The Gators’ rich history doesn’t obscure the downsides of their tenure in Florida

ESPN’s Reception Davis recently ruffled some feathers when he was on his College GameDay podcast that Lane Kiffin currently has a better job at Ole Miss and if he takes the Florida job, if and when it opens up, it would be a step aside.

“It’s not because (the) Ole Miss (job) is better than Florida right now,” Davis said. “It’s because they can bring in players now, they’re tuned into their NIL, he’s making the decisions, he’s in charge. Lane has a better job.”

The Florida crowd will be playing their greatest hits: national championships, SEC titles, Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer, Tim TebowThe swamp and so on.

It’s true. The Gators have a rich and rightfully proud football history.

And that’s exactly what it is: in the past.

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Since coming to Ole Miss, Kiffin has won more than 71 percent of his games. Florida has had three consecutive losing seasons and appears destined for a fourth as a coach Billy Napier could go down in history as one of the shortest-tenured coaches in program history.

Despite Napier saying at his press conference Monday that he “100 percent” sees a path to a fourth year at Florida, some are surprised he’s seeing a fourth game this season. The boosters are eager to get rid of Napier, who is now 12-16 in his third year and hasn’t won more than three SEC games in either of his first two games.

Since Meyer’s dominance ended, Florida has won just 59 percent of its games. It is by Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain And Dan Mullen and now appears set to fire Napier at any moment.

Ole Miss hasn’t exactly convinced the SEC during that time, but those who don’t take Davis’ statements seriously need to stop repeating the past and look to the future.

Florida’s collective is a mess and no matter what restructuring is done, the group will always be tagged with the Jaden Rashada debacle. That is a real challenge that must be overcome.

Aside from a few talented players who followed Napier out of Louisiana and Ricky Pearsall, did the Gators do great in the portal? Napier either didn’t want to or couldn’t pay for portal players when he arrived in Gainesville, so guess what, not many superstars came. Ole Miss and Kiffin dominated the portal.

Florida most likely has no full-time president or athletic director Scott Stricklin who is in the hot seat himself. Top recruits approached by Georgia, Alabama, Miami, Ohio State and Florida State see stable coaching situations. Not in Gainesville.

Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yuracheck The Little Rock Touchdown Club recently told Ole Miss that it has about 5,000 members in its football collective and then pleaded with more Arkansas fans to donate money.

The reason I know he said that is because walker Janssenformer Under Armour executive who now heads Ole Miss’s The Grove Collective has the speech on his X-profile.

© Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

If Napier is fired and Kiffin is the top target and Florida fans, tired of mediocrity after all these years of tasting greatness, get in the Brinks truck for him, maybe Kiffin will take the job.

The history is there. There is no denying that Florida has a richer football history than Ole Miss.

But Kiffin has the Rebels rolling. They’re a top-five team, and the Gators are 5.5-point favorites this weekend against Mississippi State, which just lost 41-17 at home to Toledo. It’s a shock that they’re favorites at all.

Sure, Florida has a stronger recruiting base, but Mississippi is also loaded with talent. And in today’s transfer era, location is far less important in drafting a roster than it was when everyone was coming out of high school.

There have always been rumors that Kiffin is not thrilled about staying at Ole Miss for the rest of his career. He really wanted the job at Auburn, he really wanted the job at Alabama when Nick Saban retired, there were rumors that he would be the top candidate at Florida State as Mike Norvell left for the job at Bama.

But his team is primed for a national championship run, Florida is a mess on and (perhaps more importantly) off the field, Kiffin has had tremendous success in the portal, and most importantly of all, Ole Miss’s collective is stacked, loaded and ready to go.

Leaning on history, Florida is the better track, but in the current climate, the Gators have a lot of problems to solve. A lot.

Davis was right: Kiffin may be getting better job offers because of his success at Ole Miss, but Florida isn’t one of them.

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