More Than Games Ahead

By Jim Gazzolo

As the world awaits the decision by Lord Lane of Oxford as to where, or if, he will move his football kingdom, the FBS playoff picture will come into focus this weekend.

Lane Kiffin will probably tell us all, via social media, probably, whether he is heading to LSU, Florida, staying put at Ole Miss, or secretly hoping Alabama opens up. 

No college football coach seems to have ever had more options than Kiffin, whose Rebels will play Saturday with him even as he remains quiet on his future after that.

Kiffin could be at his new job by Monday, or getting the Rebels ready for their first trip to the national playoffs. It is unlikely he will have two coaching jobs by the time midnight strikes Saturday night.

Then again, these are strange times when LSU can fire a coach without actually firing a coach. 

In this world of NIL money, moving coaches and big budgets, nothing should come as a shock, except when the NCAA tells us it's all for the good of the student/ahtlete.

Half the college football seniors, it seems, don’t know if they are playing in their last games this weekend or should be getting ready for an extra year. Hopefully, that decision will come in December.

What we do know is that this is rivalry weekend, and more than a few playoff dreams could be lost as the winter winds start to howl. 

The biggest question is, can Miami, whose players never seem to like the cold, go to Pittsburgh and win a game that could easily send the playoff selection committee into a padded board room?

A Miami win would be the pits for those folks who hate chaos, which is precisely why we should be rooting for the Hurricanes. If nothing else, it would force committee members to reveal why they picked Notre Dame over Miami, even though the Irish lost in South Florida by a field goal in Week 1.

Clearly, the Irish look the better team now, but head-to-head is supposed to matter. 

Then there is the SEC, which will finally get to set its title game. You have to believe that if he’s staying, Kiffin wants the Rebels to win and not be forced to play Georgia in Atlanta a week from now. 

He would rather take his 11-1 record and not worry what a title-game loss might do to his ranking. Of course, he may be already packed and halfway to Baton Rouge in his mind, leaving others to deal with the fallout.

Then there are the Tigers, who wrap up a strange last few weeks with a game at Oklahoma. An upset win could crush the Sooners and leave LSU in a better place come bowl week.

That, of course, would require a much better showing than last week’s 13-10 home win over Western Kentucky. Ouch. Very few times has a win made the fans feel so bad like that one by LSU.

Heck, Texas could even be playing with something left. And even Vanderbilt, the brains of the SEC, could make a last-ditch playoff run with a victory over Tennessee.

It’s a great week to sit down, watch the games, and see how it plays out. 

Or, you can just watch on your phone and wait for the tweet that tells us all where the Lane Train is headed and on what track.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers sports in Southwest Louisiana. He is also the host of Poke Nation, which airs weekly on CBS-Lake Charles.