Lane Kiffin was in rare form during Gator Bowl sideline interview

Whether you love him or hate him, there aren’t many personalities in college football more unique than Lane Kiffin.

And in case you wanted a reminder, you needn’t look any further than his sideline interview during Thursday night’s Gator Bowl.

As Ole Miss cruised to a comfortable 52-20 victory over Duke, the Rebels head coach dutifully answered questions from ESPN’s Taylor McGregor at the start of the fourth quarter. And after the sideline reporter asked about star quarterback Jaxson Dart’s final game playing for Ole Miss, Kiffin gave an interesting answer regarding the senior signal-caller’s eligibility.

“It’s awesome, he’s playing great. You never know, maybe we’ll file a waiver for him to come back another year,” Kiffin said before giving a wry smile to the camera.

“Are you pushing for that?” McGregor followed up.

“Maybe,” the head coach answered before quickly wiping the smile away with a sudden look of apparent disgust.

While Kiffin would surely enjoy getting Dart back in Oxford for another season, many on social media were quick to point out the likely subliminal meaning behind the comment. Last month, a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction to allow Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to pursue another year of eligibility with the Commodores.

Considering that the 23-year-old quarterback plays in the same conference Kiffin coaches in, making such a connection was hardly a stretch. And he wasn’t done there.

With the interview taking place at the start of the fourth quarter, McGregor asked the Rebels coach how he’d like to see his team finish the contest. Kiffin didn’t only make it clear that his team would be keeping its foot on the gas, but he also left little to the imagination as to why.

“Let’s finish strong here, Kiffin said. “Let’s make a statement about our team and how we’ve played and how we’re playing against the ACC.”

McGregor couldn’t help but laugh.

“I think we know what that was about, Dave,” she said as threw it back to Dave Pasch and Dusty Dvoracek in the broadcast booth.

Kiffin, of course, has spent the better part of the last month chiding the ACC as a part of his unsuccessful efforts to get Ole Miss into the College Football Playoff. Lest you thought SMU securing the 12-team playoff’s final bid or the SEC’s shortcomings in the postseason would result in Ole Miss’ head coach biting his tongue, you clearly don’t know Kiffin, who has never been shy to speak his mind, be it on social media or in real life.

[Awful Announcing on X, via ESPN]