This is an opinion column.

Lane Kiffin, sly fox of the SEC, can go coach at LSU or Florida.

He could stay at Ole Miss.

Kiffin has leverage and a decent sense of how to run the ball to set up a pass in the SEC. It’s a good combination in his line of work.

His buff and shine started long ago, in the Nick Saban and Jimmy Sexton coaching car wash, and it is almost complete. Where does shiny Kiffin really want to go? For this small moment in time, it is college football’s biggest (and most annoying) question.

Deep down, we all know the real truth.

Truly, Kiffin wants to be at Alabama, his rejuvenated career’s second dream job after he was fired from his original love, USC. Here’s how that could happen, and I wouldn’t remove any scenario from the silly season until after this weekend’s final set of regular-season games.

Rivalry Week is here for college football, and Alabama could miss the playoffs once again.

GOODMAN: Auburn is going to win the Iron Bowl

We all love a good SEC X-file, and this coaching cycle’s greatest conspiracy theory goes like this. If Alabama loses to Auburn on Saturday night, and misses the College Football Playoff, then Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer could pack his bags for Penn State.

That would leave Alabama needing a new coach and Kiffin waiting to swoop in and save the day.

Would Alabama hire Kiffin in a pinch? Three years ago, I would have laughed off the idea. But that was before I witnessed with my own eyes Vanderbilt embarrass Alabama and the Dores’ student body tote a goalpost through Nashville and throw it in the Cumberland River.

College football has evolved and Kiffin has matured.

Alabama, meanwhile, can’t figure out how to run the ball in the SEC and lost to Oklahoma at home.

Who are the coaches that managed to get the best of OU’s defense this season? Steve Sarkisian at Texas and Kiffin at Ole Miss. That’s it, and they’re both former Saban lieutenants. When Saban fired Kiffin before the 2017 national championship game (a slight overreaction), it was Sarkisian who took over as the Tide’s offensive coordinator. Now Kiffin finds himself in a similar pickle.

There are plenty of people out there who are sick and tired of Kiffin’s games. Make a decision already, they say. That’s the wrong attitude. I’ve come to appreciate Kiffin, and respect his growth as a coach.

Why can’t Kiffin wait? These aren’t life and death decisions. It’s college football, a TV show to sell ads during all the replays, and Kiffin is an all-time entertainer.

A fun aside: Who was coaching that Clemson defense back in 2017? You guessed it. The same guy who’s currently at Oklahoma, Brent Venables.

Venables not only got the best of Sarkisian in the national championship game, but Clemson’s defense shut out Ohio State 31-0 in the semifinals.

Kiffin shouldn’t have been fired by Saban before the 2017 national championship, but the reason Saban made that reactionary decision is because Kiffin, Saban thought, was focusing too much energy on his new job at FAU instead of preparing for Clemson’s defense. Sound familiar?

If the rumors are true, and Ole Miss has given Kiffin a deadline to make a decision, then Kiffin should call the university’s bluff. Kiffin doesn’t have to make a choice until he wants to make a choice. If Alabama loses to Auburn, then maybe that changes things.

With a loss to Auburn, DeBoer would officially be labeled Tuscaloosa’s modern-day Ray Perkins. That’s tough to overcome.

Perkins is the coach who took over after Paul Bryant retired from Alabama. He wasn’t terrible, but Perkins lacked the necessary temperament for Alabama. Instead of waiting to eventually be fired, he left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

If Alabama loses the Iron Bowl, and DeBoer doesn’t like sitting on the Tide’s hot seat, then leaving for Penn State could suddenly be an option.

Ridiculous? Well, yeah, but this is an SEC X-file and DeBoer and Kiffin both have the same superagent, none other than Saban’s car-washing buddy Jimmy Sexton.

Why should Kiffin settle for LSU, Florida or Ole Miss this week when there are still games to be played?

Can’t Kiffin do better?

Alabama is his ultimate prize, and, after all, Sark held out for Texas.

MAILBAG SOUND OFF

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