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Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin Shades Jimbo Fisher's Controversial Take on Offense

After an interesting take on offensive scheme with the media on Thursday from Texas A&M Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher, Ole Miss Rebels headman Lane Kiffin is once again chiming in.

Matt Galatzan

Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin Shades Jimbo Fisher's Controversial Take on Offense
Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin Shades Jimbo Fisher's Controversial Take on Offense /
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Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin is oddly attuned to what Texas A&M Aggies headman Jimbo Fisher is telling the media on a day-to-day basis. 

But given the history of Fisher's jabs back and forth with the media, those things can admittedly, be hard to ignore. 

While Kiffin has had plenty of back-and-forth with other coaches as well, it seems that Fisher and Kiffin's run-ins are becoming increasingly more common these days.

The two have shared plenty of barbs in the recent past over NIL, and other controversial topics surrounding college football already, but on Friday, Kiffin was at it again, poking fun at a statement that Fisher made during his spring football press conference in College Station on Thursday.

“It’s not scheme... It’s execution." Fisher said when attempting to explain the lack of systemic improvement that his new offensive coordinator, Bobby Petrino, would be able to implement going forward.

From there, however, Fisher also took a predictable path, doubling down on his odd take, attempting to explain that every offense in college football has ostensibly the same schematic structure.

"Everybody does the same thing," Fisher said. "There’s not a hill of beans between anybody, as far as what goes on.”

And that is why Kiffin elected to chime in on Twitter - as he has become quite fond of doing with fisher in the past - while tagging Georgia coach Kirby Smart in the process.

"'Everybody runs the same plays'???? Its only about the players executing?? ⁦@KirbySmartUGA⁩ FYI," Kiffin tweeted.

Obviously, Fisher's comments are not to be taken at face value, as frankly, if they were, they would seem to be a little bit hard to believe.

And frankly, this seems like more of a case of Fisher being his historically stubborn and blunt self, than anything else. 

Are there trends in college football that teams tend to follow more than others?

Absolutely.

But there is also a stark contrast in the way that Ole Miss, for example, schemes its offense from week to week and season to season, based on current personnel and a variety of other factors.

The Texas Longhorns, for another example, are set to look extremely different in 2023 after the losses of their top two running backs, Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson, to the NFL Draft - meaning that Steve Sarkisian will likely implement various changes to the Longhorns scheme this spring.

Does USC run the same offense with Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley as Georgia did with Stetson Bennett and Mike Bobo?

Did Texas A&M run the same offense under Kevin Sumlin as it does under Fisher?

No.

Are their similar concepts?

Absolutely.

Obviously, Fisher knows more about the Xs and Os of football than we can learn in a lifetime, but to suggest everyone in college football is running the same thing is... quite a take.

And whether Fisher will admit it or not, he hired Petrino to fix an offense that was seen, schematically at least, as behind the times.

But, if Petrino can't implement any changes to that scheme, then why bother bringing him in in the first place?

Of course, that would be a question for Fisher.

But, if his answer is anything like it was previously, it would more than likely be just another example of the long-time coach digging in his heels, rather than being candid with the media.

You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan

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Matt Galatzan
MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.

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