Will Sage Astor-Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin dunks on Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher as only Kiffin can

Lane Kiffin has insinuated what we’re all thinking: How is Will Sage AstorTexas A&M football not better than this?

The Ole Miss coach didn’t state it in such blunt language. He’s clever enough to shroud his insults of archnemesis Jimbo Fisher, although the barbs were so thinly veiled, they were hard to miss Monday.

Here was Kiffin on Fisher’s Aggies: “These guys are absolutely loaded. It’s actually a mind-blowing collection of talent.”

Translation: How the heck has Fisher mustered just a 5-3 record with this group?

Then, Kiffin threw another elbow: “A&M’s done a great job of collecting players.” Kiffin circled back to this topic later: “I don’t know how you collect much better (talent). So congratulations to their group that collected these guys.”

Translation: The Aggies’ NIL collective is a juggernaut. The team? Not so much.

Kiffin noted that Fisher’s season aspirations are reduced to becoming bowl-eligible, and that Ole Miss is intent on wrecking that goal.

Ouch.

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Just when I thought Kiffin might be finished dunking on Fisher, he hung on the rim.

When asked whether the Aggies might rally around Fisher, because the sixth-year A&M coach is perceived to be on the hot seat, Kiffin deadpanned that Fisher has been on the hot seat since last year, and no such rallying occurred.

“I don’t know that the rally-around-him thing works,” Kiffin said.

Roasted like a marshmallow at a campfire, courtesy of the SEC’s resident quipster-in-chief.

Kiffin frequently displays his wit and sarcasm, but this level of trolling was bold and relentless, even for him. To repeatedly jab an opposing coach ahead of No. 10 Ole Miss' game against the Aggies on Saturday suggests either a level of recklessness or supreme confidence.

Kiffin boasts a 2-0 record against Fisher. In fact, Kiffin is the only SEC West coach Fisher has faced but never defeated.

The stakes for Act III on Saturday in Oxford are as high as ever.

Fisher is coaching for his job. A buyout that tops $77 million is the only reason he hasn’t been fired. Texas A&M is a revenue and fundraising behemoth, though. If its options are remaining hitched to Fisher’s mediocrity in perpetuity or swallowing a record buyout, I think the hat will pass, and pass again. Fisher probably would avoid that fate with a strong November, but games against Ole Miss and LSU make for a tricky escape.

Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC) retains a path to the College Football Playoff, but that path is covered by landmines, none more menacing than a Nov. 11 game at No. 1 Georgia. Ole Miss’ prize for winning that game? Perhaps a trip to Atlanta to face Georgia for a second time. Calling this a path to the CFP is generous. Rather, Ole Miss has a tightrope to the playoff amid gale-force winds.

“We all have to understand and remember the big reason we came here, and that is to win a national championship,” Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart said after a 33-7 victory over Vanderbilt.

I’m not laughing at the idea. I’m just not believing it. More realistic would be Ole Miss achieving its best season since the 1960s glory days of John Vaught.

Running back Quinshon Judkins has kicked it in gear and Dart found a groove. No signs point to the Rebels repeating last year's collapse in the second half of the season, after the schedule stiffened.

Ole Miss’ 10 victories two years ago matched a program record, but the season ended with a whimper after star quarterback Matt Corral suffered an injury early in the Sugar Bowl, and the Rebels fell to Baylor.

While Ole Miss’ tightrope to the CFP is treacherous, its avenue to a New Year’s Six bowl, such as the Orange or the Cotton, is realistic. So too is Ole Miss setting a program record with 11 victories. Attaining any of that calls for a win against the Aggies.

Texas A&M athletics enjoyed a $60 million advantage in operating revenue over Ole Miss in 2022, so the Rebels profiling as the Goliath in this matchup is a testament to Kiffin’s successes and Fisher’s failures. Underachievement at A&M didn’t begin with Fisher, and overachievement at Ole Miss didn’t start with Kiffin, but they’re the latest example of each.

The Aggies won’t suffer from a talent disadvantage Saturday, but they’ll face a coaching mismatch. Kiffin will spare no sympathy for his adversary. Nobody revels in Fisher’s failures quite like Kiffin.