On Friday, Lane Kiffin made good on his word to finish the regular season with Ole Miss.
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The No. 7 Rebels defeated rival Mississippi State 38-19 in front of 60,417 fans at Davis Wade Stadium. With the win, Ole Miss cemented its place in the College Football Playoff and kept the Bulldogs from becoming bowl eligible.
Following No. 3 Texas A&M’s 27-17 loss to No. 16 Texas on Friday night, Ole Miss can make the SEC Championship Game if Auburn knocks off No. 10 Alabama on Saturday.
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Kiffin told reporters after the game that he has not made his decision about whether he’ll stay in Oxford or take the open job at LSU. For now, Florida appears to be out of the equation to land Kiffin.
It appears there is some movement going on behind the scenes in Baton Rouge in LSU’s favor to land the 50-year-old head coach.
Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Kiffin is “lining up” a coaching staff for LSU.
“It’s no surprise,” Florio wrote. “If Kiffin is seriously thinking about going, he’ll need to start getting people in place. And it gives him a chance to get a clean slate, leaving behind the folks from the Ole Miss staff that he either doesn’t want, or the ones who want to remain.
“This isn’t a report that Kiffin is leaving. We’ll leave that one to whoever gets the spoon-fed scoop. But it’s true that, as of Friday night, Kiffin is putting the pieces in place in the event he makes the leap to LSU.”
On Friday, Kiffin didn’t specify when he’d announce his decision on Saturday, but said it was a hard choice to make.
“There’s a lot (that goes) into it,” Kiffin said, via ESPN. “It’s a hard decision. You guys have them all the time. You’ve got to make decisions about jobs you take and where you move, and we get paid a lot, so I understand we’re under a lot of spotlight and scrutiny.”
Kiffin is 55-19 overall and 32-17 in SEC play during his six seasons at Ole Miss. Friday might have been his last game coaching the Rebels.
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