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Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin Slams Wake Forest for Backing Out of 2025 Matchup

Kiffin says the Demon Deacons broke an "unwritten rule."

Tim Capurso

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin on the field before the Rebels' game against Wake Forest on Saturday.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin on the field before the Rebels' game against Wake Forest on Saturday. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

During the week of preparation before suffering a lopsided, 40-6 defeat at the hands of the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday, Wake Forest decided to cancel the second game in its home-and-home series against the Rebels in 2025, putting the university on the hook for a $1 million cancellation fee, as first reported by Brett McMurphy of Action Network.

Speaking to reporters after the Rebels' win on Saturday, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin initially spun the Demon Deacons' decision to cancel the 2025 contest as a positive for his program.

"We talked to them [Ole Miss players] during the week about ... This is the last time they get to play these guys," Kiffin said. "These guys during the week, called over, John Currie [Wake Forest Athletic Director said 'We're not playing next year and bought out of the game.' "

"I thought that was a good message for our players that somebody was willing to pay money not to play them. It says a lot about where our program is right now."

That certainly could have been a source of motivation for Ole Miss, which outgained the Demon Deacons 649-311 in the rout.

But after a couple of days to think about it, Kiffin, speaking to reporters on Monday about Wake Forest's cancellation, was singing a different tune.

"That's rarely ever done," Kiffin said. "I've never really heard of doing it, and it really puts us at a big disadvantage. It is what it is. It obviously wasn't appreciated very much, them putting us in that situation."

"Now we've got to go find somebody and most people are all scheduled up. And even when you find somebody, you've got to go pay them. It's kind of an unwritten rule not to do that, actually."

The home-and-home series for 2024 and 2025 was first agreed upon back in 2014. Wake Forest had won the previous two meetings against Ole Miss prior to Saturday's contest. The cancelled game was scheduled for September 13 , 2025.

The Demon Deacons' decision to cancel the 2025 contest now leaves the Rebels scrambling in an attempt to find a Power 4 conference or major independent opponent to replace the Wake Forest game on the schedule.

If unable to find a replacement, Ole Miss may need to seek a waiver from the SEC. That would result in the Rebels facing four nonconference opponents without an opponent from the four main conferences in college football.

That's something Kiffin made clear he would prefer not to do.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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