What a scene it will be Saturday night in Oxford, Miss., where more than 130 players from two teams will be flying around to impress one coach.
Welcome to the world of Lane Kiffin, whose current team Ole Miss is battling for position in the College Football Playoff. His potential future team Florida, meanwhile, is trying to do what it did last season: prevent him from reaching the CFP with a mega upset.
It’s a chance for players on Florida’s roster to make an early impression on Kiffin, who could be their coach in 2026. It’s no secret Kiffin is Florida’s top choice to replace fired coach Billy Napier, even though Kiffin could stay at Ole Miss or take another job.
It’s the hottest story in college football, and Kiffin swears it’s not affecting his team.
“These guys get way more of it than I do,” Kiffin said earlier this week. “They get calls on Saturday night after games from other coaches talking about next year and how much money they have for them, and their plans for them and their system. So I don’t think it’s that big a deal.”
Florida’s November upset of Ole Miss last season not only knocked the Rebels out of the CFP, it likely prevented Florida from firing Billy Napier — and kept Kiffin in Oxford. If ever there were a moment when it would’ve been easier for Kiffin to leave what he has built at Ole Miss, it was after the disappointing way last season ended.
Now here we are a year later, and Kiffin — with another rebuilt roster — has Ole Miss steered toward the CFP. Florida, on the other hand, is scrambling again, trying to find the right coaching fit for the fifth time in 16 seasons.
This week’s SEC football picks
South Carolina at Texas A&M (-19.5): A classic opportunity for the Aggies to play flat after two statement road wins over LSU and Missouri — one that got a coach fired (Brian Kelly), and the other that has a coach downplaying the focus on all things CFP (Eli Drinkwitz).
Maybe after this week, against a South Carolina team that has lost six of seven and has completely mismanaged one of the best talents in college football (QB LaNorris Sellers), Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer will be downplaying the focus on bowl eligibility after beginning the season as a trendy pick for the CFP.
Arkansas at LSU (-4.5): Let me just say right now that I don’t like this pick. It’s a rivalry game, and who knows how LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier will react to getting benched last week.
Or if the LSU team is even listening to interim coach Frank Wilson.
If you don’t think those aren’t legitimate issues, I give you Florida last week against Kentucky. One word: quit.
That and Arkansas has played hard under interim coach Bob Petrino, losing four straight by a combined 18 points.
Tennessee Tech at Kentucky (-21.5): Fortunately, these November games against FCS opponents will end in 2026 when the SEC moves to a nine-game conference schedule.
Until then, enjoy your body bag game, ‘Cats. One step closer to bowl eligibility.
Oklahoma (+5.5) at Alabama: Alabama has made amends for two of the three embarrassing road losses last season (Tennessee, Vanderbilt), and gets an opportunity to make up for the third this weekend.
Or the worst of the three losses.
Forget about the 40-year flood loss to Vandy, the 21-point loss to OU in Norman kept the Tide from the CFP. That should be motivation enough.
Alabama’s offense struggled last week against a stout LSU defense, and Oklahoma’s defense is similar in size, speed and ability to athletically cause problems up front for the Alabama offensive line.
All it’s going to take is Sooners’ QB John Mateer to continue moving forward from the injured thumb on his throwing hand, and playing like he did in September.
New Mexico State at Tennessee (-39.5): There’s a slight chanced Tennessee could reach the CFP at 9-3. But it would take a run of November upsets not seen since 2007.
Florida at Ole Miss (-13.5): The big (non-coach) question in Gainesville: how will QB DJ Lagway respond to getting benched in last week’s blowout loss to Kentucky?
Layaway has played one solid game this season in the upset of Texas. Other than that, he has been full of inconsistency and confounding decisions with the ball.
May as well respond with his best game of the season, especially considering the guy who could be coaching him at some point would also be deciding if he’s diving in the transfer portal for a replacement starting quarterback in 2026.
Texas at Georgia (-6.5): After finally playing its most complete game of the season, we can now see a road map to Georgia making a deep run in the CFP.
They don’t necessarily do anything exceptional, but the run game has picked up over the past two games and the defense is beginning to affect the quarterback.
Texas QB Arch Manning played his best game of the season two weeks ago in a win over Vanderbilt, and the Longhorns must beat either Georgia or Texas A&M to reach the CFP. It’s either all coming together, or we’re overlooking that two games in the four-game winning streak were in overtime against two of the SEC’s worst teams (Mississippi State, Kentucky).
Mississippi State (+6.5) at Missouri: Are you buying that Drinkwitz is randomly talking about too much focus on the CFP after a wipeout loss to Texas A&M?
Or maybe he knows how difficult it will be to score points the rest of the season with a third-string quarterback.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
