Same ole, same ole for UF at Ole Miss

By Carlton Reese

GatorBait Media

Lane Kiffins plays around pre-game of the Florida contest. In his fourth try, he finally beat the Gators, and may soon be the head honcho in Gainesville.

Okay, let’s get the platitudes out of the way. Yes, we’re proud of the effort. Yes, it’s good to see the Gators not playing as though this is a lost season. Yes, it’s nice to go toe to toe once again with one of the country’s best teams and nearly win, thereby showing this team is not as bad as its record would indicate.

Now to the reality: the Gators lost to Ole Miss Saturday night, 34-24, in that old familiar way: botching a play late in the game on a drive the in the opponent’s territory in which you could tie or take the lead. Here’s the rundown:

Against South Florida and leading 16-15 with 2:39 and possession near midfield, failure to convert on third down meant life for the Bulls instead of the Gators icing away the victory. USF then marched to win the game with a field goal on the last play.

Against Miami, it was failed conversion on 4^th-and-3 in field goal range when you were down by six and that led to a Hurricanes touchdown and the end of all hope.

Against Texas A&M, down 24-17 in the fourth quarter, an incomplete pass on 4^th-and-6 in Aggie territory led to what amounted to the game-securing drive.

Against Georgia, it was failure to convert on 4^th-and-1 from the Bulldog 18 when you were leading 20-17 late in the fourth quarter. Convert and you likely beat Georgia, failure to convert resulted in a sustained Bulldogs drive that concluded with a game-winning touchdown.

Then there was Saturday night in Oxford and the needle kept skipping, this time on 3^rd-and-5 at the Rebel 30 trailing by just three. Quarterback DJ Lagway rolled out to his right, spotted an open receiver then had his pass tipped and intercepted by Wydett Williams, Jr. The last time a pass was tipped in this game it was Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ 4^th-and-6 throw that ended up in his own arms and he ran for the conversion. Such fortuitousness went Ole Miss’ way and not Florida’s.

Well, there was Michai Boireau’s interception late that spoiled Mississippi State’s comeback, but that’s it.

Why rehash all these bad memories? Because after a while they all blend together and it’s hard to tell one game from the next for these Florida Gators. The only break they get from this recurring nightmare is playing against a bad football team that will beat them silly as what happened a week ago in Lexington.

The loss to Ole Miss was not a moral victory and neither was the Georgia loss before that or Texas A&M, either. They are only losses and nothing more. This team is 3-7 and is not the same 3-7 as South Carolina which hasn’t beaten anybody and been blown out on at least three occasions. They’re not the same 3-7 as Virginia Tech, Stanford or Syracuse, all terrible teams in a terrible conference. They’re not the same 3-7 as Colorado, the Neon Joke of the Rockies. They’re not the same 3-7 as UCLA, Wisconsin and Michigan State, all Big 10 teams that would be lucky to score against any SEC team.

We get it – the Gators have played a brutal schedule that was tailor-made for pink slips and red faces if not everything fell perfectly into place. But this is the Florida Gators and only two things remain to keep our attention: 1. Florida State coming to The Swamp and, 2. Will that guy coaching against us Saturday night be coming to The Swamp?

On the first point, there’s no reason despite Florida’s record that the Gators should not handle a bad FSU team easily in two weeks. Well, one reason: Florida likes to sleep on games it should win (see South Florida and Kentucky, and nearly Mississippi State).

On the second point, we all saw what it means to be coached by Lane Kiffin, the man it seems the University of Florida has gone chips-all-in to be its head coach in 2026. Saturday night was not his finest hour and certainly not a tape he wants to show those schools courting him.

His dark moment came with Ole Miss trailing 24-20 and enjoying 1^st-and-goal at the 4. Lane’s hammer, running back Kewan Lacy, bulled his way to the two and barely held on second down. That’s when Kiffin panicked and called for a gadget play and a quick pass, both which blew up in his face while Lacy could only watch. This was Raiders Kiffin, and Tennessee Kiffin, and USC Kiffin all coming back to haunt Ole Miss.

In the end, however, Kiffin’s game plan worked, and Ole Miss held on to win the game against a team that lost by 31 to a weak Kentucky team and whose head coach has been visiting practices in Athens. He did, though, learn his lesson and stuck with Lacy the next time Ole Miss knocked on the Gators’ doorstep, going to Lacy who would score easily.

There is a game before FSU comes to Gainesville, and it should have mattered. Alas, Tennessee week carries no shine, only low expectations. The Ole Miss loss, competitive as it was, failed to convince anyone that the Vols are in trouble next week. As such, we will continue to ponder more Kiffin’s pending arrival than Tennessee’s or FSU’s.

So it’s all about Kiffin, and has been ever since Oct. 19. Today, it’s about Kiffin, this week and next week it will be about Kiffin, and when the playoffs start, it will be about Kiffin. If ever there is a reason to beg for the end of the season, it is this. Talking about football is much more fun than talking about human resources.