Disclaimer: Bandwagoning is not a ranking of the best or worst teams, the biggest wins or worst losses. It’s instead an inexact assessment of the emotions experienced by various fan bases following their most recent game. There is nothing scientific about this. Not a thing.
JUMPING OFF: As we enter Rivalry Week, most of the college football world isn’t breaking down matchups for the final games of the regular season. Rather, it’s playing armchair psychologist trying to figure out what’s going on in Lane Kiffin’s mercurial head.
Reports say LSU has put together a massive deal for Kiffin valued at upward of $98 million over seven years, and his name keeps popping up as Florida’s top target to take over the Gators. Meanwhile, Ole Miss (10-1, 6-1 SEC) is about to play Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl with nothing less than a spot in the SEC championship and College Football Playoff on the line.
If you’re Kiffin, that’s a lot to have toting around in your head with so much at stake. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out against the Bulldogs (5-6, 1-6 SEC).
But it’s also a lot for a fan base that’s largely only known mediocrity for decades, yet has been all-in with Kiffin since he arrived in Oxford five years ago. There’s now the real possibility of not only losing the program-shaping coach it’s long craved, but him abandoning a team with a legit shot of winning a national title. Talk about a double-whammy.
Kiffin hasn’t done much to alleviate those concerns, either. He wouldn’t address his future on Monday, instead only providing an obligatory statement that he values finishing the season with the Rebels.
“(It’s) very important,” Kiffin said. “I’ve never thought of anything different than that.”
You want to believe him.
Still, that’s stopping short of a firm commitment when one is really needed. Just some kind of clarity as to if he truly has one foot already out the door or if he’s sticking around. Lukewarm is a comfortable temperature in a bathtub, not in life.
Something with more edge will have to wait, though.
Kiffin has met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter, and they said a decision will be announced Saturday. Maybe they know something, maybe they don’t.
It doesn’t really matter at this point as everyone is left twisting until then; relegated to reading between the lines while stories and photos of Kiffin’s family visiting Baton Rouge and Gainesville circulate. At least someone is having fun during this ordeal. It all feels like a giant Jedi mind trick on everyone.
Don’t forget that folks in those places are left hanging just as the ones in Oxford. They’ve got their own coaching positions to fill, and time’s a wasting to get things locked down before the mad dash to build 2026 rosters. That’s tough to consider right now if Kiffin is merely stringing them along.
What a horrible look all the way around. It’s one thing to perform due diligence, yet another to protract matters this long.
And it’s not a money issue, either. Kiffin already is among the top-10 highest-paid coaches in the sport. Ole Miss would presumably pony up more to keep him.
It’s about finding a fit that provides the most resources to field a competitive roster and total control to run it as he desires. After all, no one drives the Lane Train but Lane.
At Ole Miss, he has increasingly substantial resources and plenty of power. Yet does he need even more? Only Kiffin can say and there’s no guarantee he’s 100 percent sure.
The optimist hopes he’s truly torn and doesn’t realize how all of this is playing out in public away from his inner circle. That’s better than thinking Kiffin realizes what’s happening and simply doesn’t care.
Because we want to like him. There’s something appealing about anyone who gets under Nick Saban’s skin the way he has or can troll on social media like a surgeon with a scalpel. College football needed a good scoundrel, and he’s delivered for years.
Here’s the truly endearing part: Recent narratives around Kiffin told how he’s evolved and matured during his time at Ole Miss.
And that now, at age 50, he’s a far cry from the young buck who drew the ire of Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis; nearly instigated a riot when he left Tennessee for Southern Cal; and was relieved as Alabama’s offensive coordinator before the 2017 national title game because he was too focused on his upcoming gig at Florida Atlantic. The Eddie Haskell of coaching, it seemed more and more recently, had finally grown up.
Even the ESPN documentary released in September — The Many Lives of Lane Kiffin — felt like a requiem for divorced dads everywhere; the rare example of a restless wanderer who’s found a home and peace. What an inspiration for all of us wondering if we can truly change.
That makes this disheartening because there’s no coming back from this even if he stays put. Decision-makers at the highest levels of college sports are excellent at keeping receipts.
And fragile fan bases have even longer memories.
PLENTY OF ROOM LEFT: The regular season ends Nov. 29, followed by conference championship weekend. Bowl matchups should be announced the next day, and bowl season will run Dec. 13 until the national championship on Jan. 19. Not including the playoff, there will be 41 bowl games and thus slots for 82 teams.
Ten of those spots remain open heading into this weekend, including three games featuring 5-6 teams seeking a bowl-clinching sixth win. Fourteen other five-win teams will also be playing. If enough teams don’t qualify, the NCAA will either allow squads transitioning from the FCS or select five-win teams with the highest Academic Progress Rate scores.
HOT TICKETS: UTSA at home … SMU … Utah QB Devon Dampier … Kansas State’s rushing offense … Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell … Mountain West … Minnesota WR Javon Tracy … Notre Dame’s pick-sixes … Oklahoma’s anthracite Unity uniforms … Two-points the other way.
COLD TICKETS: North Carolina at home … Louisville … Maryland QB Malik Washington … Utah’s rushing defense … Florida State coach Mike Norvell … ACC’s playoff hopes … Syracuse … Georgia Tech’s defense … Northwestern’s Gothic Uniform … The Swamp.
