The SEC has asked the NCAA to rescind a pending rule change that will allow athletes and athletic department staff members to bet on professional sports beginning on Nov. 1, according to a copy of a memo obtained by ESPN.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker on Oct. 25, stating that during an Oct. 13 conference meeting, “The message of our Presidents and Chancellors was clear and united: this policy change represents a major step in the wrong direction.”

Last week, the NCAA’s Division I cabinet approved a rule change to allow betting on professional sports, and Division II and III management councils also signed off on it, allowing it to go into effect on Saturday. NCAA athletes are still prohibited from betting on college sports and sharing information about college sports with bettors. Betting sites also aren’t allowed to advertise or sponsor NCAA championships.

“On behalf of our universities, I write to urge action by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors to rescind this change and reaffirm the Association’s commitment to maintaining strong national standards that keep collegiate participants separated from sports wagering activity at every level,” Sankey wrote. “If there are legal or practical concerns about the prior policy, those should be addressed through careful refinement — not through wholesale removal of the guardrails that have long supported the integrity of games and the well-being of those who participate.”

If the rule goes into effect, it would mark a shift in a long-held policy that had become difficult to enforce with an increase in legal sports betting in the United States. The NCAA has faced an uptick in alleged betting violations by players in recent years. In September, the NCAA announced that a Fresno State men’s basketball player had manipulated his own performance for gambling purposes and conspired with two other players in a prop betting scheme. The NCAA is investigating 13 additional players from six schools regarding potential gambling violations dealing with integrity issues.

On Oct. 22, when the NCAA announced the adoption of the new proposal, it stated that approving the rule change “is not an endorsement of sports betting, particularly for student-athletes.”

“Our action reflects alignment across divisions while maintaining the principles that guide college sports,” said Roberta Page, director of athletics at Slippery Rock and chair of the Division II Management Council, in the NCAA’s news release. “This change recognizes the realities of today’s sports environment without compromising our commitment to protecting the integrity of college competition or the well-being of student-athletes.”

Sankey wrote that the “integrity of competition is directly threatened when anyone with insider access becomes involved in gambling.” He also said the SEC is “equally concerned about the vulnerability of our student-athletes.”

“The SEC’s Presidents and Chancellors believe the NCAA should restore its prior policy-or a modified policy-communicating a prohibition on gambling by student-athletes and athletics staff, regardless of the divisional level of their sport,” Sankey wrote. “While developing and enacting campus or conference-level policy may be considered, the NCAA’s policy has long stood as an expression of our collective integrity, and its removal sends the wrong signal at a time when the gambling industry is expanding its reach and influence.”

ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.

Lane Kiffin could not resist taking a shot at Brent Venables, sarcastically accusing the Oklahoma coach of a “hot take” in his evaluation of last weekend’s game against Ole Miss.

Kiffin and the seventh-ranked Rebels rallied for a 34-26 victory Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma, against Venables and the Sooners. Venables said Sunday that he thought Oklahoma was “the better team” before conceding that Ole Miss “out-executed us.”

“That’s an interesting take. That’s a hot take [that] they have the better team,” Kiffin said Monday when asked about Venables’ comments. “I wouldn’t have thought that people watching would say that.

“I felt that one, we won at their place in weather that — as a defensive head coach — you would normally wish for, and won by eight points. And I think we left a lot out there. I think we should have won by a couple of scores. So I don’t know how he evaluated that game that they were the better team.”

Kiffin cited Ole Miss’ 26-14 victory last season at home against Oklahoma before mentioning other previous games he has coached against Venables’ teams.

“Maybe they had the better team last year, too, when we beat them,” said Kiffin, who shrugged before apologizing for interrupting a reporter’s follow-up question. “Sorry … maybe he had the better team in Oklahoma, when we beat him 55-19 in the national championship — maybe.

“Maybe he had the better team at Clemson, when we beat him 45-40 in the national championship at Alabama. Next question, my bad.”

Kiffin was an assistant under Pete Carroll at USC when the Trojans beat the Sooners for the national title after the 2004 season. Venables was a defensive assistant on that Oklahoma team.

The coaches squared off again for the national championship 11 years later, when Kiffin was the offensive coordinator for the Nick Saban-coached Alabama team that beat Clemson for the NCAA title after the 2015 season. Venables was the Tigers’ defensive coordinator that year.

Kiffin’s Rebels were successful offensively Saturday against the Sooners, finishing with 431 yards of total offense against a Venables-coached team that led the nation in total defense and ranked second in scoring defense heading into the weekend.

“We had way more yards, 21 first downs to 14, and we played 87 plays of offense and they had one sack and didn’t force any turnovers,” Kiffin said. “That’s an interesting take. But whatever he needs to say.”

Ole Miss is scheduled to visit Oklahoma again next season. The Rebels (7-1, 4-1 SEC) host South Carolina in their next game Saturday, while the Sooners (6-2, 2-2) visit No. 14 Tennessee.

Former LSU coach Brian Kelly’s $54 million buyout would bring the amount of money owed to FBS head football coaches fired this season to $167.7 million, according to publicly available data and reports.

Kelly’s buyout, which is still being negotiated with LSU, is the highest of the 2025 season so far, topping the $49 million owed to Penn State‘s ex-coach James Franklin, who was fired on Oct. 12.

Also included in the $167.7 million:

• $21 million for Billy Napier, fired from Florida Oct. 19.

• $15 million for Mike Gundy, fired from Oklahoma State Sept 23.

• $9.8 million owned to Sam Pittman, fired from Arkansas Sept. 28.

• $6 million for Brent Pry, fired from Virginia Tech Sept. 14.

• $5 million for DeShaun Foster, fired from UCLA Sept. 14.

• $4 million for Trent Bray, fired from Oregon State Oct. 12.

• $2.4 million for Trent Dilfer, fired from UAB Oct. 12.

• $1.5 million for Jay Norvell, fired from Colorado State Oct. 19.

Buyout totals are subject to change in certain circumstances; for example, if Kelly or Franklin land new jobs, the schools that fired them owe them less money. Napier’s contract with Florida, on the other hand, did not include offset language, and half of his buyout is owed to him within 30 days of his firing.

Kelly’s buyout is the second largest in college football history, behind Texas A&M‘s record $76 million buyout of Jimbo Fisher in 2023. Both coaches were hired by current LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, who ran the Texas A&M athletic department from 2016 to 2019.

“We had high hopes that [Kelly] would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge,” Woodward said when he announced the firing, which came a day after the Tigers’ 49-25 loss to Texas A&M. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize, and I made the decision to make a change after last night’s game.

The $168.1 million applies to coaches who have been fired since the start of the 2025 season and does not include coaches who were fired over the offseason.