Kalen DeBoer and Kirby Smart don't have time to attend to the foolishness of Curt Cignetti and Rhett Lashlee. The Indiana and SMU coaches are so clearly jealous of the SEC that SEC coaches should ignore their recent comments. But Greg Byrne should attempt to schedule Alabama football games against both programs. So should Georgia's AD, Josh Brooks. For good measure, Texas AD, Chris Chris Del Conte should try to schedule a game against Indiana. There is probably insufficient goodwill between the Longhorns and SMU for consideration of a future game.
At ACC Media Days, Lashlee said, "You look at our league. I mean, there’s just not a lot of easy wins on the schedule, and there are other leagues that claim depth, but the SEC has had the same six schools win the championship since 1964. … That’s top-heavy to me. That’s not depth." Paul Finebaum quickly called out Lashlee for his nonsense.
At the Big Ten's annual media meeting, Cignetti was asked about the cancellation of future games against Virginia. His retort was, "We figured we’d just adopt an SEC scheduling philosophy." The Indiana coach is known for brashness. In contrast, the Hoosiers are timid about scheduling games against top competition. In the 2025 through 2030 seasons, the Hoosiers have one game against an out-of-conference Power Four opponent. That game is not until 2030 when IU is scheduled to play in South Bend.
Alabama Football and Georgia
In comparison, Alabama Football and Georgia will play 25 Power Four out-of-conference games during the same period. The 12 games Alabama has scheduled include two games each against Ohio State and Notre Dame. Georgia has two games versus Clemson and one against Ohio State.
Some Alabama football fans want to give Cignetti a pass for being a former Alabama Crimson Tide assistant coach. Instead, having worked for Nick Saban, Cignetti should know well how tough the competition is in the SEC.
Cignetti is trying to deflect attention from IU's weak 2024 schedule. The Hoosiers made the CFB Playoff last season, having no wins over ranked teams. During the Big Ten regular season, Indiana beat seven teams that did not have a winning record.
The Indiana schedule was a joke, and thereby the Hoosiers' record was as well. Cignetti taking on the SEC might be an even bigger joke. One that should be on him.
Note: Future schedules provided by fbschedules.com