Lane Kiffin tells Ole Miss ‘you’re welcome’ for full stadium on Saturday
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Saturday night’s matchup between the No. 7 LSU Tigers and No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels had as charged an atmosphere as you’ll ever see surrounding a sporting event. The top-10 matchup marked Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford, MS, after bolting from his post as the Rebels’ head coach to take the same position with the Tigers just ahead of Ole Miss’s College Football Playoff run, cementing his legacy as a villain on campus.
Ever the pot-stirrer, Kiffin has proved no less controversial since touching down in Baton Rouge. In the first three weeks of the season, Kiffin has generated headlines for everything from his star-studded walkout for his team’s season opener to pushing the boundaries of the debate over whether players who attended NFL training camps should be allowed to return to college.
ESPN analyst Tim Tebow offered his theory that Kiffin’s controversies might protect his players and allow them to play with freedom as their head coach deals with all the vitriol and attention. To Tebow’s point, within minutes of Saturday’s College GameDay broadcast from Oxford, “F*ck Lane Kiffin!” chants from the Ole Miss faithful rang out.
The intensity continued throughout the game, and the Rebels ultimately got the last laugh, holding off a second-half surge from the Tigers to leave Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with a 32-24 victory.
Ole Miss quarterback and early-season Heisman Trophy contender Trinidad Chambliss didn’t rein in any of the emotions after the win, leaving ESPN reporter Holly Rowe with a “hotty f*cking Toddy!” to conclude his on-field interview after the game.
In his own post-game session with the media, Kiffin made sure to take credit for the energy surrounding the game, which he evidently feels was absent during his days on the Rebels’ sideline.
“The stadium was full an hour early,” Kiffin said. “So, I guess I had to leave to get them to do that.”
“You’re welcome.”
Kiffin also gave reporters a rare moment of sincerity, acknowledging how his time at Ole Miss changed his life.
“Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be criticized for saying that, but yeah, I am,” Kiffin said after being asked if he was thankful to have the emotionally turbulent return behind him. “I was thinking that all week, especially today. And then I would have said that in a win or a loss, you know. That was— that was really emotional, driving in on the buses for a lot of reasons. And I’m not saying this because of a loss.
“I would have said this anyway, since you asked. And it was just really a lot of emotions of gratefulness for this place and for the 6 years. Went well beyond football. And, you know, kind of first time coming into this type of game without my dad; it was just, it was a lot, and it was really emotional, but it was not emotions maybe that I thought I would’ve felt from all the, you know, name-calling, everything (from when) we got off the bus and everything. It was much more just a lot of gratitude for this place and the people that changed my life, way bigger than winning a football game.”
The post Lane Kiffin tells Ole Miss ‘you’re welcome’ for full stadium on Saturday appeared first on Awful Announcing.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos