Paul Finebaum compares Lane Kiffin’s win over Georgia to winning The Masters

Paul Finebaum has been waiting to see Lane Kiffin capitalize on the moment and win a big game for a while now. On Saturday night, Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels did just that by dominating Georgia, 28-10.

The Rebels controlled the game in many aspects, with their defensive line finishing with 5 sacks and causing havoc for Carson Beck all day.

Kiffin has been right there in the conversation of the top coaches in the SEC for a while, but he hadn’t been able to get the big win until Saturday. On McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum compared the win and the moment for Kiffin to that golfer finally winning the Masters.

“It’s like the golfer who has won 20 tournaments and come in 2nd and 3rd 10 times in the majors but has never won one,” Finebaum said. “This was like putting the green jacket on Lane Kiffin. He’s got a major now. It wasn’t the one he always wanted — the one over Nick Saban — but it comes pretty close. The biggest stage of football Saturday he delivered with a masterclass. He’s now where he really has been among the elite coaches, but he always managed to live down in those situations. I think the world is Lane Kiffin’s right now.”

Not only is this a big win for Kiffin, but for the Ole Miss program in general. The Rebels have pulled upsets against the top teams of the SEC over the past few years, but they haven’t been able to make the SEC championship game.

Finebaum thinks this is just the win Kiffin and the Rebels needed, and this could be the new norm in Oxford.

“It was incredible to watch, and I think so meaningful for him and that program,” Finebaum said. “This is not LSU, or Alabama, or Georgia, or Florida. Ole Miss does not have moments like this… this is a once every 10 or 15 years moment for the Rebels, and now with Kiffin, he may have put them in a situation where they’ll have a lot more of them.”

The Rebels are off next week before traveling to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators.

Mark Kern