-
Dan Wetzel
Ryan Day is 81-10 as head coach Ohio StateIncluding 11-0 this year, as the Buckeyes try to repeat as national champions. It is a breathtaking race to success.
Yet Day famously went 0-4 michigan Over the past four years, including a shocking loss to a homegrown Wolverines team the year before. Another loss on Saturday in Ann Arbor, especially as an ESPN BET 11.5-point favorite, will invite continued scorn and frustration.
That’s why you would think the pressure is on the Day coach the most to win a specific game this weekend.
Then Lane Kiffin comes and says, hold my hottie toddy.
Kiffin has yet to publicly announce where he will be playing next season – let alone the rest of this season. It can be possible LSUIt can be possible Floridaor it could be ole missWhere the 10-1 Rebels are in sixth place heading into Friday’s Egg Bowl mississippi state,
“An announcement regarding Coach Kiffin’s future is expected to be made Saturday after the game,” Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter wrote in a statement.
This is a game Kiffin won better.
Forget the rest of this chaotic story. Long, slow dragging out of an announcement. The fact is that even while working at Oxford, members of Kiffin’s family reportedly visited other schools and towns. Kiffin sends out daily secret book excerpts on social media, allowing fans to try to decipher their meaning.
Or the fact that the decision is only “expected” on Saturday.
Perhaps. Or maybe not. Who really knows? This is the lane. Perhaps he’ll choose a hat like the recruits’, or ask Jesse Palmer to come to town for a “Bachelor”-style rose ceremony.
If nothing else, Kiffin, a unique personality, has established Friday’s game in Starkville, Mississippi as a game unlike any other – one of the most “winnable” contests any coach has ever faced.
This is Ole Miss’s greatest season in over 60 years. The College Football Playoff awaits. A home playoff game, which could be the largest sporting event in state history, is around the corner. The Rebels are solid national semifinal contenders, if not capable of winning the whole thing. Kiffin’s own season has not been so successful.
Yet if Ole Miss gets upset by its arch-rival on Friday, it could all come crashing down. If yes, then the fault will be single.
The day may be bad and despite embarrassment, you may move towards bigger challenges.
Kiffin can never afford to continue creating a circus of speculation and distraction because he is considering leaving a playoff team.
Their defenders may blame the disorganized calendar, but life is about timing. Sometimes it doesn’t work in your favor. Leaving a team with great potential for the supposedly greener grass of another program (it is highly unlikely that Ole Miss would allow him to coach in the playoffs) would be an extraordinary decision. Is he a coach or a job seeker?
If Kiffin leaves after getting a win that puts Ole Miss in the playoff, feelings will be quite bitter. However, if the rebels lose? They are assured of nothing, joining a crowded group of 10-2 contenders seeking an at-large bid. They may be left out.
To make matters worse, it’s very possible that Kiffin will be out on bail the next day. This would give the College Football Playoff committee the option to upgrade the Rebels after they lost their head coach in the same way it downgraded Florida State two years ago because it lost its starting quarterback to injury.
Just like that, the dream season will have a nightmare conclusion… just as the criminal leaves town. How will it end?
Ole Miss is an 8.5-point favorite. It must defeat a Mississippi State team that has shown admirable growth this year but is still rebuilding. However, it is a bowl of eggs. Anything can happen — and has happened. Worried. Return. A man is hurting his team imitating a dog peeing During a touchdown celebration.
This stuff is almost always wild.
“Coach Kiffin and I have had many candid and positive conversations about his future at Ole Miss,” Carter wrote in his statement. “As we discuss next steps, we know we cannot overlook the most important thing – our sixth-ranked team that is poised to end the regular season in historic fashion.
“Despite the outside noise,” Carter wrote, “Coach Kiffin is focused on preparing our team for the Egg Bowl.”
that would be lovely. And then Ole Miss better win it.
