Brian Kelly stopped just short of perhaps channeling his inner Taylor Swift. LSU's fourth-year coach is in no mood for "Champagne problems." Not from Ohio State's Ryan Day, or anyone else.
That was Kelly's sentiment Wednesday morning on the SEC's weekly coaches' Zoom when asked about Day's public and very vocal disagreement with the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee's plan to have a single, 10-day Transfer Portal Window from Jan. 2-12, 2026, and maintain a single window moving forward.
"We're in support of the new Portal Window to a man in the SEC," said Kelly, whose Tigers are 2-0 and host Florida Saturday night. "I've talked to many who believe across the country that this is the progress we need to make. I want to get my roster set. I know 12 or 16 teams might be in the Playoffs at the time.
"I'm sorry; there's no crying on the yacht. It's the best position at this time that allows us to set our rosters moving forward."
As it stands right now, Day is the captain of college football's yacht; his Ohio State program is reigning College Football Playoff Champion. The Buckeyes had double-digit transfers depart their program.
"I don’t think it’s a good idea at all; I just don’t quite understand how teams that are playing in the playoffs are expected to make the decisions," Day said, "and sign their upcoming players while they’re still getting ready to play for games."
While Day said "the majority" of Big Ten coaches agree with him on the 10-day January window being poor for the sport, Georgia's Kirby Smart, a two-time national champion coach, echoed Kelly's sentiments but also said he has discussed the window with multiple Big Ten coaches who do support the timeframe.
"It's hard for me to speak for or against Ryan Day's comments and what he says; I don't sit in a room with Big Ten coaches," Smart said on the Zoom. "I know several Big Ten coaches in favor of Portal changes and who supported it the same way SEC coaches did.
"Nobody, no coach wants to deal with the Portal or changing of roster in the playing season. I think for Ryan's defense, he went through it last year where it was a major, major thing. [If you're part of] the last four, maybe last two [teams standing], it's just nightmarish to deal with."
Smart added:
"We have talked at AFCA to move that out of the playing window. But the playing calendar and academic calendar do not coincide. it doesn't match. That's not our decision, not our choice. Until we fix it, we have a dilemma. I think the lesser (problem) is to say two to four teams will have to deal with this."
Smart also defended an earlier Portal Window as being better for the student-athletes.
"I think some in the Big Ten thought if we have the Portal later, kids will have to stay and you'll have team till end of the semester," Smart said. "That's not realistic, the kids and players that want to leave, that are not happy, I don't know that they should be staying on campus an extra semester. It's not a great situation either way, but the better the way is the way it out came out in my opinion."