Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin criticizes Wake Forest for abandoning 2025 game

During the week of preparation before suffering a lopsided 40-6 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday, Wake Forest decided to cancel the second game of its home-and-home series against the Rebels in 2025, forcing the university to pay a $1 million cancellation fee, as first reported by Brett McMurphy of Action Network.

Speaking to reporters after the Rebels’ win Saturday, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin initially framed the Demon Deacons’ decision to cancel the 2025 contest as a positive for his program.

“We talked to them (Ole Miss players) during the week about … This is the last time they’re going to play these guys,” Kiffin said. “These guys called during the week, and John Currie (Wake Forest athletic director) said, ‘We’re not playing next year and we’re out of the game.’”

“I think it was a good message to our players that someone was willing to pay to not play them. It says a lot about where our program is right now.”

That certainly could have been a source of motivation for Ole Miss, which outscored the Demon Deacons 649-311 in the rout.

But after a few days of reflection, Kiffin, speaking to reporters Monday about Wake Forest’s cancellation, was singing a different song.

“That’s rarely the case,” Kiffin said. “I’ve never really heard of that, and it really puts us at a huge disadvantage. That’s just the way it is. Obviously, they didn’t appreciate putting us in that position.”

“Now you have to find someone, and most people already have a schedule. And even when you find someone, you have to go and pay them. It’s kind of an unspoken rule not to do it, actually.”

The home-and-home series for 2024 and 2025 was first agreed to in 2014. Wake Forest had won both previous meetings against Ole Miss before Saturday’s game. The canceled game was scheduled for Sept. 13, 2025.

The Demon Deacons’ decision to cancel the 2025 game now leaves the Rebels scrambling to find a Power 4 conference or major independent opponent to replace the Wake Forest game on the schedule.

If they fail to find a replacement, Ole Miss may have to apply for a waiver from the SEC. The Rebels would then face four non-conference opponents with no opponents from any of college football’s four major conferences.

It’s something Kiffin has made clear he would prefer not to do.