{"id":89454,"date":"2026-07-20T18:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T22:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=89454"},"modified":"2026-07-20T18:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T22:15:25","slug":"spiciest-day-one-sec-media-days-quotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/07\/20\/spiciest-day-one-sec-media-days-quotes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spiciest Day One SEC Media Days Quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"
SEC Media Days wrapped up Day One in Tampa. Greg Sankey started the day with a warning about what might come to the future of college football. While we can’t confirm that the sky is falling, Sankey did acknowledge that leaders within the conference are having “real” conversations about potentially breaking away from the rest of the NCAA due to mounting frustrations. He did note that his route is not the league’s preferred solution, but the saber-rattling is meant for effect.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Rather than focus on what might be, we decided to have some fun. SEC Media Days are the culmination and pinnacle of “Talkin’ Season.” \u00a0Let’s take a look at the spiciest quotes from Mizzou, Big Blue Nation, OU, and Vol Nation from Day One of SEC Media Days.<\/span><\/div>\n

The Spiciest Day One SEC Media Days Quotes<\/h2>\n

Eli Drinkwitz, Head Coach, Missouri Tigers<\/span><\/h3>\n
“When you don’t play an A4 (Power 4) game as one of your non-conference games, that was the quote you were looking for. It’s pretty obvious.”<\/em><\/div>\n
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We called this heading into the SEC Media Days. If there was going to be a spicy quote, you could have <\/span>bet the mortgage<\/a><\/span>(maybe we should stop using that figure of speech…) that Drink was going to have something spicy to say. Mizzou’s football coach was asked the reason why the B1G has won three straight national championships. Drink wasted no time taking a B1G dig.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He is following the company line. The SEC has announced a move to a 9+1 schedule this year. Each team will now play nine conference games, though some coaches (Drink included) really don’t want to. In addition, each SEC team is required to play a P4 team. None of the past three B1G national champions played a member of the P4 in the regular season; instead, they feasted on the MAC.<\/span><\/div>\n
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At the heart of the matter, Drink and probably other coaches in the SEC are going to try to push the strength-of-schedule narrative. Not only is the SEC the deepest conference in college football, but it will also add a 10th P4 game to its schedule. That sounds really good in theory, but at the end of the day, it is about winning championships and not boasting about playing in the Border War (Kansas is Mizzou’s 2026 P4 opponent).<\/span><\/div>\n

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Will Stein, Head Coach, <\/span>Kentucky Wildcats\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
“I think because of me, to be honest. I think ’cause of me.'”<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Who doesn’t love a little confidence? You don’t have to “<\/span>Google it<\/a><\/span>“; we already have proof of concept in Bloomington. Are we saying that the new Kentucky head coach is going to lead a resurgence like Curt Cignetti did at Indiana? No, not quite. But let’s be honest. How many of us thought Cignetti’s calling out Michigan and Ohio State was cute, but thought that the Hoosiers were going to get blasted in the regular season?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Unlike Cignetti, Stein is not a veteran head coach. Instead, he bucked the new hiring trend by being one of the few young hot offensive coordinators (or coordinators in general) that were hired this year. Of the six head coaching changes in the SEC, Stein is the only outside coordinator hired. Pete Golding was on staff and the defensive coordinator before replacing Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Stein has a youthful energy to go along with his high-powered offenses. NIL and the Transfer Portal don’t care if you are a blue blood. Instead, if you have the dollars, you can find high school or college recruits to turn a program around quickly. The challenge is real in Lexington, but who is to say that Stein isn’t the answer?<\/span><\/div>\n

John Mateer, Quarterback, Oklahoma Sooners<\/span><\/h3>\n
“There’s not really any time to think. If someone is open, you just throw it to them.” <\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What is it like playing quarterback in the SEC? <\/span>Mateer<\/a><\/span> gave us the simplest answer. Sooners fans are going to be expecting more from the Sooners and Mateer in 2026.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Mateer was a Heisman favorite during the first month of the season in 2025. The Washington State transfer, paired with his former offensive coordinator, looked poised to take the SEC to new heights. After an arm injury in October, Mateer just wasn’t the same. Sure, nobody doubted his toughness, but the production just wasn’t there.<\/span><\/div>\n
The Sooners had an elite defense but a basically non-existent running game. That was still good enough to finish with a 10-2 record and a first-round playoff game. Losing to Texas and blowing a 17-point lead made the 2025 season more sour than sweet. Mateer looks jacked and ready for 2026. Let’s hope his play follows.<\/span><\/div>\n

Josh Heupel, Head Coach, Tennessee Volunteers<\/span><\/h3>\n
“I certainly hope that our fans haven’t cooled off, whether it’s at the grocery stores getting stocked up on mustard, or the sports stores that they’ve got reinforcements of golf balls, hopefully Knoxville is ready for his arrival.”<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It just means more. Fans outside the SEC get tired of hearing it, but Heupel’s quote shows the mantra is still alive and well. Kiffin knows how to burn a bridge; ask Vol Nation, <\/span>Sebastian Janikowski<\/a><\/span>, or the folks in <\/span>The Grove<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
While Kiffin and LSU’s trip to Ole Miss is getting plenty of love, <\/span>Heupel<\/a><\/span> wants to make sure none of us forget the circus that came to town the last time Kiffin’s team was here in 2021. Tennessee fans pelted the field with debris\u2014including bottles of yellow mustard, golf balls, and more\u2014after a controversial late call. Kiffin was struck by a golf ball thrown from the stands and later proudly showed it off as a souvenir. So make sure your grocery lists are up to date, Vol Nation; Coach Heupel is counting on you.<\/span><\/div>\n

Main Photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEC Media Days wrapped up Day One in Tampa. Greg Sankey started the day with a warning about what might come to the future of college football. While we can’t confirm that the sky is falling, Sankey did acknowledge that leaders within the conference are having “real” conversations about potentially breaking away from the rest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4424,"featured_media":89465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35579,35584,35586,17,35581,3,35587],"tags":[5822,655,495,3303,9802],"class_list":["post-89454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-kentucky-wildcats","category-lsu-tigers","category-missouri-tigers","category-news","category-oklahoma-sooners","category-sec","category-tennessee-volunteers","tag-eli-drinkwitz","tag-greg-sankey","tag-lane-kiffin","tag-sec-media-days","tag-will-stein"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89454"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89467,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89454\/revisions\/89467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}