Sometimes Mississippi head coach Lane Kiffin acts like a child on social media and it’s pretty funny. Sometimes he does and you wish he’d just grow up already.
It’s a fine line walked by every internet troll. Friday night was an example of the latter for Kiffin.
During Indiana’s 27-17 loss to Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Kiffin fired off a post on Twitter that sounded like the kind of whining you hear from the most annoying kind of sore loser.
Right around the time Notre Dame took a 27-3 lead in the fourth quarter, Kiffin couldn’t stop himself.
Really exciting competitive game @CFBPlayoff . Great job!! https://t.co/HEjQ1AcXba
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) December 21, 2024
Yeah, Lane, tagging the College Football Playoff isn’t the cool move you think it is. But let’s make this super clear: Indiana’s performance in the Playoff is not a referendum on whether or not the Hoosiers deserved to get in (which it absolutely did). Even in the four-team playoff era not every game looked competitive.
Indiana won 11 games in the Big Ten with a schedule it had no control over. In fact, the Hoosiers end their season with the No. 32 strength of schedule per ESPN while Notre Dame sits at No. 38. When it comes to strength of record (which reflects the chance an average Top 25 team would have team’s record or better, given the schedule) Indiana ranks No. 11.
The Hoosiers convincingly beat both of last year’s national championship game participants.
But none of this is even necessary to discuss as it relates to Mississippi because the Rebels lost three games. They did not win a conference championship. In the final CFP rankings, Kiffin’s team finished No. 14 — it wasn’t even the first or second team left out of the tournament. Complaining about Indiana’s resume when the Rebels started the season against Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern is some pretty hilarious hypocrisy.
If Kiffin wants to be angry about anything regarding the playoff, he can start with his team’s losses to unranked Kentucky and Florida. Or he cant quit his whining.
Sadly, we already know that latter option will never happen.
