FSU fans should keep an eye on how CFP treats Ole Miss if Lane Kiffin leaves

As I digest the news of the death of FSU football, I'm taken back to the snub of 2023 and how it changed everything in Tallahassee. And then I ask myself what if life were fair. What if the CFP held every team to the same standards as they did with FSU in 2023? 

The committee jobbed FSU out of their rightful spot in the playoffs because Jordan Travis suffered a grotesque injury in a game that the Seminoles should've put away in the first five minutes. But this same committee is going to grant entry to Ole Miss even if their undisputed leader walks away from the program?

Make it make sense. 

Kiffin is more important to Ole Miss than Travis was to FSU

Find me a situation where the coach is more important to a team than Lane Kiffin is to Ole Miss. I'll wait. Still thinking? Get back to me. 

If Ole Miss is a car, Kiffin is the engine. He runs the offense. He calls the plays. He puts together the game plan. Both Charlies Weis Jr. and Joe Cox serve as underlings to Kiffin, but he makes the decisions and he sets the tone. Without Kiffin, who's running that offense? Who's calling the plays? Who's making the in-game adjustments? 

Is the CFP committee asking these questions? How will Ole Miss' offense function without Kiffin? The committee was fair to ask how FSU's offense would run without Travis. But the Seminoles did have a two-game sample where we saw an NFL caliber running back (Trey Benson) and a NFL caliber defense led by Jared Verse and Braden Fiske up front and a secondary led by AZ Thomas and Renardo Green. All NFL starters by the way.

They won't have an answer to what Ole Miss looks like without Kiffin until December 20th. The Rebels without Kiffin are an unknown quantity. Is that what you want in the playoffs? Can the CFP put a team in the playoffs when they don't know what they're going to look like?

No offense to Trinidad Chambliss, no one loves the story of last year's D2 championship quarterback jumping into the FBS playoffs, and I think Kewan Lacy is a stud, but do you really think these guys are going to be the same without Kiffin pulling the strings? 

Is Ole Miss really any good?

The Rebels non-conference schedule was three G5 schools and The Citadel. FSU beat two SEC programs in 2023. LSU had the Heisman Trophy winner and the Seminoles shut him down.

But Ole Miss plays in the SEC. So the conference slate must be crazy difficult. The road win over Oklahoma was nice. And losing by eight to Georgia is a quality loss, I suppose. After that we've got Kentucky (5-6), Arkansas (2-9), LSU (7-4), South Carolina (4-7), Florida (3-8) and Mississippi State (5-6). 

How did Ole Miss draw the entire bottom half of the conference? Did Lane Kiffin make the schedule too?

But unlike FSU, Ole Miss will be in because they have the connection. They are part of the SEC machine and not the ACC plucky startup business. If the Rebels don't, the SEC will threaten to walk away from the CFP. And the CFP would fold. The ACC could make that threat and the CFP would tell them not to let the door hit you on the backside. 

Bottom line the CFP just didn't want FSU in. They wanted Alabama and they picked them. In two weeks the committee might decide they want Notre Dame in over Miami, head-to-head be damned. But Ole Miss will be in with or without Kiffin, because the same rules don't apply to everyone.