At least act like you care, Rebel fans!
When you think of an undefeated, top-five team in a Power 4 conference playing a home game, you probably imagine a raucous environment.
Images of Death Valley at the height of LSU’s powers, or maybe the Horseshoe in Columbus with its 100,000+ rabid fans come to mind.
That isn’t exactly the scene in Oxford, Mississippi, today, as the fourth-ranked Rebels stepped into a sleepy environment and a half empty Vaught Hemingway Stadium for their matchup with Washington State.
This is a terrible look for a team that, coming into today, had the inside track at both an SEC Championship Game berth and a College Football Playoff appearance.
It was only two weeks ago that the Rebels and their cocksure head coach, Lane Kiffin, were riding high and trolling anyone who stepped in their way.
Now they are struggling to fill their stadium and vanquish their overmatched foe.
The lack of fans may have played directly into the slow start the Rebels had, as Kiffin’s squad sleepwalked their way to a three-point lead heading into halftime of this one.
Their opponent isn’t exactly a powerhouse, either, as the Cougars were recently waxed by North Texas to the tune of 59-10 less than a month ago.
That same North Texas team just got done getting their clocks cleaned by USF on national television last night, so the Cougars don’t even have that loss to a previously undefeated Mean Green to hang their hats on.
Speaking of the Cougars, while the Ole Miss fans decided not to show up, Washington State is being well represented in the Magnolia State this afternoon.
Oof! That’s a bad look.
While the lack of fans may or may not have been the determining factor in the low score of today’s game, it might mean something to Lane Kiffin and his future in Oxford.
Kiffin has been fairly vocal in the past about wanting the fans to come out and support his and his team’s efforts, and with other, bigger programs sniffing around, I have to wonder if the Rebels’ head coach is starting to take notice at the empty seats in his home stadium.
Time will tell with regard to Kiffin and his coaching plans moving forward, but if he does end up jumping ship for perceived “greener pastures,” we might be able to look back on this date as a potential turning point in the story of Ole Miss football.
