Let me start by saying that I feel for the Ole Miss players. Just a shitty situation for something they can't control. But, moving to the topic of conversation.
Back in 2023, Florida St. was a perfect 13-0, running through their schedule with several impressive wins. They lost their star Qb Jordan Travis towards the end of the season however, casting a shadow over their whole team. As we all know, after a lackluster offensive performance in the ACC title game against Louisville, it was enough for the committee to justify dropping FSU out of the playoff. The decision was hated by many, but looked vindicated in hindsight when FSU got obliterated by Georgia 63-3.
Fast forward to today with Ole Miss. Much like 2023 FSU, they've been a great team all season long who definitely deserves to be in the playoff. However, they've now lost their head coach in Lane Kiffin. More than that, they've reportedly lost assistant coaches Charlie Weiss Jr (offensive coordinator), Joe Cox (offensive coordinator/TE coach), George McDonald (Wr coach), Nick Savage (Head strength coach), Billy Glasscock (General manager), and a host of other lower level assistants. Basically the majority of the offensive coaches and the top behind the scenes coaches. A massive blow.
So this begs the question: If FSU was penalized and missed the playoffs for losing their starting Qb, should Ole Miss miss the playoffs for losing their head coach and half the coaching staff? It would be unfair to the players but consider the facts behind it. Without Kiffin and his associates, Ole Miss has nobody on staff that has called plays in any sort of similar capacity. They barely have offensive coaches left to put together a game plan. The lack of playcalling/game plan likely is the smaller of the issues considering the potential impact of your head coach being gone. Is this as a whole not a bigger deal than missing a Qb?
Again this sucks because Ole Miss is a good team who deserves the chance. But if the committee punished FSU, then shouldn't Ole Miss be treated the same?
