by Kyle Golik
By no means is Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin completely exonerated from his previous big-game failures; they are numerous in nature. However, how Ole Miss was able to dominate Georgia at home to keep their playoff hopes alive gives Kiffin some credit in mending track record in big games.
“A year ago we lost to these guys by like 30,” Kiffin told ESPN’s Molly McGrath following Ole Miss’ 28-10 upset of No. 3 Georgia. “We made a decision we’ve got to recruit differently. We’ve got to go shopping. We planned for this game for a year, game-planned all offseason.”
In July, Kiffin lost his father, Monte, a longtime defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had said to his son following last season’s 52-17 loss to Georgia that Ole Miss would beat them this year.
“I remember him saying after the game, ‘We’ll get this thing turned around. You’re going to beat Georgia next year,’ ” Kiffin said.
“(The win) was really in (his) style,” Kiffin continued. “Great defense. Dominant defensive performance. Mushy offense and field goals. He’s happy about that performance.”
As Kiffin improved to 4-15 against Top 10 opponents, the win against Georgia preserved Ole Miss’ playoff chances at obtaining an at-large spot if the Rebels can close out the season against Florida and in the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State.
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On a similar path is Kiffin’s 2023 Peach Bowl opponent Penn State’s James Franklin, who is also stranded on the proverbial “big game failure island.” Franklin, who dropped to 1-10 against Ohio State and is 3-18 against Top 10 teams, had his moment following Ohio State like Kiffin did after Georgia last year.
“There’s nobody that’s looking in the mirror harder than I am,” Franklin said, “I will say this, and I’ve said it before, 99 percent of the programs across college football would die to do what we’ve been able to do in our time here. But I also understand when you’re in a place like Penn State, there’s really, really high expectations. When you’re in a place like Penn State, there’s really, really high expectations. I get it. So we’ve looked at all these things really hard. We’ll continue to look at these things really hard.”
Penn State linebacker and captain Kobe King gave a perspective that many Penn State supporters needed to hear, “We need to stay the course — players are going to stay the course, coaches are going to stay the course. We still have a national championship to go get.”
Typically, after a deflating loss in the James Franklin tenure, there have been the notorious let downs. To name a few: in 2014, Maryland after an overtime loss to Ohio State; in 2015, Michigan after a defeat by a Northwestern team that would go 10-3; Michigan State in both 2017 and 2018 following losses to Ohio State; starting 2020 with an 0-5 record after a close call with Michael Penix Jr. and Indiana; and the infamous nine-overtime letdown against Illinois following a 23-20 loss to Iowa in a Top 5 matchup in 2021.
This is why it was big when Penn State’s domination of Washington in the school’s annual “White Out” game 35-6 was a big deal because Penn State rebounding has always been an issue.
The Nittany Lions opened the first half 28-0, scoring on its first four possessions and was perfect on their first seven third-down opportunities.
Franklin was pressed during postgame if Penn State came out with a “mean streak” to get the taste of the Ohio State loss out of their mouth. Franklin deflected, “You guys can determine that. We’ll watch the film tomorrow. I thought we played very well in the first half.”
When speaking with linebacker Kobe King and running back Kaytron Allen, neither directly said “yes”; instead, both emphasized that they simply took care of business and executed well.
Penn State, much like Ole Miss, has a manageable schedule that includes trips to Purdue and Minnesota before a season finale at home against Maryland. If Penn State takes care of business over the next three weeks, the program should finish 11-1 marking the first time since 2008 the program finished the regular season with 11 wins.
If Penn State achieves that 11-1 mark, they would be in line to match the school record of 12 wins, set in the 1973, 1986, and 1994 seasons.
Getting that 12th win would require a playoff victory—the program’s first—and would be a significant achievement for Franklin. It’s the breakthrough Franklin needs to finally get off the proverbial “island” of big-game struggles. Kiffin just did it, and hopefully, for Franklin’s sake, he left some instructions on how to escape.
