Forde-Yard Dash: Lane Kiffin’s Focus Is Anywhere but on the Field With Ole Miss

Each week, The Dash will identify 12 people dealing with damaged playoff hopes, and gauge their teams’ chances of rebounding from calamity.

Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin gives direction during the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (defibrillators sold separately in Tuscaloosa):

First Quarter: Twelve Angry Men 

The 12-team College Football Playoff is a wellspring of hope and excitement for dozens of fan bases. But as the losses accrue, it also will be a source of discontent for those who see their chances slipping away. Each week, The Dash will identify 12 people dealing with damaged playoff hopes, and gauge their teams’ chances of rebounding from calamity.

Keith Carter (1)

The Mississippi Rebels athletic director has to deal with the fact that he’s paying $8.85 million to an unserious football coach. Lane Kiffin just can’t quite seem to get to adult coachhood.

Kiffin is generally considered to have his best team at Ole Miss, one stacked with skill talent and better than ever on the lines. With an expanded playoff, this is Kiffin’s big chance to position his team to win something. But the Rebels are 0–1 in the Southeastern Conference after an upset home loss to the Kentucky Wildcats as a double-digit favorite, flunking their first major test.

In the run-up to that game last week, Kiffin was sniping at Auburn Tigers coach Hugh Freeze. On the Wednesday league teleconference, Kiffin was asked about Freeze complimenting the Ole Miss NIL collective, which is run by Walker Jones. Kiffin’s response: “That is nice of Coach Freeze to compliment our management of our collective. I’m sure he’ll try to steal Walker Jones like he’s tried all of our coaches also.”

There were comments earlier in the week, too. After Freeze was ripped by a number of people—including his star quarterback from his Ole Miss tenure, Bo Wallace—for throwing his Auburn players under the bus for committing too many turnovers, Kiffin had some thoughts about supporting a struggling QB. 

“You go back to [former Ole Miss QB] Matt Corral when he threw six interceptions [against Arkansas in 2020] and before I even got to media, sitting down with him and telling him, ‘We got to do a better job calling plays. I got to coach better. Don’t worry, we got your back.’ I think that goes a long ways, and it goes a long way with a kid in recruiting, knowing what they’re going to get when they get here from a relationship, and they can trust us to have their back.”

This was more of Kiffin stirring the pot when he might have been better served by keeping his head down and figuring out how to score more than 17 against the Wildcats. Just once, it would be nice to see him approach a big game quietly. 

We are already two weeks into deep speculation about Kiffin and the Florida job that isn’t yet open, but likely will be. Last time Kiffin was flirting with a school about a job it was, in fact, Auburn. The Tigers fired Bryan Harsin in late October 2022, and Kiffin’s name was front and center. His Ole Miss team lost its last four games of the season. 

Mississippi’s chances of making the playoff: Still could happen, but losing to Kentucky at home is a bad way to start league play with so many challenging games left.

Jimmy Rane (2)

Speaking of Auburn, Rane and the rest of the school’s booster cabal is watching the Freeze era they lusted for disintegrate in front of them. The Tigers are now 2–3 and winless against power-conference opposition, losing a double-digit home lead in the fourth quarter to the offensively challenged Oklahoma Sooners. 

The game-turning gift was yet another Auburn interception (its ninth of the season), this one from Payton Thorne (his sixth), which the Sooners returned for the go-ahead touchdown. The next two opponents are No. 5 Georgia and No. 9 Missouri. Best of luck.

Auburn’s chances of making the playoff: Long gone.

Kirby Smart (3)

Nick Saban is no longer in Tuscaloosa, but the coach of the Georgia Bulldogs can still find ways to lose to the Alabama Crimson Tide. Saturday night was a new twist on an old, sad Georgia tale.

Smart’s Bulldogs were absolutely blitzed early on, looking unprepared and downright soft against Kalen DeBoer’s locked-in Tide. Georgia barely even tried to run and only half-heartedly tried to tackle, while quarterback Carson Beck made mistake after mistake in falling behind 28–0. The Dogs rallied fiercely in the second half and nearly won the game, but the end result dropped Smart to 1–6 against Alabama.

Georgia’s chances of making the playoff: Still alive and well, but have you seen the remaining schedule? There are games at Texas and Mississippi and a home date against Tennessee. Georgia has an increasingly valuable blowout of Clemson on its resume, but if there are more losses to come, things could get dicey.

Utah fans (4)

Kyle Whittingham keeps playing a vague game of hide-and-seek with the injury status of quarterback Cam Rising. The bottom line is this: Rising has missed three straight games this season and 15 of Utah’s last 17, most recently a dismal home upset loss Saturday to the Arizona Wildcats, 23–10. 

Rising has missed the last three games. / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Backup Isaac Wilson is talented but young, and his pass efficiency rating is 124 points lower than Rising’s this season. (Seven interceptions by Wilson and zero by Rising will do that.) The Utes are simply nowhere near the offensive team with Wilson that they can be with Rising. Utah fans are undoubtedly tired of the weekly guessing game about Rising’s availability and eager for his return in a wide-open Big 12.

Utah’s chances of making the playoff: If Rising returns and the Utes make a push in the Big 12, the CFP selection committee would seemingly have to take games he missed due to injury into account. But as of now Utah is in a five-way tie for seventh in the league—with arch-rival BYU tied for first.

Jim Phillips (5)

The Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner saw the Notre Dame Fighting Irish begin their five-game slate against ACC teams by handing the Louisville Cardinals their first loss of the season Saturday. The Irish seem like a good bet to go 5–0 against the ACC, doing their part to limit the league’s at-large bid opportunities.

The ACC’s chances of getting multiple teams in the playoff: Probably better than the Big 12’s, with Miami in the top 10 and Clemson revived and ranked No. 15 in the AP poll. But we’ll see what the potential fallout is if the league’s upper half all start knocking each other off, as nearly happened with Virginia Tech and Miami on Friday night.

Barry Alvarez (6)

The former Wisconsin Badgers athletic director who built a program ethos of tough defense and running the football has to be befuddled by what he’s seen through the first 17 games of the Luke Fickell era. The Badgers (2–2 after losing to the USC Trojans) are 15th in the Big Ten in rushing yards per carry (4.07) and 15th in rushing yards allowed per carry (4.43). After giving up 38 points to USC, Wisconsin’s 26.8 points allowed per game is on pace to be its highest since 2001.

Fickell seemed like a perfect stylistic and philosophical fit at Wisconsin. Perhaps he still will be. But the returns to date have not been up to expectations.

Wisconsin’s chances of making the playoff: Not happening. The Badgers have been handily beaten by the two quality teams they’ve faced.

Bret Bielema (7)

His Illinois Fighting Illini will be a pain to play against all season, as Penn State found out Saturday night. But they don’t have the talent to be anything more dangerous than a spoiler in the current Big Ten. Being outrushed by 205 yards by the Nittany Lions is a pretty clear sign of the gap between contending teams and a team that can sneak up and beat a misfiring opponent.

Illinois’s chances of making the playoff: The schedule is not awful, so dare to dream of sneaking into contention at 9–3 or 10–2. But getting there wouldn’t be easy.

Terry Mohajir (8)

The Central Florida Knights athletic director is getting a full dose of the Gus Malzahn favorite malaise. After being routed at home by the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday, UCF has lost 10 times in 27 games under Malzahn as a favorite against FBS competition. Auburn fans might interrupt their current misery to nod knowingly after watching Gus lose plenty of games he was supposed to win.

UCF’s chances of making the playoff: At 3–1, 1–1 in the Big 12, the Knights are just part of the muddled landscape in that league. The remaining schedule is pretty challenging, with ranked opponents Iowa State, BYU and Utah still to come. Without winning the league championship, chances are extremely slim.

Malzahn has lost 10 times as a favorite against FBS competition. / Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images

Kevin Plank (9)

The Under Armour CEO and Maryland graduate is still outfitting the Terrapins in his gear, and still watching them fail to get over the hump in football. After beating the Indiana Hoosiers the previous three seasons, the Terps were trounced Saturday. And after beating the Michigan State Spartans the previous two seasons, they lost to them Sept. 7. Forget the annual chore of trying to beat Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State in the old Big Ten East; Maryland might struggle to win two or more league games this season.

Maryland’s chances of making the playoff: None.

Washington State fans (10)

A dreamy season start ran into harsh reality on the blue turf Saturday night, with the Cougars being blasted by Ashton Jeanty and the Boise State Broncos. After opening 4–0 and helping perpetrate a raid of the Mountain West Conference for future Pac-12 membership, Wazzu was on a roll. After losing by 21 points Saturday and losing some prospective new Pac-12 members earlier last week, the momentum has been slowed.

Washington State’s chances of making the playoff: The Cougars probably needed to go 12–0 to have a resume that could stand up to at-large teams from the SEC and Big Ten, and that’s now out the window.

The Stillwater Mullet (11)

Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State Cowboys are now 0–2 in the Big 12 after being walloped by the Kansas State Wildcats, coming on the heels of a home loss to Utah. The Pokes gave up an ungodly 549 rushing yards in the two losses, which is no way to survive.

Oklahoma State’s chances of making the playoff: Not since Gundy’s first year has he had a team spiral to a losing season, so expect a turnaround—but how much of one? There are no realistic at-large hopes, so the Pokes will have to make the Big 12 title game and win it.

Gundy and the Cowboys dropped to 0–2 in the Big 12. / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Mack Brown (12)

The North Carolina Tar Heels coach got his team up off the mat after the embarrassing, 70–50 loss to James Madison. The Heels built a 20–0 lead on the rival Duke Blue Devils … but then collapsed, giving up 21 points in the last 21 minutes to lose by one. What made it worse for Mack? The first-year Duke coach is Manny Diaz, who Brown once fired as defensive coordinator at Texas. Now Diaz might have pushed his old boss a step closer to retirement.

North Carolina’s chances of making the playoff: The rest of the Heels’ ACC schedule isn’t very hard, but they aren’t very good. So it’s not really a discussion topic at this point.

The Buzzin’ Dozen

Each week The Dash projects the 12-team playoff field as if today were Selection Sunday. As always, the rankings are based on what has actually transpired this season, not preseason predictions. But by now everyone of note has played at least one power-conference opponent, so the mock bracket is open to all comers:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (SEC champion, automatic bid)
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten champion, automatic bid)
3. BYU Cougars (Big 12 champion, automatic bid)
4. Miami Hurricanes (ACC champion, automatic bid)
5. Texas Longhorns (at-large bid)
6. Georgia Bulldogs (at-large bid)
7. Tennessee Volunteers (at-large bid)
8. Penn State Nittany Lions (at-large bid)
9. Iowa State Cyclones (at-large bid)
10. Michigan Wolverines (at-large bid)
11. USC Trojans (at-large bid)
12. UNLV Rebels (Group of 5 champion, automatic bid)

First-round matchups: UNLV at Texas; USC at Georgia; Michigan at Tennessee; Iowa State at Penn State.

First-round byes: Alabama, Ohio State, BYU, Miami.