Death, taxes, and Lane Kiffin taking desperation digs at Texas A&M. The saying goes that old habits die hard, but when it comes to Kiffin’s hollow takes about the Maroon and White, it’s an addiction.
If you were not scrolling through Twitter Tuesday evening, let me bring you up to speed on the latest cry for attention from the Ole Miss Rebels head coach. With the football season still months away, Kiffin looked to kill some time by watching the 2011 film Moneyball, based on the book of the same name.
Authored by Michael Lewis, the book details the Oakland A’s 2002 season, in which the team was all but bankrupt but managed to beat the odds by embracing the early use of sabermetrics. While watching the film, Kiffin had a “lightbulb” moment and compared those A’s to, yes, the Ole Miss Rebels.
@OleMissFB pic.twitter.com/aXVA1FpJZO
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) May 24, 2023
Random? Odd? Meaningless? All of the above, but of course, Kiffin couldn’t help himself before squeezing in one more dig at the Aggies.
In a moment in the film where the A’s payroll is compared to that of the New York Yankees, Kiffin put together a cryptic, unfinished “@t…” in a follow-up tweet. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to piece together which program he was comparing to the Yankees and subsequently taking a dig at.
🤔 @t…. … . pic.twitter.com/9a3qBcwArp
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) May 24, 2023
If you replace the dots with letters, it should spell out “Texas A and M,” which follows a similar format he used before to “subtly” call out the Aggies.
Kiffin isn’t being deceptive when it comes to comparing the donor base of the Rebels and Aggies. But the reality is that a smaller enrollment at Ole Miss correlates to a smaller alum base and, thus, fewer donors. That will affect recruiting; no ifs, and, or buts about it.
But playing the “David vs. Goliath” card is just one of the many tactics Kiffin is trying to employ to be a thorn in the side of A&M, and in particular, Jimbo Fisher. Of course, you can’t blame him after the Aggies flipped Rebels’ quarterback commit Marcel Reed before signing day.
And then, of course, there are the hirings of defensive coordinator DJ Durkin and RB coach Marquel Blackwell to the Aggies, two previous coaches from Kiffin’s staff whose departures inevitably sting.
The reality is that in the eyes of Kiffin, these off-season “digs” equate to wins. As for the Aggies, they’d instead respond with their play on the gridiron. But, unfortunately, talk is cheap unless you back it up, and for A&M, it should only provide more bulletin board material ahead of their November 4 matchup at Oxford.
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