Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin’s name will pop up in every story about head coaching candidates for the rest of the year.
A big reason for that is he has the Rebels in line to secure a berth in the College Football Playoff, but also he’s very likeable to fans.
For example, at his Monday press conference Kiffin was asked about a quote Oklahoma coach Brent Venables gave where he said the Sooners were “the better team.”
“That’s an interesting take. That’s a hot take. He had a better team?” Kiffin, whose team defeated Oklahoma 34-26 on Saturday. “I wouldn’t have thought that people watching would say that…and we won by eight points.
“I think we left a lot out there. I think we should have won by a couple scores. So I don’t know how he evaluated that game.”
A lot of football coaches would stop there, but Kiffin isn’t one of them. He continued, “I mean, we had way more yards, 21 first downs to 14. And we played, what, 87 plays of offense and they had one sack and didn’t force any turnovers. And so that’s an interesting take, but whatever he needs to say.”
Now, nearly every coach would stop right there and let the reporter ask their next question. Which nearly happened, but here’s the transcript of what followed:
Reporter: “Following up to road trips…”
Kiffin: “Maybe they had the better team last year, too, when we beat them. Sorry.”
Reporter: “Following up on the road against Georgia…”
Kiffin: “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.”
Hopefully there’s a good burn unit at the hospital in Norman.
To be blunt, Kiffin was right when said anyone who watched that game might come to a different conclusion.
An Ole Miss defeat never felt like a realistic outcome.
The problem for Ole Miss fans is that all of this is exactly why there’s speculation about Kiffin taking over at LSU or Florida. But that’s a good problem to have.
