Lane Kiffin rips Wake Forest for cancelling Ole Miss from its 2025 schedule

Wake Forest got embarrassed at home by No. 5 Mississippi 40-6 in its Week 3 matchup. There won't be a rematch in Oxford next season, something head coach Lane Kiffin is miffed about.

"Kind of an unwritten rule not to do that actually," he told reporters Monday upon the news that Wake Forest had cancelled next year's scheduled game. The ACC school reportedly paid the $1 million buy out clause to get out of the return game scheduled a decade ago.

"That's rarely ever done," Kiffin continued. "I've never really heard of doing it, and it really puts us at a big disadvantage. It is what it is. It obviously wasn't appreciated very much, them putting us in that situation."

Lane Kiffin's frustration over Wake Forest cancellation boils over

The game was scheduled for Sept. 13, 2025. Mississippi must now scramble to find another opponent for that date, something that won't be as easy as it seems, according to Kiffin.

"Now we've got to go find somebody and most people are all scheduled up," he said, expressing his frustration. "And even when you find somebody, you've got to go pay them."

According to ESPN, if Mississippi cannot find another Power 4 conference opponent, it would have to file for a waiver from the SEC so it could play four non-conference games — all from the Group of Five or FCS. That's something Kiffin would prefer to avoid.

"That's not what we want to do, but they may have put us in an unavoidable situation not to," he said, conveying his displeasure with Wake Forest's timing on the cancellation.

"I really find it amazing that you wait until the week of the game to tell the team," he said, visibly frustrated.

Wake Forest's cancellation is part of what appears to be an early trend of non-SEC Power conference teams attempting to avoid the juggernaut programs south of the Mason-Dixon line. West Virginia is actively trying to get out of its scheduled games with Alabama in 2026 and 2027.

Mississippi has started its 2024 campaign 3-0 and is in serious contention for the SEC title as well as the expanded College Football Playoff.

The Rebels face Georgia Southern at home in Week 4, likely looking at its first 4-0 start since 2022.