Sports
Wetzel: Lane Kiffin’s decision is coming Saturday. He better win Friday
Ryan Day is 81-10 as the head coach of Ohio State, including 11-0 this year as the Buckeyes try to repeat as national champions. It’s a breathtaking run of success.
Yet Day is famously 0-4 against Michigan over the past four years, including a shocking home defeat to a middling Wolverines team a year ago. Another loss Saturday in Ann Arbor, especially as an ESPN BET 11.5-point favorite, would invite continued scorn and frustration.
It is why you’d think Day is the coach under the most pressure to win a specific game this weekend.
Then along comes Lane Kiffin saying, hold my Hotty Toddy.
Kiffin has yet to publicly declare where he will work next season — let alone the rest of this season. It might be LSU. It might be Florida. Or it might be Ole Miss, where he has the 10-1 Rebels ranked sixth heading into Friday’s Egg Bowl at Mississippi State.
“An announcement on Coach Kiffin’s future is expected the Saturday following the game,” Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter wrote in a statement.
It’s a game Kiffin better win.
Forget the rest of this chaotic story. The long, slow drag-out of an announcement. The fact that Kiffin had family members reportedly tour other schools and towns … while still working in Oxford. The daily cryptic book excerpts Kiffin sends out on social media, leaving fans to try to decipher their meanings.
Or even the fact the decision is merely “expected” on Saturday.
Maybe. Or maybe not. Who really knows? It’s Lane. Maybe he’ll pick a hat, like recruits do, or have Jesse Palmer come to town for a “Bachelor”-style rose ceremony.
If nothing else, Kiffin, a personality like no other, has set up Friday’s game in Starkville, Mississippi, as a game like no other — one of the most “must-win” contests a coach has ever faced.
Ole Miss is having its greatest season in more than 60 years. The College Football Playoff is waiting. A home playoff game, which might be the biggest sporting event in state history, is at hand. The Rebels are absolute national semifinal contenders, if not capable of winning the whole thing. Kiffin himself has never had a season this successful.
Yet if Ole Miss gets upset Friday by its archrival, it could all collapse. If so, the blame will be singular.
Day can lose and, despite the embarrassment, move on to bigger challenges.
Kiffin might never live down creating a circus of speculation and distraction as he considers quitting on a playoff team.
His defenders can blame the clunky calendar, but life is about timing. Sometimes it doesn’t work in your favor. Leaving a team with big possibilities (it is extremely unlikely Ole Miss would allow him to coach in the playoff) for the perceived greener grass of another program would be an extraordinary decision. Is he a coach or a job hunter?
Emotions will be bitter enough if Kiffin leaves after securing a victory that puts Ole Miss in the playoff. If the Rebels lose, though? They aren’t assured anything, falling into a crowded group of 10-2 contenders seeking an at-large bid. They could get left out.
Making matters worse, it’s quite possible Kiffin bails the next day. That would give the College Football Playoff committee the option of downgrading the Rebels because they lost their head coach the way it downgraded Florida State two years ago because it lost its starting quarterback to injury.
Just like that, the dream season would have a nightmare conclusion … just as the perpetrator skips town. How will that go over?
Ole Miss is an 8.5-point favorite. It should defeat a Mississippi State team that has shown admirable growth this year but is still rebuilding. This is the Egg Bowl, though. Anything can — and has — happened. Upsets. Comebacks. A guy costing his team by mimicking a urinating dog during a touchdown celebration.
This thing is almost always wild.
“Coach Kiffin and I have had many pointed and positive conversations regarding his future at Ole Miss,” Carter wrote in his statement. “While we discuss next steps, we know we cannot lose sight of what is most important — our sixth-ranked team that is poised to finish the regular season in historic fashion.
“Despite outside noise,” Carter wrote, “Coach Kiffin is focused on preparing our team for the Egg Bowl.”
He better be. And then Ole Miss better win it.
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The Carolina Panthers created havoc for the Los Angeles Rams and received a boost from the sloppy weather as they defeated the best team in the NFC, 31-28.
Carolina notched its seventh win of the year. It’s the first time they have won at least seven games since the 2022 season when Matt Rhule, and eventually Steve Wilks, were at the helm. The Panthers also snapped the Rams’ six-game winning streak.
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Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young runs against the Los Angeles Rams during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina (Rusty Jones/AP Photo)
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford entered the game as the NFL MVP favorite. It seemed like he was going to have a big game as he led the team down for a touchdown on the opening drive. At the time, it was his 28th touchdown pass without an interception, which broke an NFL record.
The good vibes didn’t last long as Stafford threw an interception on his next drive and later had a pick six to Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson. The Panthers’ defense then forced Stafford to fumble the ball on the Rams’ final drive, which sunk any hopes of them coming back to force overtime or win the game.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was 15-of-20 with 206 passing yards and three touchdown passes. He found rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan for a 43-yard go-ahead touchdown with 6:34 left in the game. It was McMillan’s only catch of the game.
Carolina Panthers safety Nick Scott celebrates after intercepting a pass against the Los Angeles Rams during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Jacob Kupferman/AP Photo)
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Carolina’s Jalen Coker had four catches for 74 yards and a touchdown. Running back Chuba Hubbard had two catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. He also added 83 yards on the ground on 17 carries.
Stafford finished 18-of-28 with 243 passing yards and two touchdown passes. Both touchdowns were to Davante Adams, who finished with four catches for 58 yards.
The Panthers’ (7-6) win kept them in contention for the NFC South lead. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a higher winning percentage after their win over the Arizona Cardinals, moving to 7-5.
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The Rams’ grip on the conference was loosened. The loss meant the Chicago Bears have the best record in the NFC. Chicago defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday.
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Kiffin became a hovering theme of the latter part of the college football season as his future at Mississippi became uncertain.
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That’s a wrap on the regular season. All 31 automatic bids have been decided. Next up is the Selection Show on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN where the other 33 at-large teams along with the seeding will be revealed.
Volleyball seeds the top-eight teams in each region and the top four serve as first- and second-round hosts. The rest of the bracket is filled out to balance it competitively and geographically. The highest remaining seeds also host the regionals, and the 2025 Final Four is in Kansas City, Missouri, on Dec. 18 with the finals on Dec. 21.
Bracket watch
Pittsburgh’s win over Louisville, although much closer than the sweep would indicate, was still convincing enough to push the Panthers onto the top line as the final No. 1 seed. The other three top seeds — Nebraska, Kentucky and Texas — should be easy for the committee. The big discussion and decision-making will likely center around which teams slot as No. 2 seeds and which ones falls on the No. 3 line. That group includes teams such as Arizona State, Stanford, Louisville, Creighton, SMU, Wisconsin and Texas A&M with résumés that are so close; differentiating them won’t be easy.
The final spots for the right to host the first and second rounds will also take some time. Miami and USC seem to have played their way into the top 16 with good finishes to the regular season. Indiana slipped a bit down the stretch. The Hoosiers might just hold onto a spot in the top 16.
Top seedings
No. 1 seeds: Nebraska, Kentucky, Texas, Pittsburgh
No. 2 seeds: Arizona State, Texas A&M, Creighton, SMU
No. 3 seeds: Stanford, Wisconsin, Louisville, Purdue
No. 4 seeds: Miami, Minnesota, USC, Indiana
No. 5 seeds: Kansas, BYU, Baylor, Tennessee
No. 6 seeds: TCU, Kansas State, Colorado, Iowa State
No. 7 seeds: Penn State, UTEP, Western Kentucky, Northern Iowa
No. 8 seeds: Marquette, North Carolina, Florida, San Diego
Rest of the field (alphabetical): American, Arizona, Arkansas State, Campbell, UCLA, Cal Poly, Central Arkansas, Coppin State, Eastern Illinois, Fairfield, Florida A&M, Georgia Tech, High Point, Long Island, Loyola-Chicago, Maryland-Baltimore County, Northern Colorado, Princeton, Rice, St. Thomas, South Dakota State, South Florida, Stephen F. Austin, Toledo, Tulsa, Utah State, Utah Valley, Villanova, Western Kentucky, Wofford, Wright State, Xavier
(The rest of the field teams wouldn’t be seeded)
Bubble watch
The biggest change on the bubble in the season’s final weekend was Arizona playing itself into the field with two wins. The Wildcats beat Cincinnati in four sets Saturday in a match that became a de facto play-in game. The Bearcats’ two losses over the past three days were backbreaking. Oregon picked up a pair of wins, but beating Rutgers and Maryland weren’t enough to elevate the Ducks, who lack a significant nonconference victory and didn’t play the nonconference schedule of South Florida.
Last Four In: Georgia Tech, Villanova, Arizona, South Florida
First Four Out: Oregon, Cincinnati, Dayton, Missouri
Next Four Out: Auburn, Florida State, Pepperdine, James Madison
Conference breakdown
Big 12: 8
Big Ten: 8
ACC: 7
SEC: 5
Big East: 4
American: 3
CUSA: 2
Summit: 2
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