Stephen A. Smith Defends Ole Miss Against Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian

The Ole Miss Rebels are being backed up by an unlikely source.

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith looks on before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals at AT&T Stadium. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Ole Miss Rebels made some interesting headlines earlier this week in a fashion that can only be explained away as the wackiness of college football.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian went viral after making comments about academic standards at the University of Mississippi, saying, in part, that "All you have to do is take basket weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree.”

And as a result, an unlikely source with a big platform came to Ole Miss' defense against Sarkisian on live television.

Stephen A. Smith on Steve Sarkisian's Ole Miss Comments: "Classless"

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian looks on prior to a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

During Thursday's episode of First Take, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith based Sarkisian for his comments against Ole Miss and spoke highly of the Rebels, Oxford, head coach Pete Golding and quarterback Trinidad Chambliss while speaking for nearly three minutes.

"Steve Sarkisian, that was low. There's no reason for that. There's no reason for that whatsoever. And I respect Steve Sarkisian. He's a damn good coach. ... Ole Miss didn't deserve that. Basket weaving is a very it's an insulting thing to the university. You're diminishing the quality of the education that they may offer at that institution. You got an abundance of people out there that's looking to make lives for themselves, to prosper and to be happy and getting a college degree from there."

Smith went on to say that he doesn't care what kind of apology Sarkisian and the University of Texas makes, if they even end up doing it at all.

"Steve Sarkisian, that was low. There's no reason for that."@stephenasmith reacts to Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian's comments on Ole Miss pic.twitter.com/NZ1UDUH9ad

— First Take (@FirstTake) May 14, 2026

"You can't go at a university like that," Smith said. "You know it's totally wrong. It was unnecessary. And you got to know that if you're Steve Sarkisian, it was really below the belt and a very classless thing for him to say, I don't give a damn what the University of Texas tries to say, to explain away that comment, under no circumstances is that comment supposed to come out of the mouth of an opposing SEC coach, any coach, for that matter, you're a leader of young men. You got to know better than that."

Sarkisian's comments certainly come from a bit out of nowhere, and could potentially ruffle the feathers of Arch Manning's uncle Eli and grandfather Archie, both of whom are Ole Miss football legends.

Texas and Ole Miss could be starting an SEC rivalry. The two teams will meet in Austin this fall on Oct. 24.

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