On Wednesday, Lane Kiffin fielded questions from the assembled media and showcased his skills in not trafficking in coach-speak but not giving any juicy details about his team.

Near the end of the eight and half minutes of media time he no doubt treasured, he was asked why he chose not to participate in Netflix’s SEC Football: Any Given Saturday, which covered the 2024 season:

For those who can’t watch because of WORK or THE MAN, the short answer in reading between the lines is he had no interest in letting anyone behind the curtain because he decided it offered no advantage. Since 2020, one of the main things we’ve learned about Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss is that he is forever in search of edges.

So if he thought being in the show gave Ole Miss an advantage, we’d have a front-row seat to players and coaches engaged in 1,000-yard stares after losing to Kentucky last September. And if the director of the show was on his or her game, the Platoon theme music would be playing.

For the record, this scenario doesn’t even exist, and it’s grinding my gears. Not to mention, this scenario could also play out in later episodes featuring the LSU and Florida games. Thanks, Gray, I hate it.

ANYHOW, of note, Kiffin did say he thought it was hard for coaches to not be “phony” in these shows, as in how they act on camera is not how they are when there are no cameras. Well, well, well, if it isn’t Lane Kiffin trying to create an edge on those who opted into the show.

Like his teacher Nick Saban, Kiffin rarely says anything to the media without a purpose behind it. Here, he’s saying to recruits and future transfer portal players that Ole Miss isn’t in the show, but phonies at other programs could be. Remember that on your visits to those places and when talking to their coaches!

Bodhisattva in our midst.

But the real point here is that the Netflix show title references Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday, which means it’s an opportunity to celebrate Al Pacino being like, folks, I don’t know what to say, but how about I give a superhuman pregame speech.