Up until last week, I really thought Lane Kiffin had it made in Oxford. He has been in his bag ever since taking over for Matt Luke as the Ole Miss Rebels head coach. Having been reinvented in Tuscaloosa as arguably the most famous Nick Saban coaching rehabilitation project, Kiffin hopped aboard the Lane Train from Boca Raton straight for Oxford after a great three-year run leading Florida Atlantic.
Throughout his five-year run at Ole Miss, Kiffin has been as synonymous with winning big in the transfer protal as he has with the slogan of "Come to the Sip!". Kiffin has transformed Ole Miss from a borderline bowl team into a New Year's Six lock over the course of five years. The only problem is that the New Year's Six is now part of the College Football Playoff, and Ole Miss is holding on for dear life.
Ole Miss entered the 2024 college football season as having the easiest schedule in the SEC. Yes, the Rebels still have to play Georgia and Magnolia Bowl rival LSU, but even with losses there, they should have gone 10-2. Now that Ole Miss has fallen at home to ole Kentucky, their 10-2 is not going to be good enough, and that is assuming the Rebels somehow split the pair between Georgia and LSU.
Simply put, one more bad loss like Ole Miss suffered to Kentucky may force Kiffin to look elsewhere.
One more loss may force Lane Kiffin to consider leaving Ole Miss in 2025
I remember talking to my FanSided.com colleague and False Start co-host Cody Williams on a recent episode of the show. We both had strong feelings about the Rebels' unthinkable loss last week to Kentucky during homecoming. While I felt like quarterback Jaxson Dart and Kiffin's coaching staff let him down, Cody's take was a bit more scathing. He believes it showed a finite ceiling for this program.
We talk about program wins all the time, as in better teams win by simply getting off the bus in some instances. Conversely, this did kind of feel like a program loss. Everything was right in front of the Rebels this year, and they couldn't even beat Kentucky at home?! I understand that Mark Stoops' team is well coached and pushed my beloved Georgia Bulldogs to the brink, but that was shocking!
I think there will come a point where Kiffin and his agent will ask themselves this: Can you actually win a national title at Ole Miss under the current iteration of college football? More importantly, has Kiffin outgrown this job? I wouldn't go to Auburn or Florida if I were him. Kiffin has it made in Oxford, so why enter those toxic sludge quagmires of a situation? However, if Nebraska were to up, I would listen.
Kiffin may be faced with the harsh reality that Ole Miss' ceiling is that of an SEC 10-2 driving academy.