Lane Kiffin furious with SEC after Georgia vs. Ole Miss game time announcement
After Georgia football's game against Florida this Saturday, the Bulldogs will hit the road one final time this season to take on the Ole Miss Rebels. Ole Miss presents a huge challenge for Georgia as another ranked opponent, so it is no surprise to see that this game will be played in front of a national TV audience.
It was just announced that Georgia's game against Ole Miss on Saturday, Nov. 9 will begin at 3:30 pm EST on ABC.
While this is a very normal time to play a football game, one person in particular is furious. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
Lane Kiffin sounds off on SEC
Kiffin was so upset by this news that he sounded off on the SEC schedule makers for not giving them another night game when Georgia comes to town.
"So, who went at night? LSU gets to play at night again, I guess? Shocker," Kiffin said via athlonsports.com. "That’s two for two for them."
"Playing at night in electric atmospheres is a home-field advantage," Kiffin said. "Tough when you’ve got to do that as an opposing team. So that’s been proven for a long time. … It is an advantage. I feel bad for our fans not having one night conference game. It’s really unfortunate for them. So, whatever. It’s just really disappointing but it is what it is."
To be fair, nothing Kiffin said is wrong. Sure it's a little bush league to call out LSU specifically as they had no say in this, but Kiffin's gripe with the conference is fair. Apparently the only home night game for Ole Miss this season was their season opener against Furman. So yeah, not the most exciting game in the world.
But at the same time, it is a little strange to publicly complain this much about something so minuscule. I get it, Kiffin wants as much of an advantage as he can get when Georgia comes to town, so at the end of the day this is a nice compliment from Kiffin.
However, it's worth pointing out that Kirby Smart isn't complaining about Georgia's schedule. Georgia has had their fair share of night games this season, but they have all been on the road which according to Kiffin makes it harder on them. The only scheduled home night game for Georgia this season is their regular season finale against Georgia Tech, which by the way is on a Friday so the schedule makers didn't have a choice but to put it at night. But you don't hear Smart complaining because Georgia will play anyone, anytime and anywhere.
Also, Georgia is 2-1 in their three road night games, so would a night atmosphere actually impact the final score of this game? Probably not.
But hey, hopefully this works out for Ole Miss and maybe you'll team will stand a better chance against a powerhouse program next season.