Ole Miss faces Florida State/Jordan Travis scenario in CFP if Lane Kiffin leaves

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin during a timeout with his players during the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The college football world waits on Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. Facing a decision to stay in Oxford with the Rebels or take a job at Florida or LSU, the futures of several programs rests on his shoulders. But the fate of his 2025 Rebels could be altered greatly by his choice to depart the program mid-year, if that's how it all plays out.

Reports suggest that a decision on Lane Kiffin's future, one way or another, is coming down on Saturday following Ole Miss' Black Friday Egg Bowl rivalry matchup against Mississippi State. If he remains a Rebel, moot point. But if he leaves for Florida and Ole Miss, will he coach out the year? Let's say he doesn't, which seems practical if he does take a new SEC job. Well, then there could be College Football Playoff implications.

Assuming Ole Miss wins this weekend, they are as surefire a lock for the CFP field as could possibly exist at 11-1 and hailing from the SEC. However, college football insider Heather Dinich shared that the loss of their head coach, Kiffin, would be a factor for the Selection Committee in the same way the loss of star QB Jordan Travis directly prevented an undefeated 13-0 Florida State team from making the final four-team playoff field in 2023.

"Can I let you know what the committee will do if Lane Keifin’s not there?" Dinich asked with authority while appearing on a segment of SportsCenter. "So, this would be compared to Jordan Travis and Florida State, just like if your starting quarterback is injured and is not going to play going into the College Football Playoff."

That is not a sentence Ole Miss fans want to hear. They could lose their coach, and then, they could also lose footing in the playoff bracket, too. But Dinich came to the rescue with slightly better news than Florida State received on that fateful December day in 2023.

"Ole Miss, without Lane Kiffin, is not going to fall out of the college football playoff," she declared. Might they drop a spot or two because they don’t have their head coach? Yes, that’s possible." That's mainly because, while a drop is possible, the Rebels aren't competing in a four-team field compared to one that is now three times as large.

Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis (13) holds the ACC Championship trophy | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

"The best comparison is to go back to with Florida State," Dinich added. "But with Florida State, it was only a four-team playoff. There are 12 teams in this spot. They’re not gonna fall out without Lane Kiffin."

Of course, Heather Dinich says that with the assumption that Ole Miss takes care of business against Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. At 5-6, a scrappy Bulldog team will have those cowbells bangin' loudly as State attempts to score a huge rivalry victory to earn bowl eligibility and potentially ruin a CFP bid for the Rebels. Lose the Egg Bowl, and lose Kiffin to an SEC foe this weekend and yeah, maybe Ole Miss does blow their shot at a playoff spot.