Top ESPN analyst hypes up Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin while handing out harsh truth for an SEC rival

Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss have been building program to beat the best teams that college football has to offer over the past few years. No longer is Ole Miss the "little brother" SEC program. The boosters and leadership at Ole Miss have handed Lane Kiffin the keys to the program and let him steer the ship.

So why on earth is there so much buzz about him potentially leaving the Rebels to become the next head coach at Florida after the Gators inevitably fire Billy Napier? ESPN and College Gameday's Rece Davis threw some cold water on all that noise this week on his podcast with Pete Thamel. He believes two things are obvious. First, Florida is definitely going to pursue Kiffin. Second, we'll get to that in a bit.

"I'm going to say this. It's going to throw some cold water on Florida, and probably help Lane [Kiffin]...I'm not the biggest fan about this, but you also can't ignore the obvious. And you also can't ignore the obvious and pretend [Florida] won't go after Lane Kiffin."

Immediately after Florida lost to Texas A&M on Saturday--and even amid the game--message boards and social media lit up with "Fire Billy Napier" demands. And with that came the noise and demands of Lane Kiffin as the next perfect fit as head coach of the Florida Gators. However, there's a sad reality that Rece Davis seems to believe Florida fans need to come to terms with: Ole Miss is a much better job than Florida right now (and it might stay that way).

"As we stand here--or sit here--right now. Lane Kiffin has a better job right now [than at Florida]. He is at best making a lateral move [if he goes to Florida]. And it's not because Ole Miss is better than Florida right now. It's because they can get in on players now. They're aligned with their NIL. He makes the decisions. He's in charge. Lane has a better job [than if he were with Florida]."

This might seem like a "hot take" to some casual fans, but this is reality. Lane Kiffin has pulled in Top 3 transfer classes three off-seasons in a row now. And that's largely due to the fact that Ole Miss' NIL situation has quickly become one of the best in the nation. When the Rebels combined all that top tier transfer talent with three straight Top 20 freshman recruiting classes that gave them a roster that is likely one of the best in the nation this season.

Pete Thamel went on to hype up Ole Miss on the same show saying Ole Miss has a "loaded roster" and should have "double-digit draft picks" come out of this year's team. If that's true, then their roster is exactly where they need to be to compete at the highest levels of the sport. Why in the world would Lane Kiffin want to leave that and join the dumpster fire of a program in Gainesville?

This truly is a no-brainer for Lane Kiffin. Until something changes drastically at Florida there's absolutely no reason for him to leave Ole Miss. He's built a monster of a team, a strong NIL program, and has Ole Miss exactly where they need to be to potentially win it all this season and compete for championships in the future. Florida is not even close to that at this point.

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