Ole Miss football took home a win in the ‘Lane Kiffin Bowl’ in Week 12 with a 34-24 come-from-behind win vs. Florida.
Just as the Rebels closed off their 10th win of the season, moving one step closer to appearing in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history, Ole Miss fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium made one thing clear to the Rebels brass and Kiffin: They want Lane.
As captured by the ESPN broadcast, ‘We want Lane’ chants broke out in the Ole Miss student section after Kiffin has been linked to the Florida open head coach vacancy, on top of numerous other Power Four conference openings. It appeared not to faze him, as he remained locked in on the final 60 seconds of the game:
Given what he has done in seven seasons at Ole Miss, Kiffin has become a regular on coaching hot boards as positions become available across college football.
On top of his ties to the state of Florida, former Gators coach Steve Spurrier, who told USA TODAY Sports’ Blake Toppmeyer last month that he is a fan of Kiffin and thinks he is a ‘very good coach.’
‘I wanted to be Steve Spurrier,’ Kiffin said during a recent appearance on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast. ‘When I watched him and his offenses in the visor and kind of the way he’d throw jabs at other coaches and team and stuff, I was like, Steve Spurrier is the man. That’s what I want to be.’
Kiffin himself has talked at length about his name being tossed around in the coaching carousel, including saying on an appearance on ESPN’s ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ that he will never ‘make a decision based on money’ and that he hasn’t made one based on money in his coaching career.
The win over Florida moved Ole Miss’ record to 54-19 overall under Kiffin.
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