It looks like Lane Kiffin made his final decision on the Auburn Tigers three years ago when he reneged on his acceptance of their offer to be the next head football coach on the Plains. Kiffin is down to either the Florida Gators or the LSU Tigers in the hotly anticipated race for his services.
OutKick's Trey Wallace heard from his sources that the University of Mississippi is canvassing potential replacements. Said another way, it sounds like the Kiffin era of Ole Miss Rebels football is coming to a close.
That university officials are pressing him for a decision feels like the beginning of an ugly split in Oxford, Mississippi.
"Even with Georgia and Texas playing on the field Saturday night in Athens, the topic of conversation among college football scribes was the ongoing cycle that could see Kiffin leaving Ole Miss for Florida or LSU," Wallace.
"Now, Lane Kiffin has been given a timeline by Ole Miss officials in which they'd want a decision regarding whether he's going to sign the extension. They have essentially put a deadline on when they need to know what he plans on doing regarding the future, and they want to know by next weekend, which could obviously linger into Egg Bowl week.
"Sure, it's essentially an invisible line in the sand, but Ole Miss folks are having a hard time wrapping their heads around Kiffin coaching this team while their future hangs in the balance.
"Multiple sources tell OutKick that some folks in Oxford behind the scenes are doing their own due diligence on potential coaches, in case Kiffin does decide to leave Ole Miss."
If/when Kiffin ends up leaving, there will be bad blood on The Grove, perhaps eternally. Kiffin leaving was always going to sting, but his trolling on the fanbase on the way out is starting to feel cruel. His famous last words after the Florida win feel almost evil if he ends up at UF.
"I love what we're doing here," Kiffin said postgame when asked about his future at Ole Miss. "Today was awesome. To even talk about it right now would be so disrespectful to our players and how well they played today. We've got a lot of things going here. Doing really well, and I love it here."
Those words seem sardonic. Condescending in tone given how this is playing out.
Buckle up, folks. It looks like the Kiffin saga is going to take a nasty turn. And luckily, Auburn is away from the controversy this go-round.