Hunter Yurachek wants everyone to know the College Football Playoff committee is not scrolling Lane Kiffin’s flight tracker during meetings.
With Ole Miss football sitting at 10-1 and No. 7 in the latest CFP rankings, the obvious question hovered over Tuesday night’s reveal. Did the Lane Kiffin-to-LSU-or-Florida drama help knock the Rebels down a spot behind Oregon?
College Football Playoff selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek said no, and he said it twice. After joking about Ole Miss being at “6-7”, a nod to the Rebels sitting at No. 7 behind No. 6 Oregon, Yurachek told ESPN’s Rece Davis the group simply doesn’t have a data point to judge what Ole Miss looks like without Lane Kiffin on the sideline.
Brett McMurphy added another layer on X, formerly Twitter, relaying Yurachek’s line that “We didn’t have any discussion about Ole Miss and its coach,” which tracks with what Ole Miss insiders heard from the chair. Oregon jumped the Rebels because of a statement win over USC, not because of Kiffin’s wandering eye reputation.
Lane Kiffin has been tied heavily to openings at LSU and Florida, and he sidestepped job questions again this week while Ole Miss football fans worry about losing both their coach and a once-in-a-lifetime playoff shot.
Ole Miss is 10-1, 6-1 in the SEC, and coming off a 34-24 win over Florida, where running back Kewan Lacy gashed the Gators for 224 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss threw for 301 yards as the Rebels stacked 538 total yards and rallied late via the ESPN Box Score, all while fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium chanted “We want Lane!” into the night.
The message from the committee is pretty simple, win the Egg Bowl, and Ole Miss is still in strong shape for the school’s first CFP appearance, regardless of what Kiffin’s agent is doing behind the scenes.
For now, the rankings say Oregon over Ole Miss. The drama says Kiffin might be gone in a week. But Yurachek just put it back on the players. Handle Mississippi State, and make the decision on Lane Kiffin someone else’s problem in January.
