Lots of reasons for Kiffin to be motivated as Rebels face Vanderbilt
Nov. 17—OXFORD — After a hard-fought win over Texas A&M Ole Miss fans have finally reached a game on the schedule where they can exhale.
It's Vanderbilt. What could go wrong?
We could all list shocking upsets, and Ole Miss has been on the wrong end of those a time or two in its history.
Also, it's worth noting that as an abysmal season sails into port for the Commodores (2-8) they haven't stopped playing.
They've competed for stretches in some games including last week at Kentucky when they outscored the Wildcats 14-3 in the second half. The problem was they trailed 31-3 at halftime.
The reality is Vanderbilt lacks the necessary talent in some spots and quality depth at most spots.
Odds-makers say this is a game Ole Miss should win easily; they've put the Rebels as a 37-point favorite.
Strategically this game comes at a good time as Ole Miss has a short window to prepare for a Thursday night Egg Bowl in the final regular season week.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin scaled back practice to keep players fresh for Texas A&M.
He'll do the same this week.
There are 150,000 reasons for Kiffin to be motivated to win this game as he'll hit a contract incentive marker and receive $150,000 if he does.
Kiffin is to be paid that sum for each regular season SEC win beginning with the fifth win.
Math isn't my strong suit, but I'm confident he'll make $300,000 if the Rebels win the last two games.
If Ole Miss wins out it will mean more than a half a million extra for Kiffin as he'll receive $250,000 for participation in a New Year's Six bowl game. The Rebels, at 10-2 in that scenario, would be a lock for one of those grand events.
He'll receive some sort of extra compensation for any bowl game.
Kiffin also hit an incentive marker in the season opener getting $100,000 for a non-conference win over a Power Five opponent.
Everybody likes bonus money, but that's not what's driving Kiffin.
He just likes winning, and he's creative and talented enough to do that quite a bit.
He was impressive in taking a team of marginal talent and depth issues to go 5-5 against nine SEC teams and the Big 10's Indiana last season.
What's really impressive is to look in the rear view mirror now and see that Kiffin's Rebels have won 12 of their last 15 games.
Think of what Saturday alone meant to the program with ESPN's College GameDay on campus, a packed Grove, a packed Stadium and an exciting win over a very good team.
Kiffin is building something in Oxford.
He's money well spent, but lots of college football programs have money.
His name continues to be mentioned with other jobs, and Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter will have to be creative in his ways to incentivize Kiffin to keep building the Rebels.
PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@journalinc.com.
