Lane Kiffin, now LSU’s head coach, says Ole Miss — with him calling the shots — “ain’t losing to Miami” after the Rebels fell 31-27 to Miami in the CFP semifinal. He added that the team would’ve been headed to the national championship, and he will face his fo
Lane Kiffin didn’t just move on from Ole Miss. He’s still arguing a football point—one he says can’t be settled any other way than by the scoreboard.
Speaking in the wake of his controversial switch from Ole Miss to the LSU Tigers. Kiffin returned to a moment Ole Miss fans remember vividly: the Rebels’ College Football Playoff semifinal loss to the University of Miami. That game ended 31-27 in Miami’s favor, with Ole Miss ultimately missing out on the national championship.
But Kiffin believes the result would have turned out differently if he had remained in charge. The key detail, in his telling, is who was running the defense.
“[If] Pete Golding is in the press box calling the defense, that team is in the national championship,” Kiffin said to USA Today. “I don’t know what happens against Indiana, because the quarterback (Fernando Mendoza) is so good. We might win it, but we’re definitely in it. We ain’t losing to Miami.”
He didn’t stop there. Kiffin also challenged the idea that Ole Miss needed a different chain of events to reach the national championship.
“If anyone wants to argue that theory, that if everything is kept intact, we’re not in the national championship, what are you going to argue?” Kiffin continued.
Of course, it’s a hypothetical—football rarely grants second chances to prove what-ifs. No one will ever know whether a Kiffin-led Ole Miss would have beaten Miami in the CFP semifinal and then played for the title against the Hoosiers. What is known is that Kiffin has made the claim with confidence. and the LSU job is the platform he’s now using to chase the championship-level expectations that follow any head coach.
That includes a high-stakes homecoming for him personally. The most anticipated regular-season matchup of the upcoming season is set for Sept. 19, when Kiffin returns to Oxford to take on Ole Miss.
Lane Kiffin Ole Miss LSU Miami College Football Playoff Pete Golding Fernando Mendoza Indiana Hoosiers September 19 Oxford
Lane Kiffin talking big like always. Miami owned them though, score don’t lie.
Wait so is this saying Ole Miss lost only because of the defense coordinator in the press box? I mean if the defense was that bad just fix it lol. Also who cares now, he’s at LSU.
nah bc i saw a clip that said the ref messed up at the end or something, so it was basically a robbery. But sure, Golding in the press box, whatever. Still pretty crazy he’s already planning to “win it all” again.
idk why he’s still arguing that Miami game like it’s gonna change. Like he literally says “aint losing to Miami” and i’m just sitting here thinking Miami also beat them later? And now it’s “maybe we’d face Indiana”?? Lane needs to worry about LSU not blowing leads in week 2. Sept 19 in Oxford is gonna be wild though, watch him turn into a villain there.