10 Takeaways From Week 14: Lane Kiffin to LSU, Coaching Carousel Spinning

Rivalry week gave us plenty to talk about, including a coaching bombshell that could reshape the SEC for years.

The College Football Playoff hopefuls mostly held serve, with Texas A&M the lone exception. 

Lane Kiffin finally made his decision about where he’ll be coaching next season. After a long, drawn-out saga that had around-the-clock coverage of the weekend, Kiffin announced that he’s leaving Ole Miss for SEC rival LSU.

Now, all eyes shift to conference championship weekend and the unveiling of the 12-team CFP field on Sunday.

Here are 10 takeaways from the final week of the regular season.

1. Lane Kiffin takes LSU head coaching job

After weeks of drama, Kiffin officially decided to leave CFP-bound Ole Miss for LSU. The final decision came Sunday, following a long Saturday in which Kiffin reportedly met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce at the chancellor’s home. With no decision made late Saturday, new reports emerged that Kiffin would address his players during a team meeting on Sunday morning, which then got pushed a couple of hours. 

In the end, Kiffin never attended that meeting, and players were informed that he was leaving and that defensive coordinator Pete Golding would lead them in the CFP and become the program’s next head coach.

Kiffin told ESPN that he wanted to stay at Ole Miss through the CFP before moving on, but Carter wouldn’t allow it. Kiffin said he understood and respected that decision but wished the circumstances were different. LSU is reportedly paying Kiffin around $13 million annually over seven seasons, making him one of college football’s top-paid coaches.

2. Lane Kiffin consults with Pete Carroll, Nick Saban

Kiffin coached at Ole Miss for six seasons and led the program to unprecedented success this year. The Rebels (11-1) are likely CFP-bound for the first time in school history and have a real chance to win the national championship. 

Kiffin said that he wished his late father, legendary NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, was alive to talk to him about this opportunity. He was able to speak with coaching mentors Carroll (who he coached for at USC) and Saban (who he coached for at Alabama) before agreeing to anything, though.

Kiffin shared the advice Carroll gave him with ESPN: “Your dad would tell you to go, man. Take the shot.”

3. What happens next at Ole Miss?

Kiffin has already left for Baton Rouge and reportedly took most of his offensive staff with him. Meanwhile, Ole Miss beat rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl on Friday night, 38-19, and is awaiting its CFP fate.

Carter made the quick decision to name Golding the program’s new head coach, likely with the hope of retaining as much of this current team and recruiting class as possible. Golding, who was Saban’s defensive coordinator at Alabama from 2018-22 and won a national title there before joining Kiffin at Ole Miss, has never been a head coach.

We’ll soon see the impact of Kiffin’s departure. Some Rebels could hit the transfer portal and join their now former coach at LSU, go elsewhere or stay and see things out in Oxford.

4. Coaching carousel spinning

While Kiffin’s situation was certainly the most dramatic and dominated 99% of headlines, he’s not the only coach on the move before the postseason.

Florida, which fired Billy Napier on Oct. 19, hired Tulane’s Jon Sumrall. Kiffin was an early target for the Gators, but the program landed on Sumrall, who went 19-7 in two seasons coaching the Green Wave. Unlike Kiffin, Sumrall will have the opportunity to coach Tulane through the postseason. The Green Wave will host North Texas in the American Conference Championship Game on Friday, with the winner potentially receiving a spot in the CFP.

Other notable recent hires this weekend include:

• Arkansas hires Ryan Silverfield from Memphis
• Auburn hires Alex Golesh from South Florida
• Oklahoma State hires Eric Morris from North Texas
• Virginia Tech hires James Franklin (formerly of Penn State)

5. Ohio State ends losing streak vs. Michigan

The No. 1-ranked Buckeyes finally snapped their four-year losing streak to rival Michigan with a dominant 27-9 win at “The Big House” on Saturday. 

Despite leading Ohio State to a national championship last season, head coach Ryan Day has been heavily criticized for his inability to string together wins against Michigan. The Buckeyes won this game in 2019 — Day’s first season as head coach — but not since. 

This year’s win, though a long time in the making, was satisfying. The Buckeyes made Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood, a true freshman, uncomfortable, and they ran the ball effectively against the Wolverines’ perennially physical defense. Ohio State running back Bo Jackson had 117 yards, and Heisman-hopeful quarterback Julian Sayin hit star receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate for explosive plays for touchdowns.

Ohio State will now face Indiana in the Big Ten Championship game this weekend.

6. Heisman Trophy favorites to duel in Big Ten championship

OSU’s Sayin and Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza will face off Saturday when the Buckeyes and Hoosiers play for the Big Ten title. There’s a lot at stake for these top two unbeaten teams, including the conference championship trophy and CFP seeding. Plus, whichever quarterback plays best and leads their team to a win could also clinch the Heisman.

It’s a toss up right now since both signal-callers are having stellar seasons. Sayin is completing 78.9% of his passes and has thrown for 3,065 yards with 30 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Last weekend, he carved up Michigan’s defense with big plays in the passing game. Mendoza, meanwhile, has completed 72% of his passes this season and has thorwn for 2,758 yards with 32 touchdowns and five interceptions. Perhaps his most notable moment of the season was his game-winning touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. to push Indiana past Penn State last month.

7. Texas keeps Texas A&M out of SEC title game

In the biggest upset of the weekend, Texas defeated rival Texas A&M by double digits, 27-17. It was the Aggies’ first loss of the season and eliminated them from playing in the SEC Championship Game. Instead, Georgia and Alabama will meet Saturday in a rematch from earlier in the season in which the Crimson Tide narrowly won, 24-21.

While the Aggies will still make the CFP, a first-round bye is up in the air.

This now brings up the question of Texas and the CFP. The Longhorns lost three games to Ohio State, Florida and Georgia, respectively, but played five top-10 teams this season and won three of those games. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian stated his case after the game as to why the Longhorns deserve a spot in the 12-team field. He explained that, had the program not played Ohio State to open the season and scheduled an easier non-conference opponent instead, Texas would be in the CFP. The Buckeyes won that game, 14-7.

“[What] message … do we want to send to the head coaches and the athletic directors around the country?” Sarkisian said postgame. “Do you want us not to schedule Ohio State? Because if we’re a 10-2 team right now, this isn’t a discussion — we’re in the [CFP]. But we were willing to go up there and play that game.”

We’ll see how the selection committee feels about this later in the week.

Steve Sarkisian says Texas should UNEQUIVOCALLY be in the CFP | The Herd

8. How many SEC teams will make the CFP? 

It’s anyone’s guess. 

Right now, it could be five with Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, but what will the committee do with two-loss Vanderbilt and three-loss Texas? Additionally, Alabama isn’t guaranteed a spot if it falls to Georgia in Saturday’s SEC title game.

Depending on what happens elsewhere — for example, if the Big 12 gets two teams in (Texas Tech and BYU) — a three-loss Alabama could be on the outside looking in for a second consecutive year. 

9. The ACC’s five-loss conference champion?

Duke (7-5) will play Virginia (10-2) for the ACC title and potentially a spot in the CFP thanks to some conference tiebreakers. It sounds wild that a five-loss team has this opportunity, but things just worked out for the Blue Devils.

Duke entered Week 14 needing a few things to happen, and everything went its way. It had to beat Wake Forest, Pitt needed to lose to Miami (Fla.) and SMU had to lose to Cal — and all those things happened.

Now, thanks to the fact that Duke’s conference opponent winning percentage is higher than that of Miami, SMU, Pitt and Georgia Tech, Manny Diaz’s team will play in the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2013.

10. The Notre Dame-Miami conundrum

Miami is arguably the best team in the ACC, but because of losses to Louisville and SMU (two games the Hurricanes should have won), it will be forced to watch Duke and Virginia play for the ACC title.

Before those two sloppy games, Miami opened the season with a 27-24 win over Notre Dame. However, when the first CFP rankings came out, the Fighting Irish were ahead of the Hurricanes (Miami’s loss to SMU happened days before the first rankings came out). Notre Dame lost its first two games of the season — at Miami and vs. Texas A&M — but hasn’t lost since. Miami had some midseason hiccups but has ended the season on a four-game winning streak, which included a lopsided 38-7 win over then-No. 22 Pitt. 

Currently, Notre Dame is three spots ahead of Miami in the CFP rankings, so what will the committee do with these two teams? That might be the biggest question heading into the final rankings this weekend.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.

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