Lane Kiffin Accuses Texas Tech Players Of Using Racial Slur And Spitting On Ole Miss Players Before Brawl

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The Texas Tech Red Raiders took an early lead and never looked back in a 42-25 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels in the Texas Bowl on Wednesday night.

But that wasn’t the biggest story to come out of the game. In fact, it was far from it.

Early in the fourth quarter, Ole Miss wideout Jordan Watkins was assessed a 15-yard personal foul after a skirmish between the two teams. But Watkins wasn’t involved in the incident.

Lane Kiffin Suggests Racial Slur And Spitting Incident Caused Fight

“They announce our 11, which is Jordan Watkins, who wasn’t in the fight,” Kiffin said after the game. “It was their 11 that was fighting 71 [Ole Miss lineman Jayden Williams], and everybody knew because their own coaches were yelling at the guy.”

Kiffin then said that Williams was both spit on and a subject of an alleged racial slur, which led to the melee.

“There was a racial slur involved; that’s not the point of what we’re talking about, [it’s] about the spitting part. I brought our own 71 up to the officials, right or wrong, you see him crying? He’s not crying, not because he got spit on, it’s because something was said.”

Though he could not actually confirm what was said or that it was said at all.

“I’m not going to, because I did not hear it, [I’m not going to] say that that happened for sure that he gave a racial slur to our player,” Kiffin said. “I was told that that was said in that [incident], but I did not hear that. So that would obviously be a giant issue.”

Kiffin later said that he just wanted to defend his players.

“I’m going to defend our players when a kid spits on them and is accused to a national audience that it’s him,” Kiffin said. “So Jordan has to deal with this.”

He also said that Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire acknowledged that one of his players spit on an Ole Miss player following the game.

Meanwhile, Kiffin and the Rebs are left trying to regroup. Ole Miss ended the year 8-5 following a perfect 7-0 start. Kiffin was then the subject of rumors tying him to Auburn head coaching job.

He ultimately rejected the Tigers, but the talk clearly seemed to have unsettled his previously top-10 ranked team.