The Ole Miss mishmash continues, five days away from the program’s first appearance in the CFP semifinal.
There continues to be no clarity about whether the group of offensive assistants whom LSU coach Lane Kiffin loaned to his former employer for the playoff run will stick around for the next game. However, Matt Hayes of USA Today has reported that offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. will work the Fiesta Bowl game against Miami.
Beyond Weis, who knows?
If the confusion is aimed at throwing the Hurricanes for a loop, it’s working. No one knows what the hell is happening with one of the final four competitors for the national championship.
There are scattered reports regarding other offensive coaches who had worked the first two Ole Miss games. The fan base — and the Mississippi taxpayers, who own the public institution — deserve something more definitive.
Someone surely knows by now who will and won’t be coaching the Ole Miss offense on Thursday night. The fact that no one is sharing that information in an official statement should be viewed as inexcusable by anyone with a direct or indirect interest in whether Mississippi will advance to the title game.
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.
College football doesn’t need a czar. Or an emperor. Or a Grand Poobah or a potentate.
It needs a Nicktator.
Former Michigan State, LSU, and Alabama coach Nick Saban said this week on Pat McAfee’s show that Saban knows how to fix college football, but that no one will listen to him.
“I got it figured out, nobody will listen, so you know, what are you going to do?” Saban said, via Matt Yoder of AwfulAnnouncing.com. “We got to have some kind of antitrust exemption. You got to get the political parties together on it. I think the college people have to get over the fact that a graduate student can be a graduate assistant, get paid, is not an employee, so players don’t have to be employees.”
Actually, the “college people” and people like Saban and politicians of like mind need to get over the fact that an antitrust exemption is something as simple as changing a flat tire. The kind of antitrust exemption that the “college people” want would take away rights the players have fought in court to secure based on the rampant and longstanding antitrust violations flowing from the entire NCAA structure.
They want Congress to wave a magic wand, allowing them to return to rules that restrict the compensation levels and freedom of movement that coaches like Saban have always been able to enjoy.
The only antitrust exemption they should get would be the one that comes from having a nationwide union. That’s how the NFL manages to impose rules like a salary cap, a draft, and the franchise tag.
But the “college people” don’t want to have to deal with a union. Because a union would advocate zealously for player rights. Less contact at practice. Less time spent in grueling offseason conditioning drills.
Less ability for folks like Saban to keep a firm grip on the team.
In other words, fewer college football Nicktators.
But they’ll keep feeding us bullshit about college football being in crisis. They’ll keep trying to tie the situation to the success of other college sports. They’ll keep pretending the sky is falling.
And college football will continue to thrive.
One quarterback eligible for the 2026 draft is electing to stay at the college level.
Per Pete Thamel of ESPN, Darian Mensah will return to Duke for his redshirt junior year next season.
Mensah had explored entering the draft but instead has decided to continue his development for another year to set himself up for long-term success as a pro, Thamel reports.
In his first season at Duke, Mensah led the ACC with 3646 passing yards and 30 touchdowns.
Mensah had transferred to Duke from Tulane, where he threw for 2,723 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2024.
Lane Kiffin apparently has gotten over the fact that an Ole Miss fan supposedly tried to run his car off the road.
Via Pete Thamel of ESPN.com, five members of the LSU coaching staff will return to Mississippi to assist with the school’s upcoming run in the College Football Playoff.
On loan to Ole Miss will be offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., tight ends coach Joe Cox, receivers coach George McDonald, assistant quarterbacks coach Dane Stevens, and slot receivers coach Sawyer Jordan.
Is it altruism from Kiffin? Not really. LSU is paying the bonuses Kiffin would have earned from Mississippi for postseason success, so he has a clear financial incentive to help Ole Miss win. Also, he’ll have five members of his staff embedded with players who may eventually have an invitation to transfer to Baton Rouge.
It’s surprising Ole Miss is allowing it. Of course, that may have been one of the backroom deals done by the school to secure the No. 6 seed and the extra home game against Tulane that goes along with it — along with a spot in the Sugar Bowl if the Rebels successfully ride the Green Wave.
