Lane Kiffin's LSU assistants may not be on loan to Ole Miss for next round of CFP

Maybe Lane Kiffin didn't think Ole Miss would make it this far.

Regardless, with the Rebels beating Georgia on Thursday night to qualify for the semifinal round of the College Football Playoff, no one seems to know whether multiple LSU assistants will remain on loan to Ole Miss.

Via Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, it’s unclear whether the LSU assistants will stick around for next Thursday's game against Miami, in the Fiesta Bowl.

Four offensive assistant coaches — offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., tight ends coach/co-offensive coordinator Joe Cox, wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator George McDonald, and running backs coach Kevin Smith — are under contract with LSU but coaching Ole Miss with Kiffin's permission.

Matt Moscona of LouisianaSports.net reports that Weis was back at the LSU football facility on Friday morning.

Via Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com, some of the LSU assistants have "apparently pushed back" on the prospect of not trying to finish the job.

"There are going to be some fireworks," an Ole Miss source told ESPN. "We always knew this might be a possibility."

Said Kiffin to ESPN on Friday: "Everything has been extremely clear and transparent between myself and [Ole Miss coach] Pete Golding through constant communication, including a plan all the way through this historic championship run. What an amazing night for all Ole Miss players, coaches and fans."

No one other than Kiffin or Golding seems to know what the "extremely clear and transparent" plan is.

Said Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter to Dellenger regarding whether the LSU assistants will stick around, "I don’t know. We’re going to celebrate tonight and get ready for Arizona in the morning."

The job will become far more complicated if they need to replace four key offensive assistants on the fly.

Kiffin's original decision to allow his LSU assistants to pull double duty was surely influenced in part by the fact that LSU will pay him the bonuses he would have earned at Ole Miss for this year's playoff success. It also gave the LSU assistants direct access to Ole Miss players who may be entering the transfer portal in Oxford, and exiting it in Baton Rouge.

Coincidentally, the portal opens today.

If Kiffin refuses to let his LSU assistants continue to help Ole Miss toward a championship, it will seem as if Kiffin's goal was to enhance LSU's chances in the looming tug-o-war for Ole Miss players.

Why else would it be a partial assignment? If Ole Miss needed to get others up to speed to run the offense, that needed to happen earlier. With six days until a semifinal game, it's the worst possible time for a transition.

But, hey, this is just another example of the chaos college football continues to create for itself. At this point, it's almost as if the powers-that-be are looking for ways to cluster it up even more.

The better explanation continues to be good, old-fashioned incompetence. And there's currently plenty of that when it comes to college football.