Lane Kiffin just flushed millions down the toilet with Ole Miss upset at Florida

Just when it seemed like things would finally be different, it turned out these were the same old Ole Miss Rebels after all.

Tired of getting bullied up front by the likes of Alabama and Georgia, Lane Kiffin entered this offseason hell-bent on remaking this program in his image. And with the help of a historically huge money cannon, he got his wish: The Rebels dropped some $13 million in NIL cash this year, a 60-percent increase from 2023, landing blue-chippers like edge rusher Princely Umanmielen from Florida and lineman Walter Nolen from Texas A&M. At long last, Ole Miss was going to be more than just a sideshow, dropping 70 on also-rans before folding as soon as real competition showed up. At long last, they were on even footing with the SEC's best.

And when it came time to prove as much on the field, they did just that. The Rebels let two maddening losses slip away against Kentucky and LSU — no matter how much money you drop, weird things happen at night in Death Valley — but when it mattered most, they came through where previous teams had not, physically manhandling Georgia in a 28-10 win that seemed to stamp them as legitimate conference and national title contenders.

Of course, it couldn't be that simple. This is Ole Miss football we're talking about, where things always find a way to go sideways. And sure enough, after a year of pushing the boulder up the hill, Kiffin's program is now right back where it started: stuck infuriatingly in the middle, wondering what it will take to smash that glass ceiling.

Millions in NIL money still not enough to get Ole Miss where it wants to go

The Rebels became gator bait in the Swamp on Saturday, falling to Billy Napier's suddenly resurgent Florida team in a wild 24-17 game. It was the same script that's befallen Ole Miss in its prevoius two losses: Things went haywire for Jaxson Dart, who threw two awful picks, including one on the final drive as the Rebels tried to drive down the field for the game-tying score, and three turnovers helped erase a 464-344 advantage in total yardage. Kiffin's team has outgained its opponent in each of those three games, only for critical lapses to undo all that good work.

Which is infuriating in the best of times, but something even worse and more existential now. Kiffin did everything he should've done; he recognized his team's biggest weaknesses, and he rallied the troops to fix them as best he could. And we saw the result: When this Rebels team is on, they can beat anyone in the country. But college football is a fickle game, and sometimes the gods decide that today just isn't your day no many how many millions of dollars you've spent. When you do all the right things and it doesn't matter, where are you supposed to go from there?

Kiffin no longer has any excuses to point to. He had his hand-chosen quarterback. He had a deep receiving corps, and he had the most revamped defense that money could buy. He even had a favorable enough schedule, avoiding Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama and Tennessee. And after all that, this is where his program is. It makes you wonder whether water will always find its level, and whether this is just who Kiffin is as a coach: A lot of fun, but too fundamentally unserious and mistake-prone to be the last team standing when all is said and done. He's on the portal carousel now, and once it starts it's hard to get off; but it'll be hard to free up another $13 million when Rebels boosters can rightly say they already had this product at home.