Kiffin set to stay on with the Rebels
Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin says he has informed school officials he will be staying at Ole Miss, putting an end to speculation that he was the leading candidate to fill the head coaching vacancy at Auburn.
“Same as I said last week: I’m staying here and we have a lot of work left to do,” Kiffin told The Associated Press on Saturday in a voice message.
Kiffin added he has not signed a contract extension with the school.
With Kiffin off the market, Auburn is now eyeing a former Mississippi coach: Liberty’s Hugh Freeze.
The 47-year-old Kiffin is 23-12 in three seasons as Rebels coach. Mississippi , ranked No. 20 in the College Football Playoff rankings, finished its regular season 8-4, losing four of its last five, including Thursday’s 24-22 loss to Mississippi State.
Auburn played Saturday at No. 7 Alabama in the Iron Bowl, and its coaching search figured to heat up soon after its season concluded.
Auburn fired coach Bryan Harsin earlier this month and has gone 2-1 since under interim coach Carnell Williams, the former star running back for the Tigers.
After Liberty lost 49-14 at home to New Mexico State on Saturday, Freeze did not hide his interest in a possible return to the Southeastern Conference.
“I’ve communicated with (Liberty athletic director) Ian (McCaw) that if someone ever wanted to talk to us that interests us, I would always tell him. Is the job that everyone’s talking about one that I would have an interest in of talking with? Sure,” Freeze told reporters after the game. “That doesn’t mean they have offered me a job. Who knows where that’s headed.”
Freeze coached at Ole Miss for five seasons before leaving in disgrace in 2017 after the school discovered he used a university cellphone to call an escort service.
He has gone 34-14 in four seasons with the Flames.
“I’ve always said I love being here on the Mountain, I’m happy here, but I’m not going to sit and say to our kids or somebody that’s just absolutely false, there’s no interest in it,” Freeze said. “The part that’s false is there’s been no offer made to me, nor have I accepted anything. I think that’s what our kids came in the locker room kind of feeling.”
Georgia overcomes slow start, routs Georgia Tech:
A perfect regular season isn’t good enough for Stetson Bennett and No. 1 Georgia.
Bennett threw two touchdown passes and Georgia completed back-to-back undefeated regular seasons for the first time in school history by overcoming a slow start to beat Georgia Tech 37-14 on Saturday.
“It is special,” said Bennett of the undefeated regular season, “but we didn’t enter this season trying to go 12-0. We want to go 15-0.”
Georgia was down 7-0 early and led only 10-7 at halftime.
Then the Bulldogs overpowered the Yellow Jackets (5-7) with their running game to score 37 unanswered points and notch their fifth consecutive win in the state rivalry.
Hoosiers QB Williams taken to hospital with leg injury:
Indiana quarterback Dexter Williams II was carted off the field and taken to a hospital on Saturday after suffering what appeared to be a serious injury to his right leg during the Hoosiers’ game against Purdue.
Williams was hurt with 46 seconds left in the first quarter when he tried to plant and throw. He immediately fell to the ground with nobody around him.
Teammates gathered and some Purdue players took a knee as trainers placed an air cast around Williams’ leg and strapped him onto a stretcher.
Some of Williams’ relatives also were on the field.
Williams, a redshirt sophomore from Macon, Georgia, was making his second straight start. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during spring practice.
Centeio leads JMU in romp of Coastal Carolina:
James Madison knew when it made the jump to the Bowl Subdivision this season that conference championships would not be available right away because of NCAA transition rules.
So the Dukes turned their final game of the year into a bowl game and came away with no doubt about who the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division champion is, routing Coastal Carolina 47-7 on Saturday.
“You know, we’re champions. Everybody knows we’re champions of the East. I mean, come on. Across the country. You know, this was a major statement across the country,” JMU coach Curt Gignetti said “This was an exclamation point . ... Going to a bowl game would have been nice, but this was our bowl game.”
Todd Centeio threw for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth and James Madison (8-3, 6-2) dominated in every phase, outgaining the Chanticleers 502 yards to 183.