In the past, playing in the SEC title game at the end of the season was looked at as a major honor that was a culmination of a special season. However, with college football going to the 12-team College Football Playoff, that may no longer be the case.

On Monday, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin made headlines when he said there are coaches that don’t want their teams to play in the conference championship.

Paul Finebaum and Kiffin don’t agree on many things, but Finebaum said on Get Up that the conference championship game is no longer a reward for the best teams in the country.

“Kirby Smart last season, had an undefeated regular season, he went to the championship game, lost to Nick Saban and got knocked out of the playoffs,” Finebaum said. “What Lane Kiffin said is correct, you would rather not go there. The problem is, you don’t have a choice in the matter. There is going to be a tiebreaker, and you get in based on the number of tiebreakers.”

Finebaum said the big issue for Kiffin is that the Rebels could be in trouble if they made it to Atlanta.

“The situation for Kiffin could be very dangerous,” Finebaum said. “Here’s why he doesn’t want to go. If he goes with a 10-2 record and loses, he is probably going to get knocked out because he has a loss to Kentucky that is extremely bad. It doesn’t matter whether you want to or not, you better win the game if you go; if you end up with 3 losses because you are very likely going to get knocked out.”

Right now, there are only 2 teams in the SEC with 1 conference loss, and they are Texas A&M and Texas. Those 2 teams play in Week 14, so there are going to be a lot of teams that could be in the game.