On Saturday Night, Ole Miss likely punched it's ticket to the College Football Playoff surviving an upset scare from Florida. What should've been a massive celebration in Oxford has become a terrifying waiting game. As the Rebels spend the week preparing for the Egg Bowl, the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes have reached their peak.
In the SEC, the Florida Gators and LSU Tigers are both looking for their next head coach, and both schools are seemingly hoping they can land Lane Kiffin. While two schools try to poach Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss feels this process is unfair and would love to retain the head coach who brought them back to relevancy.
The Lane Kiffin hunt has reached it's peak on Monday
On Monday, it feels like Lane Kiffin is truly considering leaving Ole Miss more than he ever was before. As the week began, reports began to surface that members of Lane Kiffin's family were visiting both Baton Rouge and Gainesville.
The saying goes "Happy Wife, Happy Life", and on Monday Lane Kiffin's ex-wife who he's reconciled with toured Baton Rouge.
Lane Kiffin’s ex-wife is touring Baton Rouge Monday.https://t.co/x9ofJ9B1QR
— Matt Moscona (@MattMoscona) November 17, 2025
As schools appear to be closing in on hiring Lane Kiffin and are desperately awaiting his decision, so is his current school Ole Miss. On3 reported that Ole Miss has given Lane Kiffin a deadline, and if he doesn't meet their deadline, Ole Miss could stop him from coaching the Rebels in the College Football Playoff.
If Lane Kiffin doesn’t meet deadline, Ole Miss would have to decide if it would allow him to coach in playoffs, sources told @On3sports. If there is no resolution, it will be an agonizing decision for the Kiffin & the Rebels https://t.co/afmmmZC5wM
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) November 17, 2025
The move to put the pressure on Lane Kiffin to decide feels like the worst decision Ole Miss could've made. Threatening the coach you're trying everything to keep is showing him your true colors when the Rebels should be waiting. Kiffin is going to coach a home Playoff game in Oxford most likely, and that atmosphere alone could convince him to stay.
Even if Lane Kiffin decides before the deadline that he's leaving for LSU or Florida, would the Rebels really remove him as the head coach before the Playoff with a potential National Championship caliber team? Kiffin has been removed once before for taking a job when Nick Saban fired him for taking the FAU job, but a head coach is wildly different.
The drama in Oxford is at an all-time high, and Lane Kiffin will most likely have his fun with it on social media. The coming days should bring plenty of reports on Kiffin's future which makes for fascinating drama ahead of the Playoff.