Report: Joe Judge would 'likely' coach Ole Miss in College Football Playoff if Lane Kiffin leaves

Should Lane Kiffin leave Ole Miss, presumably for LSU, Saturday, former New York Giants head coach Joe Judge would likely serve as the interim coach in the College Football Playoff. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach reported the potential move Friday night after the Egg Bowl.

Judge is currently the Ole Miss QBs coach after spending last season as a senior analyst. Ole Miss was his first college job since being a special teams assistant for Alabama from 2009-11.

Judge also worked for Mississippi State, his alma mater, from 2005-07 as a GA. While in the NFL, Judge worked under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots before getting a crack at the Giants gig.

However, Judge was fired after going 10-23 in two seasons with New York and returned to New England. Following Belichick’s parting of ways with the organization, Judge was hired by Kiffin in Oxford last year.

It remains to be seen what Kiffin will do. Saturday seems to be the day to tell all, whether he stays with the Rebels through their College Football Playoff run and beyond or goes to Baton Rouge.

“No, I haven’t (made up my mind),” Kiffin told ESPN’s Taylor McGregor on the broadcast. “I’ve got a lot of praying to do to figure that out tomorrow, but right now, I’m just going to go enjoy these players. I told them last night, you’re going to win your 11th game, and all I want to do is experience joy watching you, and that’s what I’m about to do.”

Kiffin and Ole Miss controlled Friday’s game from the get-go, which makes his impending decision all the more anxiety-filled for those in Oxford. Earlier in the day, On3’s Chris Low reported it’s down between staying at Ole Miss or going to LSU for Kiffin.

But Kiffin kept the focus on the current team and winning as they could still get into the SEC Championship game by day’s end. They need losses by Texas A&M and Alabama to get to Atlanta.

“Well, I think it’s an unbelievable job by these players,” Kiffin said postgame. “You know, we only returned two starters from last year. We were picked, I think, ninth or something in the conference. So for these guys to overcome adversity throughout the years, throughout the year, play really well, like they played a great second half today.

“So I’m just really happy for our fans, for our players, and you know, all the stuff they’ve done with all week, from outside people saying that they were distracting to his noise. And this is what these guys do. They’ve been dealing there for a long time. So I think it actually brings them together, and they play like that because of all the stuff outside.”

Kiffin led Ole Miss to 11 regular season wins for the first time in program history. Their next game could be the SEC Championship Game or even a home CFP game in the first round. Either way, Kiffin’s whereabouts will be the most talked-about subject in college football over the next 24 hours.