As the College Football Playoff Rankings were finally revealed after a slight delay on Tuesday night due to college basketball on ESPN, it didn’t sit well with Ole Miss Rebels fans one bit.
In fact, it appears that, should Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin decide after Friday’s Egg Bowl game against Mississippi State to leave for another job, Ole Miss might even be penalized in the College Football Playoff Rankings.
What Did CFP Chairman Say About Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin?
The new College Football Playoff Rankings saw Ole Miss slip down to No. 7 with the Oregon Ducks moving ahead into the No. 6 spot.
BREAKING: College Football Playoff Rankings https://t.co/Q25OEFvopq pic.twitter.com/w7wUYqt01u
— On3 (@On3sports) November 26, 2025
After the official announcement of the College Football Playoff Rankings was made, College Football Playoff Selection Committee Chair Hunter Yurachek and Executive Director of the College Football Playoff Rich Clark took part in a media teleconference.
During the question-and-answer session, On3 college football reporter Brett McMurphy pointedly asked Yurachek about the Ole Miss situation. McMurphy posted on X, “College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek (after making a 6-7 reference): ‘We didn’t have any dicsusion (discussion) about Ole Miss and its coach’”.
College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek (after making a 6-7 reference): “We didn’t have any dicsusion about Ole Miss and its coach”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) November 26, 2025
While that’s what McMurphy shared on X, a deeper dive into the back-and-forth between him and Yurachek might offer some more clues around where the College Football Playoff Selection Committee stands on the Kiffin issue.
According to the official transcript of the media teleconference, McMurphy asked the following: “Hunter, I wanted to clarify something you said. Make sure I heard it correctly. If Lane Kiffin announces he is leaving after the Mississippi State game, and the school decides it will not allow him to coach in the playoffs, the Rebels cannot be negatively impacted because the committee has not seen Ole Miss play any games without him. Is that correct?”
Yurachek replied, “We’ll take care of that when it happens. I mean, we don’t look ahead. It is the loss of a player, loss of a key coach is in the principles of how we rank the teams. But again, we don’t have a data point for Ole Miss without their head coach.”
McMurphy, though, sought clarification on Yurachek’s statement. McMurphy asked Yurachek, “I understand that. I’ll follow up. I’m not asking you to look ahead. I’m simply asking you to tell me, if you have not seen a team play without its head coach, and its team is no longer the head coach, based on not having a data point of seeing them play without the head coach, are you saying you can’t negatively impact them?
“It sounds like to me that’s what you’re saying,” McMurphy said. “I just want to clarify that. I’m not asking you to say whether he’s leaving, whether he’s staying, but simply, if the coach is not there and they have not played any games without him, you can’t penalize them because you haven’t seen them play without him.”
Yurachek’s response? “It could be considered by the committee.”
And that was the end of questioning about the Ole Miss situation on Tuesday night’s media teleconference. But it probably did not do much to help Ole Miss fans understand why the Rebels dropped in the College Football Playoff Rankings.
Ole Miss, according to the PFSN CFB Offense Impact metrics, has an impact score of 86.8 and grades out at a B on offense. The Rebels are averaging 6.6 yards per play on offense, also rushing for an average of 188.7 yards per game.
They will need their offense and defense, too, to be on point against Mississippi State, which is not having a great season. So, Mississippi State has an even bigger desire to knock off the Rebels and throw even more chaos into the Rebels’ football program than there is right now.
