Danny Kanell is nothing if not consistent.

The former Florida State quarterback has bounced around to several jobs and several networks over his media career, but one thing has never changed: Kanell’s criticism of the SEC. Specifically, the propaganda and brand-building around the conference is put forth by college football media.

And coming off a quarterfinal round of the College Football Playoff in which the SEC’s two most recent national champions were both knocked out of the bracket in shocking fashion, Kanell is back on his hobby horse. On his SiriusXM show on Friday, the host called out the media and fans moving the goalposts to continually spotlight the SEC, and argued that the CFP committee and others need to realize that the conference is not as deep or strong as it is made out to be.

“I have deferred to the SEC as the deepest conference in college football this year. But it’s interesting how we have kind of moved the goal posts a little bit. Because for a long time, all we heard about was national championships,” Kanell said on Dusty & Danny.

“But now that we’ve had two years with Big Ten champions, all of a sudden it’s, ‘They’re not that deep. They don’t have that deep a team. Such an easy road.’ Now we’re looking at one more team remaining in Ole Miss, who is by the odds-makers the fourth-best team of this Playoff, can we remind people of this outcome? So that the next time we’re selecting teams for the College Football Playoff, we just don’t defer and give the SEC five or even six (teams).”

“I get that your schedule is tough, but is it so much tougher that we should manipulate the Playoffs so that you guys have an incredibly unfair advantage to have that many teams in there?@dannykanell sounds off that the SEC should no longer be rewarded with the most CFP teams. pic.twitter.com/9zYZ0Y8act

— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) January 2, 2026

This year, five SEC teams made the Playoff: Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Alabama. Some made cases for Texas and even Vanderbilt to get in.

Once the games got underway, we watched as Miami beat A&M and Indiana blew out Alabama. The supposedly inferior Ole Miss beat Georgia.

Meanwhile, independent Notre Dame and Big 12 second-place finisher BYU missed the Playoff entirely. Of course, the two Group of Five teams played a role, as did Duke winning the ACC. But overall, the field ultimately appeared to be far more balanced and filled with parity than some SEC proponents might argue.

Kanell believes this should ultimately force committee voters and everyone in the sport to reconsider how much value is placed on the SEC beating itself up during conference play going forward. For instance, Alabama’s losses to Oklahoma and Georgia were seemingly weighed differently than BYU’s losses to Texas Tech or Notre Dame’s loss to Miami.

Asked Kanell: “I get that your schedule is tough, but is it so much tougher that we should just manipulate the Playoff so that you guys have an incredibly unfair advantage to have that many teams in there?”

While it will be hard for the CFP or any future postseason structure to escape the financial influence and sway the SEC wields over college football, the tide appears to be changing on the field. And while it is not surprising that Kanell would be among the first to call it out, at some point, decision-makers may come to appreciate the growing parity in the sport.