Lane Kiffin on bubble for the College Football Playoff: ‘Third loss doesn’t get you there’

After taking their third loss in The Swamp on Saturday, Lane Kiffin knows what it means for Ole Miss’ hopes of making the College Football Playoff.

Kiffin spoke about the impact of the disappointing, 24-17 loss for the Rebels at Florida yesterday. However, before the effect it’ll have on their playoff ranking and where their season will go from here, he and his team had a lot that they had to deal with for the rest of the day through the rest of the weekend.

“Yeah, I mean, we’re just in today. It’s going to be really challenging – just today. So I ain’t got to tomorrow yet,” Kiffin said postgame. “You know, there’s a lot at stake here and a lot of disappointed players, coaches in that locker room.”

Still, Kiffin gets it. There’s a certain record that you need to have to make it into this expanded playoff in college, which, as of this year, looks to be at least overall at 10-2. With the best that Ole Miss can now do being at 9-3, Kiffin understands that the Rebels are now all but certain to come up short of the field this season.

“This is the new-age setup,” said Kiffin. “You know, when, kind of, there’s the playoff line. You kind of know where that is a little bit. Third loss doesn’t get you there. So, it’s just a different world.”

After a second loss dropped them to 5-2, Ole Miss has had no margin for error since October 12th. However, the CFP Selection Committee took note of what they had been doing. That’s especially after their win over Georgia got them to 11th and then 9th this past week in their rankings. This third loss, though, will definitely drop them to a slot where it’ll be near impossible to earn a berth, even if one of the final at-larges, in the playoff.

With that, Ole Miss still has one game left as they’ll play the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State on Friday. That’s where all of their focus will now go with no more planning to do as far as whether they’ll host or go on the road for the first round of the playoff.

“Almost NFL-ish, you know. When you get knocked out of the playoffs, you’ve still got a game to play,” said Kiffin. “Obviously, this is an important game. But we’ll get that tomorrow.”