Lane Kiffin bemoans ‘unfortunate’ protected rivalry with Oklahoma
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Oklahoma and Ole Miss only ever played each other twice — once in the regular season (2024) and once in the 1999 Independence Bowl.
The two campuses are separated by almost 600 miles.
And yet, they will be a permanent rival for the next 4 years on each other’s schedules.
The SEC announced its scheduling matrix for the 2026-29 seasons on Tuesday night. Ole Miss will play Mississippi State, LSU, and Oklahoma annually while rotating games against the rest of the SEC. When asked about the Rebels’ new protected rivals during the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday, head coach Lane Kiffin was brutally honest.
He’s not a fan of the Oklahoma game.
“Yeah, Oklahoma is really disappointing,” Kiffin said. “We don’t have anything in common with them or our fans, so that doesn’t make any sense at all. So, that’s unfortunate, with so many great teams that we’ve played for a long time here, especially from our SEC West years. That’s unfortunate.
“It is what it is. Obviously the Egg Bowl is staying, so they only had 2 choices. So the LSU (game) makes sense and that’s great. The other one makes no sense.”
Ole Miss hosted the Sooners in Oxford last season — OU’s first in the SEC. The Rebels won the game 26-14. With Kiffin getting the Rebel program rolling and OU carrying blue blood status, it would certainly make sense for the SEC to try to build some additional rivalries throughout the league. Both programs have a high degree of visibility.
But the pairing is curious from the Oklahoma side of things, too. The Sooners’ other 2 protected rivals for the next 4 seasons are Texas and Mizzou. The Longhorns were never in doubt. The Red River Rivalry was going to continue or the SEC league office would face uproar. Mizzou makes sense as a former Big 12 partner. Texas A&M would have made sense for the same reason. Arkansas, in a neighboring state, probably made some sense as well.
The Sooners host Ole Miss later this season, on Oct. 25. We’ll see if Kiffin’s honesty gets used to drum up some animosity ahead of that meeting.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
