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Why college football is awesome - Week 14: Kiffin drama explodes during wild rivalry week
Rivalry week in the 2025 college football season saw the end of the regular campaign for 134 of 136 FBS teams, with playoff dreams either secured or dashed and conference title games decided.
If you were watching, live and free on DAZN, you were hanging on every snap as the drama unfolded in what was an unforgettable weekend of NCAA action.
Here are just three reasons from this weekend why college football is awesome.
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Lane Kiffin Soap Opera Heads To Baton Rouge
The SEC’s favourite drama series advances to the Bayou.
Ole Miss beat bitter rivals Mississippi State on Friday night in the Egg Bowl, securing an 11-win regular season for the first time in their history. Furthermore, it all but confirmed their place in the playoffs, another milestone for the Rebels.
But the football program’s success has not been the topic of conversation in Oxford this weekend…
Lane Kiffin is not afraid of attention. And in recent weeks, the Ole Miss supremo has been courted by rivals Florida & LSU, attempting to poach the offensive mastermind to fill their own head coach vacancies.
Kiffin has revelled in the limelight, playing the two would-be employers off against each other whilst leaving his own school in the dark.
Kiffin has a history with this sort of behaviour. He forced his way out of Tennessee in 2010 after just one season in Knoxville to take the USC job. This was two years after he was fired as Oakland Raiders head coach by Al Davis, who called him "a flat-out liar" and said he was guilty of "bringing disgrace to the organization".
There was hope at Ole Miss that this would be a repeat of 2022, when Kiffin flirted with Auburn before ultimately staying in Oxford. But news broke late on Sunday, 48 hours after the Egg Bowl, that he had accepted the job at LSU; Baton Rouge would be the latest SEC home for Kiffin and his family.
Predictably, things got messy. Kiffin deliberated, primarily because Ole Miss wouldn’t let him see out the season and lead the Rebels in the playoffs if he chose to leave. Instead, they’ve promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding in a permanent capacity - and their former leader didn’t hide his displeasure in his social media post.
The latest chapter of the Lane Kiffin saga begins in 2026. Geaux Tigers.
Ryan Day Ends Wolverine Hoodoo
Back to some on-field action now. Ever since taking over from Urban Meyer in 2019, Ryan Day’s Ohio State has won with ruthless efficiency. 80-10 over the past seven seasons, only his predecessor has a better record at the helm of the Buckeyes.
And yet, despite all the success, Ryan Day has had a problem. A Michigan Wolverines problem.
For the past four years, Ohio State had been defeated by their fiercest rivals. Despite conference titles, Rose Bowl wins and last year’s National Championship triumph, it felt like there was an asterisk next to it all.
For most Buckeye fans, if you don’t beat ‘that team up north’, then any other accomplishment in that season is meaningless.
And so, despite an undefeated season to this point, there was a lot of pressure on Day heading into the Big House on Saturday. Another loss, and he would have been known forever as the man who couldn’t beat Michigan. This mental block was threatening to define his tenure in Columbus.
The curse was comprehensively broken this weekend. After the usual tense start to a rivalry game, quarterback Julian Sayin came alive, scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter as the snow began to fall in Ann Arbor. The crowd quietened, and Ohio State suffocated Bryce Underwood, shutting out Michigan in the second half to secure a 27-9 victory.
There are no stones left to hurl at Ryan Day and the Buckeyes. The 2024 champs are legit and ready to run it back.
The ACC Chose Chaos
If you want an idea of why College Football is the most gloriously dysfunctional sport on the planet, you need just look at the Atlantic Coastal Conference.
At 7-5, the Duke Blue Devils secured a spot in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday, courtesy of a win over Wake Forest and help from elsewhere. The Blue Devils required both Georgia Tech and SMU to lose, which they dutifully did - the Mustangs succumbing to a shock last-minute touchdown from Cal after mounting their own 21-point comeback.
That all seems fairly normal. But what isn’t normal is that seven other schools in their conference have a better record. That’s right; SMU, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Miami, Virginia, Louisville and Wake Forest all have fewer losses in 2025 than Duke.
How then are they facing Virginia next week for the conference trophy? Well, three of Duke’s five losses are out of conference, meaning that their ACC record is fairly competitive - despite two of those defeats coming to Group of Five programs, generally deemed inferior competition.
Manny Diaz’s program has without doubt benefitted from a weak conference schedule, something he can thank realignment for. Since the ACC expanded to 17 teams, there is no feasible way for each team to play each other. Duke has faced only three of the seven aforementioned teams, giving them an easier path to the title game, even if it seemed like a fantasy prior to kickoff.
The bad news for the ACC? The playoff committee cares little for conference record when determining rankings. Duke’s total body of work is mediocre at best; if they beat the Cavaliers on Saturday they will be compared to other conference winners for playoff selection.
That’s not a scenario that will likely play out well for this conference, who might end up having zero representation in the postseason bracket. The American will offer either a 12-1 North Texas or an 11-2 Tulane, who have already beaten Duke this year. The Sun Belt’s representative could be a 12-1 James Madison. Pushing the agenda of an 8-5 team against those resumes is a hard sell.
The ACC chose chaos this weekend. We could be in for another dose in Charlotte on Saturday.
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