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Lane Kiffin, JJ Pegues confirm bowl game status for key Ole Miss players
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Lane Kiffin fell just short of leading Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff, and that was a bitter pill to swallow for the head coach and his 9-3 team.
But that hardly means that Kiffin and his players are mailing it in for the bowl game. Actually, it’s just the opposite, and Kiffin and star defensive tackle JJ Pegues fired a few salvos on social media about exactly how much they want to finish 2024 strong in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 2 against Duke.
First, it was Kiffin, who is never shy with his words. On Tuesday, he said of the Rebels’ roster for the Gator Bowl: “I think everyone, but Pooh (linebacker Chris Paul Jr.) is playing.”
Pegues took his turn to speak out, too, when asked who would be playing in a bowl game that doesn’t carry any Playoff weight. Don’t tell that to Pegues, who piled up 41 tackles, 18 of them solo, and 3.5 sacks in the regular season.
“We built something special here … we just want to finish the right way,” he said.
But Pegues wasn’t done speaking out about the Gator Bowl and who the Rebels intend to bring to Jacksonville.
“We all plan on playing in the bowl game,” he said on Tuesday.
Ole Miss will have a shot to get to double-digit victories. The Rebels and Blue Devils will kick things off in primetime at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
