Ole Miss’ perilous traversal under Lane Kiffin has become a bit of a modern tradition in the negative sense. They’ll blow out a relatively weaker program at the onset of a season. Then go on a run, creating excitement among the fans. Stutter against a good team. Then, pick it up again and perhaps upset a Blueblood. All this before falling short towards the end anticlimactically. It is a cyclic process that has repeated once again this year, much to the dismay of their fans.

All the Rebels needed to do was win out against Florida and Mississippi State. Alas, they fell on the first hurdle. This season’s shortcomings are particularly damaging for the program. It felt like things were falling into place with regard to them breaking through. The program has, in many ways, bootstrapped its future to maximize its present. The success didn’t manifest. Now, there are echoes of concern if this season was the best it’ll get under Lane Kiffin.

Micheal Bratton, host of “That SEC Podcast”, voiced his opinion of Ole Miss’ future under the current regime. “I think it’s safe to say that Lane Kiffin will never recover from this as long as he’s at Ole Miss”, he boldly claimed. “That doesn’t mean he won’t make the playoffs[going forward]. But I think this was a team that was capable, perhaps, of winning the national championship, and they’re probably not even gonna make the playoffs. So I just don’t know how you recover from that”.

“SEC Mike” elaborated on the reasons for this blunt take on the Rebels’ prospects. “You’re not gonna have all these seniors coming back. You’re not gonna have your fan base give you whatever they gave you- $13, $14, $15 million- depending on who you believe. I mean, I just don’t see it all coming together like that ever again for Ole Miss”.

The notion is that this season was the perfect storm for Kiffin and the Rebels. The advent of the 12-team playoff, the performances, and the downturn of teams in their conference. Add to that, Ole Miss seemingly mortgaged some of their future in terms of investment and borrowed from it to improve now. The team invested heavily in the transfer portal. The roster has a plethora of NFL-caliber talent, but they’ll be watching December football like the rest of us, from their couch. Well, at least they’ll likely have an Egg Bowl W to show for their efforts.

Is Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss future under any degree of threat?

Lane Kiffin has built up plenty of credit in the bank. He’s helmed a flailing Ole Miss program back into the mixer with its elite SEC counterparts. For now, Kiffin controls his destiny when it comes to his coaching role. He can stay put without much duress. However, this is not something he takes for granted.

The Kiffin clan is now intrinsically linked to Oxford, Mississippi. It is where Lane’s father, the iconic Monte Kiffin, took his last coaching stop and then his last breath. Lane has outwardly expressed the gratitude he has for the city for how they’ve shown love to his family in dealing with this tragedy. His daughter Landry also goes to school at Ole Miss. The program is a huge part of Lane Kiffin’s journey- both personal and professional.

Even if the future is going to be bleak, as per Michael Bratton, Kiffin is going nowhere. Those sideline antics and brash commentary will continue reverberating around Oxford. Ole Miss will perennially be a good team under the offensive genius that he is. They’ll just hope to get over the hump next season.