete Golding and @OleMissFB on their CFP Round One win pic.twitter.com/UKtmygWPnY
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 21, 2025
How serious is the push for a 24-team playoff?
It’s been reported that nearly half of the league is in favor of the move to a 24-team playoff. That’s contradictory to what we’ve heard from almost every SEC coach with a microphone in front of him this offseason.
Is it accurate? And, more importantly, is it something that is going to happen? The truth is always somewhere in the middle.
“Coaches and athletic directors are now trying to convince their presidents that, ‘hey, we need this expansion.'”
Will the SEC agree to the 24-team expansion? @joelklatt with more on what’s at stake. pic.twitter.com/kKULGmSkg0
— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) May 21, 2026
On one hand, it makes a ton of sense that the head coaches of some programs with an invisible ceiling would want to give themselves the best chance possible to make the CFP. I could see coaches like Shane Beamer and Clark Lea being in favor of the expansion after watching their teams narrowly miss an invite to the 12-team playoff in the last two years. I could also see someone like Eli Drinkwitz who has been vocal about a 32-team playoff making sense being in support.
Watering down the product for the sake of inclusion and profit isn’t something good for the sport. That feels like a very unwelcome truth.
Another truth is that if there’s anything we’ve learned over the last few years in the world of college sports, it’s that they’re going to expand regardless of what the fans or coaches want. It’s a matter of when, not if.
The growing battle over scheduling equity in college football
One of the more relevant storylines that continues to pop up is non-conference scheduling.
South Carolina recently cancelled their game against UNC in 2028 and 2029. Meanwhile, two of South Carolina’s biggest rivals, Georgia and Clemson, are in discussion to change the location of their future games from a home-and-home on campus to a neutral site like Dallas or Atlanta.
Cancelling these games will happen on a more consistent basis unless something is done to create more parallels in scheduling across each conference.
For years the Big 12 and Big Ten complained about playing a nine-game conference schedule when the SEC was only playing eight. That was finally changed, and the SEC will move to that format this season.
However, teams like Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina were already at a disadvantage because their annual rivalry games automatically gave them a 10th Power Four opponent.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey helped level the playing field by mandating that every SEC team schedule at least 10 Power Four opponents each season.
After essentially being pushed into a nine-game conference schedule, will the SEC now push back and demand that the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC also require a 10th Power Four opponent? Or did the SEC simply negotiate itself into a tougher playoff path in exchange for more money?
More SEC News
