Saturday’s matchup between No. 7 Ole Miss and 3-6 Florida will have plenty of intrigue behind the scenes in Oxford.
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The Rebels are in the hunt to make the SEC championship and are squarely in the mix for a spot in the College Football Playoff. While Ole Miss is trying to complete one of its best seasons ever, head coach Lane Kiffin is being courted by the Gators, who fired Billy Napier in October.
It will be a tense day for Florida athletic director Scott Strickland and Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter.
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Carter has offered Kiffin a contract extension, but the 50-year-old head coach has not signed any offer as interest from Florida grows in November.
During an episode of “College Football Enquirer” on Thursday, host Steven Godfrey reported that the Rebels are searching for Kiffin’s successor as their head coach appears to plot for a potential exit this winter.
“There is an anxiety right now, I can tell you this… There’s an anxiety right now about trying to fashion a pocket deal amongst some big-time representatives in the agent world,” Godfrey said. “And a pocket deal would basically be, ‘If then then this.’ So in other words, ‘If we lose Lane Kiffin, then could we secure your client if?’
While Ole Miss wants to have success in the CFP this season, the longer that Kiffin has to wait before taking the Florida job could cause long-term problems for the Rebels. Top names in the market, like Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall, could decide to take another job in the SEC instead of taking a risk that Ole Miss eventually opens for 2026.
“There’s a cascade effect of when things open, who hires, what openings are then created by that,” Godfrey said. “So there’s a doomsday scenario if you’re Ole Miss. If Florida’s willing to wait through a first-round loss, then Ole Miss would not be shopping from the most premier shelf because a lot of those candidates, like a Jon Sumrall, would already be hired.”
The Rebels have one more game remaining in the regular season after playing Florida. Ole Miss will host Mississippi State on Nov. 28.
It’ll be interesting to see if Kiffin or Ole Miss can come up with a transition plan if Kiffin decides to move to Gainesville. For now, it appears the Rebels are planning for the possibility.
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