Lane Kiffin Sounds Off On Canceled 2025 Game Between Ole Miss and Wake Forest

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin was not happy that Wake Forest backed out of the scheduled 2025 game between the two programs last week.

Sep 14, 2024; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin during the first half against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Ole Miss Rebels are in a bind. Not in the 2024 season, but where 2025 is concerned.

Following the Rebels' 40-6 thrashing of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin revealed that Wake had "bought out" the return game in the home-and-home series, a meeting that was originally scheduled for 2025 in Oxford.

The Demon Deacon athletic department informed Ole Miss of the decision in the week leading up to Saturday's game, but now the Rebels have some problem solving to do.

The Southeastern Conference requires each of its members to schedule at least one non-conference game against a Power Four opponent each year. Wake Forest, a member of the ACC, was going to fulfill that requirement for the Rebels next season, so where does Ole Miss go from here?

"Really a very abnormal thing for Wake to do," Kiffin said on Monday. "You usually don't do that in the season before. It's hard. There aren't people to play. That's why you do scheduling in advance. That rarely ever done, and it puts us at a big disadvantage.

"It is what it is. Obviously wasn't appreciated very much, and now we've got to go find somebody. Most people are all scheduled up, and even when you find them, you've got to go pay them. Kind of an unwritten rule not to do that, actually."

Kiffin stated that perhaps it was possible for Ole Miss to receive a waiver from the SEC office for next season, given the circumstances surrounding the cancelation, but that isn't the preferred outcome for the folks in the Manning Center.

As Kiffin was preparing to field another question about this saga on Monday, he jumped in with one final point.

"I find it really amazing that you wait until the week of the game to tell the team," Kiffin said. "If [Wake Forest athletic director] John Currie was like, 'Oh, we're going to tell them the week of and disrupt them,' maybe that was their game plan for the game."

Ole Miss knew before Saturday's game that it would not meet the Demon Deacons again in 2025, and it took advantage of the opportunity in Winston-Salem. The Rebels came away with a 40-6 win to remain unbeaten on the year, and they will return home this weekend to host Georgia Southern.