Despite James Franklin and Virginia Tech football agreeing to a deal this afternoon, that still may not be the biggest news in the college football landscape today. Instead, the ever-growing drama around Lane Kiffin’s pending decision continues to steal headlines.
On Monday, Pete Nakos reported that members of Kiffin’s family visited Florida on Sunday and LSU on Monday. This has since sparked a response from his current employer, Ole Miss. According to Brett McMurphy, the Rebels have set a deadline for Kiffin to decide if he is moving on from the program or not. If he doesn’t meet it, there is a possibility he would not coach the team in the playoffs.
Ole Miss is currently 10-1 with the lone loss coming at Georgia by the score of 43-35. It has wins over the likes of LSU, Oklahoma, South Carolina and most recently, Florida. The win over the Gators was narrow and down to the wire, with a late score giving the Rebels a 34-24 win.
The final game on the schedule is the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State on Friday, Nov. 28. It will be played in Starkville.
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Kiffin has become an increasingly popular name in coaching searches, given his turnaround of Ole Miss. He’s stayed in Oxford despite opportunities elsewhere, though, but there has never been more buzz surrounding his name than this year.
In his sixth year with the Rebels, he owns a 54-19 record atop the program. However, he is yet to make the playoffs despite years as good as 10-2 in 2023 in the four-team era and 9-3 a year ago in the expansion to 12. Even if he loses to Mississippi State to round out the year, his team should still be in the 12-team field this year, though.
Prior to his time at Ole Miss, he spent three years at FAU. This came after a hiatus from being a head coach when he was fired by USC after a 3-2 start in 2013. He took the Trojans’ job in 2010 after one season at Tennessee. His departure from the Vols after a 7-6 season caused chaos in Knoxville and helped send UT down a spiral it only recently recovered from.
