Lane Kiffin was trying to play off the rumors he was interested in the Florida job – if/when Billy Napier is fired, which is likelier after UF's 23-17 loss to Tennessee on October 12 – by posting a picture of a Gator with the caption “Good sign!!!” on his personal Twitter account. Kiffin posted this before his Ole Miss squad played LSU in Week 7. But those rumors look more realistic after an overtime loss to the Tigers in Baton Rouge.
Whoops.
Ole Miss had a 10-0 lead in the first seven minutes and a 17-7 lead in the second quarter but the Rebels couldn’t hold LSU down. The Tigers didn’t have their first lead until Garrett Nussmeier connected on a 25-yard TD pass with Kyren Lacy to end the game.
That 29-26 lead was the only one LSU needed.
Kiffin now leads a 5-2 team into their first bye week before taking on Oklahoma at home in Week 9, Arkansas on the road in Week 10, and Georgia at home in Week 11.
November 23 will see Kiffin travel to Gainesville. Perhaps for the last time as the Rebels’ head coach. One has to wonder if any negotiations will take place that weekend.
Lane Kiffin would leave Ole Miss for Florida ‘in a heartbeat’
Late Kick host Josh Pate believes Kiffin would leave Ole Miss for Florida “in a heartbeat” for the chance to win national championships; something the Rebels haven’t done since the 1960s.
"(Kiffin would leave Florida for Ole Miss) In a heartbeat," Pate said during the September 11 edition of Crain & Company. "Lane Kiffin would walk to Florida if they would give him the job. This is not a debate. I've got Ole Miss people in my very close social circle and they fight me on this. They're like 'What can you do at Florida that you can't do at Ole Miss?'
"Win a national championship, that's what you can do there. And you can consistently be a player there. Contrary to what people believe about Ole Miss, that is still a build multiple years to a peak kind of program. A window program as I call them. They're not sustained year in and year out. They're just not that kind of program. Florida can be."
Ole Miss’s Week 7 loss has most Rebel fans skeptical the program can break their 62-year title drought. In a 12-team College Football Playoff it’s still possible, but when a coach seemingly has one foot out the door, it’s not probable.
