2024 SEC Media Days: Day One features LSU, Ole Miss

Day one of the 2024 SEC Media Days in Dallas, Texas has officially come to a close after LSU, South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt players and coaches spoke to the media.

While there were many things discussed, one of the main topics of conversation was the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC and if it is a positive or a negative for the conference.

With every head coach and player that was interviewed on day one of the SEC Media Days, the question of if the addition of Oklahoma and Texas is good for the conference was asked. The common answer was yes, but then there was the answer LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly gave when asked what it takes for a team to be SEC Ready. “If you take a snapshot, right, you take the Texas and Alabama game last year you say well they are SEC ready. Right? I mean they beat Alabama. But what happens is the guys that are in the front row that you talk to that year, they graduate. In the SEC, it’s the ability to fill those seats again the next year. Then it is the ability to play an SEC schedule week in and week out.”

Kelly added that he believes both Texas and Oklahoma will be a good addition to the conference where football just means more.

Fourth year Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin took a different approach when asked. First, he touched on the expansion of the College Football Playoffs. “I do like for college football that there are 12 teams. I think that is really exciting at the end of the year for more teams and, you know, we have seen in other sports how awesome tournaments are.”

Kiffin added that he isn’t sure if adding two teams to the SEC, and creating a super conference, will be beneficial at the end of the year. “I don’t know necessarily, and I think it will take a couple of years to find out, does adding the two teams to the SEC and making this a super conference like it did mean that you are going to be more apt to get in? Especially for those teams? I don’t know that. There are way too many variables in the current system for me to be able to say that.”

While Kiffin is on the fence, Kelly believes that there is one thing, above anything else, that will tell if a team is ready to play in the conference where it just means more. “It’s not just a snapshot in the SEC. It’s really, uh, it’s a long film. If you can go through the rigors of an entire schedule, you are SEC ready.”

On Tuesday, George, Tennessee, Missouri, and Oklahoma head coach and players take the podium. WXXV News 25’s Sport Director Jevan McCoskey will have more.