As the final seconds ticked off Ole Miss’ come-from-behind 34-24 win over Florida, the fans inside Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, started chanting, “We want Lane! We want Lane!”
Coach Lane Kiffin has long been rumored to be the top candidate for the Gators’ open head coaching job, making their matchup Saturday night somewhat awkward. Kiffin fielded questions about his coaching future during the week and again after the game, given the opponent across the sideline.
“I love what we’re doing here,” Kiffin said postgame when asked about his future at Ole Miss. “Today was awesome. To even talk about it right now would be so disrespectful to our players and how well they played today. We’ve got a lot of things going here. Doing really well, and I love it here.”
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The win moved No. 7 Ole Miss to 10-1 heading into an open date before it closes the season at Mississippi State. A berth in the College Football Playoff is all but certain if the Rebels beat the Bulldogs in the Egg Bowl.
Though nobody at Ole Miss said its result against Florida last year would serve as a motivating factor, it is hard to ignore the fact that the Gators’ win over the Rebels last year kept them out of the playoff.
For a large chunk of Saturday night, it appeared Florida might do the same thing for a second straight season. In the first half, Ole Miss did not have an answer for Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, who threw for one touchdown and ran for another to give the Gators a 24-20 lead at halftime.
Ole Miss made one mistake after another in the red zone, costing itself valuable points. Twice the Rebels turned the ball over on downs after getting inside the 5-yard line, and on two other drives they had to settle for field goals inside the 10.
But the defense held Florida scoreless in the second half, and the offense made enough plays to pull out the win. Trinidad Chambliss threw for 301 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and Kewan Lacy had a career-high 224 yards rushing and three scores.
Kiffin, in his sixth season at Ole Miss, has led the Rebels to three straight 10-win seasons — the longest streak in program history. His four 10-win seasons over the past five seasons are more than the team had in the previous 50 seasons combined (three).
“I told our guys this week, as you get older everybody always says the good old days,” Kiffin said. “I said, ‘Hey guys, I think we’re in the good old days right now.’ I think for our fans, for our players, it’s this utopia of what’s going on, so enjoy it. Because these runs don’t happen very often anywhere.”
It’s easy to see why a program like Florida would be interested in Kiffin. Former coach Billy Napier, whom Florida fired last month, never won 10 games in a season during his tenure there. Over the past 10 seasons, Florida has two 10-win seasons, both under former coach Dan Mullen in 2018 and 2019.
During the television broadcast, the camera panned to Florida fans in the crowd wearing orange and blue shirts that read, “Please Lane Come to Gainesville.”
After the game, Kiffin was pressed further on how he handles the speculation about Florida and what message he has to Ole Miss fans who might want clarity on his situation.
“I don’t think we were distracted; 538 yards today for an offense seems pretty focused,” Kiffin said. “We’ve been dealing with what people would say are distractions for weeks now. It’s different nowadays. I think kids think differently.
“They’re getting pre-portaled every Saturday night they play well. I just talk to them and say, ‘That’s part of the process. When you guys play really well, these things happen, your coach gets talked about,’ and it ain’t the first time or first year that it’s happened around here. I don’t think it’s a problem.”
