Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin came to SEC Media Days this year trying to invoke his personal “Nick Saban bully pulpit” about the state of college football.
“With NIL, you’ve got a lot of pay-for-play going on and that is what it is,” Kiffin said. “[That and the transfer portal] combining, there’s not a system in place. I don’t think there’s any other sports at any level that are like this, that really, you every year, can opt into free agency. Really, twice a year.”
Kiffin could teach a master class on how to flip a roster, saying there are 40 new scholarship players on the Rebels roster.
“That’s the world we live in, but at the same time, I don’t think that’s really good for college football. These massive overhauls of rosters every year really is not in the best interest of college football.”
Kiffin wasn’t having his “holier than thou” feelings as he flirted with the Auburn job last season, getting into a Twitter beef with a local Mississippi reporter, all the while losing his final four games.
Ole Miss was picked to finish fourth in the SEC West. They contend with the SEC West foes plus face Georgia and Vanderbilt this year and the Commodores isn’t as easy a game this fall.
More Sports News
Much like how Kiffin blew smoke about his abilities with the Oakland Raiders and Southern Cal, this might be the season the “Lane Train” is finally figured out about his legitimacy.
Michigan State
Maybe this section should just be called Mel Tucker.
We give a lot of grief to Jimbo Fisher what he is getting paid by Texas A&M, but in Fisher’s defense, he came to College Station as an accomplished coach with a national championship and a resume that is near the top of the nation.
We can excuse Texas A&M for breaking the bank for Fisher.
Michigan State felt threatened that LSU would have sniped Mel Tucker, and decided to give Tucker, who had an 11-2 season and a Peach Bowl win, a 10-year $95 million extension. That investment is going over like a lead Zeppelin right now.
The Spartans lacked a lot of toughness on their lines last season. Furthermore, Tucker was embarrassed off the field by the “tunnel incident” at Michigan, the ice is very thin for him. They never were able to oppose any physicality on their opponents and finished 5-7.
The lack of faith was evidenced by the departures of quarterback Payton Thorne (Auburn) and Keon Coleman (Florida State).
Michigan State thought it bought its worthy successor to Mark Dantonio, but it very well overpaid for a knockoff.
Miami
All we hear from Miami fans is “Mario’s home,” and all we got was 5-7. The fans that scream, “The U is back” are almost as nauseating as former Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger screaming “We’re Back!”
At least with Ehlinger, they had just won the Sugar Bowl to their credit.
The elite talent in South Florida seems to easily escape Cristobal’s recruiting pitch and even his now lame pitch of Lionel Messi coming to Miami is laughable.
https://twitter.com/83_87_89_91_01/status/1683867792649637889
Newsflash to Mario – Messi came for one last payday to one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities at the tail end of his career.
Cristobal, who has been lauded for his recruiting prowess, needs to leverage better recruiting tactics than this.
As of this writing – Miami has landed only one out of the Top 10 Florida high school recruits in the Class of 2024 that includes notable five-stars in wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) and cornerback Ellis Robinson IV (Georgia) leaving the “Sunshine State.”
He desperately needs to prove to long-suffering Miami fans that he can resurrect this program from living on re-runs of 30 for 30 documentaries of their glory days.
If Cristobal can’t convince the elite Miami talent to stay at home, the cavalry isn’t coming to save him.
Cristobal might want to take a piece of advice from Messi and find somewhere in Miami to relax.
Colorado
There has been a lot of seismic movement coming from the Rockies that a lot of people on and off the field are buying what Coach Prime is selling.
The Big XII looks to continue to cash in on the expansion roulette as it will seek to land the other “Four Corners” schools in Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. The conference doesn’t have a marquee brand like the other power conferences have going into the 2024 season, but they have a lot of very good programs that are content to be united.
The competition of the Big XII is going to be very tight and not easy to overcome.
Consider the following:
– TCU just played for a national championship. Sonny Dykes teams are usually offensively explosive and disciplined.
– Utah is currently the reigning two-time Pac-12 Champions, they would love nothing more to close out the conference as three-time champions. Since 2003, Utah has averaged over nine wins per season, including nine 10-win seasons, add in under Whittingham 21 wins over ranked opponents including seven in the Top 10.
– Both Kansas and Kansas State seem to have found new life with coaches Lance Leipold (Kansas) and Chris Klieman (Kansas State), the latter of whom ran an extremely successful North Dakota State program that four national championships. The Wildcats are the reigning Big XII champions even though most people seem to have forgotten that already.
– Baylor, who had a down year in 2022, had a great 2021 under Dave Aranda, who is one of the game’s sharpest defensive minds.
When you go through the rest of the league – coaches Kalani Sitake (BYU), Gus Malzahan (UCF), Matt Campbell (Iowa State), and Dana Holgersen (Houston) all either have Top 11 finishes or a New Year’s Six bowl wins.
Sanders showed at Jackson State when the competition ramped up and the coaching opponent had greater skill, he couldn’t win.
If Colorado doesn’t figure out the new Big XII and has similar results as their brief time in the Pac-12, only going to two bowl games from 2010 to 2022, this will only make Colorado supporters wonder what it will take to be relevant again.
