Lane Kiffin led Ole Miss to an 11-1 record this season, marking the program’s strongest regular season since integration. With the Rebels in the national title conversation, many believed Kiffin could push them toward a championship run, but his decision to leave for LSU ended those expectations.
Kiffin requested permission to coach Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff, but athletic director Keith Carter rejected the proposal. He was also barred from joining the program’s meeting on Sunday afternoon.
Lane Kiffin’s LSU Move Sparks Concerns Over Ole Miss’ Playoff Potential
After beating Mississippi State 38-19 in Friday’s Egg Bowl, Ole Miss improved to 11-1 and remains No. 7 in the PFSN College Football Playoff Rankings. By every standard metric, the Rebels should essentially be locked into the playoff, but Kiffin’s sudden exit has thrown that expectation into doubt.
Kiffin is widely seen as the architect of Ole Miss’s explosive offense, and his departure leaves the program without its chief play-caller and leader heading into the biggest games in school history. Amid the uncertainty surrounding the Rebels’ playoff outlook, Emmanuel Acho shared his points that Ole Miss fans will not like to hear.
“There is precedence to leave Ole Miss out of the college football playoffs because they don’t have a head coach,” Acho said in a tweet following Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss. “In 2023, Florida State went undefeated and was an ACC champion, but they got left out of the 14 playoff at the time because they didn’t have a starting quarterback. And as a result, we find that Texas and Alabama should go into the playoffs instead of them.
“In the same manner, you could assess who Ole Miss is at this time, assess they don’t have a head coach. Lane Kiffin is gonna gut the entirety of the staff. The college football playoff committee has set a precedent that they will assess the team that is currently being established and not the team that existed the previous 12 or 13 weeks. There is precedent to leave Ole Miss out of the college football playoffs.”
Defensive coordinator Pete Golding has been promoted to permanent head coach of Ole Miss and will guide the team in the College Football Playoff this season. He is in his third season with the Rebels after five years as a top defensive assistant at Alabama.
No team in playoff history has entered the tournament with an interim or newly promoted head coach. Adding more to the uncertainty, no such coach has ever won a playoff game since the Playoff structure began in 2014. This will be Golding’s first head coaching role, which may also introduce a huge variable in high-stakes competition.
The CFP will kick off on Dec. 19, with the championship game set for Jan. 19.