The Josh Innes Show - Ole Miss Has Finally Lost Part 2: Stop Saying Ole Miss Is A Cinderella

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

I was reading the USA Today website. Yes, I'm addicted to the stupidity. I wish I could quit them...I just can't. Anywho, the front page story refers to Ole Miss as a Cinderella story. Enlighten me...what makes this a Cinderella story? Cinderella stories are shocking. What was truly shocking about this? A Cinderella is a have not. What doesn't Ole Miss have? The reason why people gravitated to Ole Miss is because of Lane Kiffin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Again, this was a USA Today thing. I'm aware. I'm aware that I have a bit of an obsession with mocking USA today. But if you go to the front page, truly special. Ole Miss playoff run ends with emotional loss to Miami. Like, congrats for you guys. You did it. I know that you had to deal with some adversity along the way.

Everybody does. This was unique adversity, but everybody deals with adversity. You spent a shitload of money. You bought a lot of players in the portal, and you made it to the semifinals. Cool. That's the way the shit works. Let's read some of this story. That's a quote, truly specialist from one of the players.

Mississippi football's Cinderella run has come to an end. How is Ole Miss as Cinderella? Ole Miss played a home playoff game. What seat? They were what, number six. There were what, 12 teams that make this thing? They were in the top half of them. Ole Miss is not a Cinderella.

There is nothing Cinderella about Ole Miss. That is a bullshit narrative that they are trying to present to people online, on social media, in your stories. Again, because you hate Lane Kiffin. How much money did Ole Miss spend in the portal? I don't know the exact number. Google will know. How much money did Ole Miss spend in the portal? Let's see.

Ole Miss invested heavily in its football program via NIL, reportedly spending over 10 million, potentially 13 for the 2024 roster. What about 2025? How much money did they spend in 2025? While exact figures for Ole Miss's total 2025 transfer portal spending aren't public, reports indicate they went all-in spending significant amounts, potentially exceeding 10 million on their overall roster, with high-end players commanding hundreds of thousands to millions, particularly for key positions like quarterback and offensive linemen as laying Kiffin aim for a championship run before his departure in 2025. Ole Miss is not a Cinderella, other than the fact that they're a poverty program for most of

their existence. That is the only thing. The only thing that makes them a Cinderella is that they're not Georgia or Alabama. And they've never won anything because they're a poverty program from middle of nowhere, Mississippi. That's it. But you spend just as much money as all of the big boys in the portal. You brag about how you got all these big time boosters that want to spend cash.

lose me. Like the first line of that story, Ole Miss, Mississippi's football, Cinderella run has come to an end. Cinderella run is back in the day when VCU made a run at the final four. Because you got VCU and Duke. Like that is a true have and have not. That is a Hatfield and McCoy.

That is a rich dad, poor dad scenario. That's what that is. But in professional sports, there are rarely Cinderella runs. Because they're all pros, and they're all getting paid. And college football is the same fucking thing now. They're all pros.

They're all getting paid. So where is the Cinderella run? Like, let's look at the NFL. Because the NFL, basically, college football is minor league football. It's an offshoot of pro football. It is professional football. I don't care who's signing the checks or if it's NIL or this. Everyone knows that with guys getting paid, it is now professional.

We don't call these guys kids. They are professional athletes. And anyone who calls them the kids is a sanctimonious fuck face. Okay? But let's say that you've got the NFL playoffs. Is there a Cinderella run in the NFL playoffs? I'll give you this. If somehow the shitty Carolina Panthers made it to the Super Bowl,

you want to throw Cinderella run on that, I can entertain it. But they're all pros. They all get paid. They all make a lot of money. This is pro football. There are no haves and have-nots. If you're in the SEC, there might be schools.

and have a little bit more invested in their NIL, a little bit better tradition. But if you're in the Big 10, Big 12, look at the Big 12. Look at Texas Tech. Boosters just decided let's spend $20 million on the fucking roster. You can buy your way in. Cinderella's don't exist. So in the first line of this story is Mississippi football Cinderella run has come to an end. There is no Cinderella run.

Ole Miss had an elite level head coach. Ole Miss has elite level players. If you want to call it a Cinderella run, the one part I would entertain is that you took a guy who was a Division III quarterback that was expected to be your backup

that you discovered on Twitter and he took you this far. But it's no longer a Cinderella run when the guy played nine weeks as the starting quarterback and they lost what? One game with him. You knew he was good.

He was obviously good. He beat Ole Mill. beat LSU. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, a beat in Georgia the first time. Cinderella doesn't exist in this world anymore. That's the part that you've killed. Tulane, if they would have made it, call them a Cinderella, they never will. They can spend all the money they won trying to make a Tulane or a James Madison

or whatever school relevant with money. And you can make them interesting, Memphis. I'm trying to think of other these mid-level schools that aren't the power conferences that, you know, tend to invest a little bit and find themselves kind of in the mix every year. UAB, whoever. But ultimately they all spend cash. So the idea that Ole Miss was some sort of great run. Is it an interesting story because of Kiffin?

Absolutely. It makes it a more interesting story. But it's because people hate Kiffin. Ole Miss being a story isn't because of Old Miss. It is because of laying Kiffin, period. There is no, it's a great story because of Pete Goldine. No, it's a great story because the coach left. and the media and everybody in the country turned against the guy,

and it turns out he's really the bad guy after all. And as it turns out, there is no changed or reformed Lane Kiffin. He ripped the mask off of him at the end of the Scooby-Doo episode, and the old man Carruthers is under the mask, but it's Lane Kiffin instead. There is no ghoul, there is no zombie. You know who it is? It's Lane Kiffin, and it's always been Lane Kiffin. So he's your bad guy.

He's your villain. Ole Miss is a story to anybody because of Lane Kiffin. The reason why they were quote-unquote a man. America's team was because of Lane Kiffin. Next year, none of these people who are all aboard the Ole Miss train are going to give two fucks about Ole Miss. And next year, when Ole Miss loses three games, no one's going to give a fuck about Ole Miss.

Number six, Ole Miss was defeated by number 10 Miami, 31 to 27, in the college football playoff semifinals on Thursday after the rebels were unable to muster another comeback win in the program's first ever Fiesta Bowl appearance. Yet, as old, Ole Miss walked off the field at State Farm Stadium while the scorpions rock you like a hurricane blasted through the speakers and green and orange confetti fell from the sky. The rebels had a lot to be proud of following their improbable run. Quote, God has been so good to me in this team.

I wouldn't want to do it with any other people, whether it's coaches, players, people in the offices. It's just been a great ride. Of course, that's the same guy who a couple of weeks ago was asked if he made transfer and get into the portal. And he said, well, we'll just see what God has for me. We'll see what's out there. I've got to do my due diligence and see what's out there. But now he never, you know, he never want to do it with anybody else. Everybody's full of shit.

Same thing with DeMond Williams Jr. Who decided to stay at Washington. Good for him. He decided to stay at Washington. The contract apparently stated that if he was going to hop in the portal after signing that deal, wherever he went would have to pay the buyout, which I'm totally fine with, because that's part of the way these contracts work and they always have. So the coaches, the schools have to pay a buyout?

The players do too? I'm cool with that. Rock on. But there's what I love about the hypocrisy of all this. So DeMond Williams Jr. at Washington is going to leave. And you start reading the comments from the fans and media people. There were some fucking heinous media people there in town. They're just shitting on this guy's piece of shit.

I hope bad for him and his family. These are media people saying this. Players are like, oh, good. I saw Washington players start posting the guy's stats from his worst games. Like, good for you, LSU and Lane Kiffin. This is the guy you're going to spend $6 million. Oh, this guy sucks ass. and then what ends up happening is he comes back.

And now they're all sitting there like, just kidding, pal, we love you. Like you're going to go back in time and delete all your posts like UW Husky Stan 82 on Twitter? Go Husky 69 on Twitter. Are you going to go back and delete all of your shit where you said that DeMond Williams actually sucks and you're glad he's gone and the program's going to be better without him? Just kidding. He's back.

Oh, my bad. Whoops. Bro, it was a joke. It was a goof. It was a goof. I didn't mean it. Maybe I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Let's all get back together. You want to talk about an awkward situation. So he goes back there.

God, that's a thing of beauty. But that's what all these guys have to say. They all go test the waters in the portal. I guarantee you, if you had to shoot Trinidad Chambliss up with Truth Serum, he would have probably assumed he was going to LSU a couple weeks ago and was going to follow Lane Kiffin. And if you shot everybody else up with Truth Serum, none of them thought that Ole Miss was going to get past George anyway.

So they assumed this whole thing would have been over two weeks ago. go and Chamble's would have got in the portal, he'd be the coach or the quarterback at LSU, and that's how it would have gone. Obviously, them beating Georgia through a major wrinkle into everything, and they didn't expect it to happen. And if you want to get into butterfly effect type shit, them winning that game alters the course of history. If they don't beat Georgia, Chambliss, I'd say, is more than likely out and the quarterback at LSU. And Lane never had to tell us coaches to not go coach in the semifinal, and that part of the drama's gone and that impacted the future in a big way.

So whatever. But the point being in all of this is I'm reading through this story, God has been so good to me. You know what I'm interested about God? Here's what I find interesting about old G.O.D. I'm watching the game last night and they keep showing shots of each sideline and there's someone praying for each team on each sideline. So like before he goes out on the field, there's Chambliss praying.

And then, hey, Carson Beck is praying that Ole Miss is held out of the end zone at the end of the game. if you follow angels in the outfield at all, you would know that angels and God and everybody else can help you. But reality is championships have to be one on their own. Championships have to be one on their own. That's what Al said. That's what the head angel Al said. Championships have to be one on their own.

So I don't know if God had anything to do at the end of that game. Was it God's plan? God's plan, God's plan. I don't know. Quote, this team has sacrificed a lot to get to this point, and this season's been bumpy. There's been a lot of things going on, and they just kept our focus.

Chamblis added, it's been truly special. Hey, look, dude, rock on. 25 years from now, that team's going to get back together because Ole Miss ain't going to win a championship. So they're all going to get together and celebrate that they were the team that advanced the farthest at Ole and the history of the program. They're all going to celebrate each other, get blow jobs,

and it's going to be a great time. It was also unexpected. Before the announcement of the playoff field, the rebels were left without head coach laying Kiffin who left for LSU. Just last year, Chamblis was playing Division II football at Fair Estate. Coaches that followed Kiffin were also splitting time with Ole Miss. And despite the circumstances and turmoil,

the rebels turned in the best season and program. Yes, but it's also important to note that 99% of the regular season was with their actual head coach. Like, you make it sound like the coach left in week three. finished with a school record 13 wins and the first playoff appearance since the system debuted in 2014. For a moment, it looked like the rebels were going to replicate the magic that captivated the nation and their sugar bowl win, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It was up to the Ole Miss defense to secure the win, which obviously they didn't do. The time on the field collectively wore down the Ole Miss defense, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

All right, so let's see if there's anything else. Anyway, I don't care. So, I don't believe this was a Cinderella run. I think there's a big difference between a Cinderella run and an interesting story. Not all Cinderella, not all interesting stories are Cinderella runs. This is an interesting story because of all the things that are pointed out in the story. Like, I'm not going to poo the notion that this is an interesting story. And I totally understand why people were rooting for Ole Miss.

because of the Lane Kiffin shit. But what I will argue is the idea that this was a Cinderella story. Because this was not a Cinderella story. A team that spins as much as anybody in the portal and spends 11 of 12 games with their head coach, beats also ran Tulane in the first round. Basically, the only shocking thing that Ole Miss, not even shocking, they were like a three-point, I think they were like a two-point underdog or something to Georgia. tell me what happened after Lane Kiffin left that you would truly consider shocking.

Especially if you're one of these old Miss people that wants to tell you that Lane Kiffin didn't mean shit anyway. So if Lane Kiffin didn't mean shit, then tell me what happened in the last month that has been a truly shocking thing? What has blown your mind to the point that would make this a Cinderella run? Like LSU went to the final four in basketball in 87 And that was with their center hurt And like Ricky Blanton who was like six foot three or something Had to play center and that team made it to the final four

That's shocking For LSU was a I believe they were an 11 seed that year To make it to the final four That's a shocker I'm trying to think of other things that were legitimately shocking Back when it happened when Boise State ran the Statue of Liberty To beat Oklahoma in the I guess it was the Fiesta Bowl.

That's shocking. Legitimately shocking. Tell me what happened in the Ole Miss run that was legitimately shocking. Was them beating Tulane a team they curb stomped earlier in the year shocking? No. Was them beating Georgia shocking? It is only considered shocking if you want to paint the picture that it was shocking for your own personal narrative. But in reality, was it shocking?

What did Ole Miss do when people try to make it sound like it was some sort of amazing run and they shocked the world? Other than their coach leaving, the way their coach had to leave, and it being this, you know, great story where you got a villain and a hero and everything else? What was truly shocking? Think of some of the all-time most shy. Like, let's Google this. most shocking sports moments. Let's just see. Let's see how people define a shocking sports moment.

And I don't want on the field. I don't want like, you know, Tiger Woods getting clubbed over the head by his wife. I don't want that or OJ. I'm looking for shocking sports results on the field. What are they? like shocking results. You don't see it anymore because money is so deep in college athletics that it's not there. So there was nothing overly shocking about what we witnessed last night.

It just was what it was. And there was nothing shocking about what got them there. Like they lost to Georgia in a close game earlier this year. They beat Georgia in a close game at a neutral site in the playoff. Big fucking deal. So the shocking thing. will be if Ole Miss actually, you know, is able to maintain. Actually, I could argue the shocking thing is that Big Bad Pete Golding's defense gave up 200 yards,

150 yards over the last two drives of the game with the season on the line. If you like to call that shocking, I guess I could entertain that idea for a second that was shocking. But other than that, I don't think there was anything great. Now, I don't think it would be shocking. Like if Indiana beat Oregon tonight, would that be shocking? No, because we know what Indiana is. we know what Oregon is. So it wouldn't be shocking.

And you know why everybody's rooting for Indiana tonight? Because Indiana is the perennial also ran and they're non-threatening and they're cute. Same thing that Ole Miss was. Ole Miss got the scorned lover and their coach laughed them and all this shit. So they became a cute little story for five minutes. And the media latched on to it and it's fun to shit on Lane Kiffin. Let's see what happens in five years. Let's see what happens in three years.

Let's see what happens next year.