College Football Misery Index: Ole Miss falls flat despite spending big

Nobody in college football has punched above its weight in the name, image and likeness era more than Ole Miss.

For years and years before it was within the rules to pay players, Ole Miss would catch the suspicious glare of opposing fans and pique the interest of NCAA investigators every time it landed a big-time recruit. That was the way it used to work in college football when you’re not an Alabama, Ohio State or Southern Cal.

But now? NIL has brought it all out into the open, and Ole Miss has truly knocked it out of the park under Lane Kiffin. Though the actual numbers are opaque, The Grove Collective is widely viewed around the industry as one of the best-run and most organized groups in the country, raising a ton of money and helping Kiffin put out competitive offers for top talent.

“I don’t know what they’re spending, but they’re right there with Ohio State and Texas and all those schools,” former Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said recently on longtime journalist Pat Dooley’s podcast. Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek lamented during a booster function that Ole Miss has 5,000 people giving to its collective while the Razorbacks have just 1,000.

The point here is that Ole Miss has gone all-in on NIL as its path to the top of the sport because it’s the only way Ole Miss can get to the top of the sport. Last year, it got the Rebels to 11-2 with a Peach Bowl win. This year, after Kiffin added even more talent, they started at No. 6 in the US LBM Coaches Poll. And now, despite the expectation that the Florida job is going to come open after this season, there’s a legitimate debate about whether Kiffin should take the job because of how well things are set up in Oxford.

That’s how much NIL has changed the narrative around the Ole Miss program.

And yet on Saturday, the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football-misery-index-ole-100641479.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-29 10:06:41

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