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After impressive Georgia win, there’s no denying Lane Kiffin is a legit ball coach

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After impressive Georgia win, there’s no denying Lane Kiffin is a legit ball coach


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There important results in Week 11 of the college football season that will shake conference and playoff races. Matt Hayes analyzes four hot topics from Saturday’s games.

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1. First Down: Lane Kiffin, the ball coach

Don’t take the bait. Don’t focus on the fall of Georgia and the undoing of the best program in college football ― and ignore the rise of Lane Kiffin.

Because there’s no denying it now: Kiffin is a legit ball coach.

“We planned for this game all year,” Kiffin said while Ole Miss fans stormed the field moments after a stunning 28-10 whipping of Georgia.

It’s not that Ole Miss became the first team in 53 games not named Alabama to beat Georgia. It’s not that the win left the Rebels with a clear road to the College Football Playoff.

It’s that Kiffin, long the college football coaching outcast because of how his career began – not how it has developed – got his first mega win in the big, bad SEC. Forget about the top-five win against Oregon in 2011 as the USC coach, this is different.

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This is a victory that underscores the five-year buildout that until Saturday had been equal parts the school record for single season wins (11 in 2023), and a handful of ugly losses to SEC heavyweights Alabama, LSU and Georgia. In fact, it was the loss to Georgia last season – a humiliating 35-point defeat – that paved the way for this season of change.

That 52-17 loss to the Dawgs was the worst of Kiffin’s career, and – fair or not –further solidified him as the coach who couldn’t win big games. Never mind that he was building at Ole Miss, a perennial underachiever in the meatgrinder conference.

You’re judged on what you do in the SEC, not what you say or post on X. And Kiffin wasn’t earning it.

So he pushed all-in this offseason, and the Georgia game was his now or never. He told the Ole Miss NIL collectives he needed cash to compete, and he got it.

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He built the roster from the inside out through, focusing on the lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and adding key pieces through the transfer portal. The plan was simple: run the ball on offense, affect the quarterback on defense.

He convinced offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and play caller Charlie Weis Jr., to stay in Oxford, instead of taking more money from Florida coach Billy Napier to run the Gators’ offense.

And here we are: the Rebels lead the nation in sacks (46), and are No. 2 in the nation in total offense. Ole Miss is two improbable fourth-down completions in late losses to Kentucky and LSU from an unbeaten season.

Ole Miss gave up 611 yards in last year’s 52-17 loss to Georgia, and gave up 245 Saturday. The Rebels didn’t get a sack in last year’s game, and got five this time around – and forced three turnovers.   

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Now Ole Miss is two wins – at Florida and home against rival Mississippi State – from reaching the CFP as an at-large selection (watch how high the Rebels jump in this week’s CFP poll), and could play in the SEC championship game with a little help.

There’s no denying it now: Kiffin is a legit ball coach.

UP AND DOWN: Georgia’s loss leads Week 11 winners and losers

2. Second Down: Deion and the CFP

You know it, I know it. This thing is destined for Deion Sanders and the CFP: the biggest personality in the sport, and the new 12-team playoff.

A match made in television heaven.

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We’ve seen everything in a wild Big 12 race, and now we’re primed (pun intended) for a remarkable one-season turnaround. It’s all setting up for Colorado coach Deion Sanders to lead the Buffs to the Big 12 championship game – and one game away from the playoff

Not just any spot – an automatic qualifier spot, which comes with a coveted first-round bye. That means more Prime, all the time.  

From losing eight of nine games to finish the 2023 season, to controlling its destiny in the Big 12 race, Colorado needs wins against Utah, at Kansas and against Oklahoma State – the Buffs will be favored in all three games — to complete a remarkable turnaround.

An improbable run from a team that couldn’t protect star quarterback Shedeur Sanders in September, and couldn’t get off the field defensively for the first six weeks of the season.

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But after Saturday’s 41-27 win at Texas Tech, it’s clear the Buffs have figured it out. CU went into the toughest place to play in the Big 12, and forced three turnovers (and didn’t give up a turnover), and had six sacks.

The Buffs won despite rushing for only 60 yards, and committing 14 penalties for 106 yards. They won because they consistently made plays on offense when they needed it, and got stops (and got off the field) against a Texas Tech offense that last week rolled the best defense in the conference (Iowa State).

That can only mean one thing: more Prime, all the time.

3. Third Down: Kurtis Rourke, Heisman candidate

He doesn’t have the numbers of Cam Ward or Ashton Jeanty, or the efficiency of Dillon Gabriel, or the big-play game of Travis Hunter.

But if you’re looking for an impactful player in the thick of the CFP race, a player who has elevated a program from the depths of the Bowl Subdivision cellar to an unbeaten season, it’s time to take a long look at Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke.

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A sixth-year senior transfer from Ohio, Rourke made big throws again Saturday, this time in a 20-15 win over Michigan to give the Hoosiers their first 10-win season in program history. History.

Rourke threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns, and now has a TD/INT ratio of 21/4 in nine games. But strong performances against Michigan, Michigan State and UCLA are one thing. Playing big at Ohio State in two weeks is the bar.

If Rourke has a big game and leads Indiana to an upset of the Buckeyes, watch how quickly momentum turns in his favor in the Heisman race. He’ll go from a fun novelty leading a team that really doesn’t have a signature win, to a Heisman front-runner with arguably the best win of any team in the CFP race.      

4. Fourth Down: Miami meltdown burns ACC

Look beyond another Miami loss to double-digit underdog Georgia Tech, and look directly at the ACC race to the CFP.

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And how Miami’s 28-23 defeat Saturday all but ends the ACC’s chances of getting a second team in the 12-team playoff. Unless the remainder of November is full of upsets, it’s likely only one ACC team is part of the field.

The conference is watered-down, the star power outside of the Hurricanes is limited and the resume for any potential playoff contender consists of wins against the worst Power Four conference in the game. The ACC’s best chance at getting more than its champion in the CFP was SMU winning out and beating undefeated Miami in the ACC championship game.

The easiest way to explain it: Miami’s best resume win will be the ACC championship game. So will SMU’s. So will Pitt’s, and Clemson’s.

See the trend?

“You can’t sugarcoat it,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said in his postgame press conference. “We didn’t do a good enough job.”

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And that has left the Canes (9-1 overall, 5-1 ACC) with no more CFP wiggle room. They’ll go from the projected ACC champion in last week’s CFP poll, to potentially falling behind two-loss SEC teams and outside the top 10 in this week’s poll.

Miami’s schedule is among the easiest in the Power Four, and SMU isn’t far behind – though the Mustangs’ schedule is slightly better with a three-point home loss to Big 12 leader Brigham Young. This is how quickly it can turn in the CFP race.

Miami has gone from the thrill-a-minute team with the Heisman Trophy favorite (Ward) leading second half comebacks, to the team giving up an average of 31.6 points in six ACC games — with no room for error the rest of the season.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.





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11 fatal crashes, over 400 DUI arrests across Georgia during Thanksgiving travel period, officials say

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11 fatal crashes, over 400 DUI arrests across Georgia during Thanksgiving travel period, officials say


Georgia saw a double-digit number of deadly crashes during the busy Thanksgiving travel season, data from the Georgia Department of Public Safety reveals.

According to the department, 11 people died in crashes across the state between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and Sunday, including one double fatality in Newton County. Georgia State Patrol troopers responded to six of the deadly crashes, while local law enforcement agencies handled the remaining five. 

The agency says 498 crashes with 236 injuries were reported during the period. Of those crashes, 48 were associated with driving under the influence, officials said.

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The data shows that law enforcement arrested 422 drivers on DUI charges, issued 680 distracted driving citations, and 847 seatbelt citations.

The numbers are slightly lower than in 2024. Last year, DPH said troopers investigated more than 540 traffic crashes across Georgia, which resulted in nearly 265 injuries and 17 fatalities.

AAA predicted that 2.3 million travelers from Georgia would be traveling for Thanksgiving, with the majority of those driving to their holiday destinations. Atlanta was also one of the organization’s top 10 destinations for Thanksgiving for the second year in a row.



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Georgia 400 lane closures begin Monday night

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Georgia 400 lane closures begin Monday night


ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — A week of lane closures on Georgia 400 begins Monday night as crews work to build new express lanes.

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) said the closures will affect northbound and southbound lanes along a 16-mile stretch, from MARTA’s North Springs station in Fulton County to around 1 mile north of McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County, from Monday through Friday.

GDOT said the closures will last from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Monday, with some lane closures lasting from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting Tuesday.

The department urges drivers to expect delays, use caution and reduce their speed while traveling through work zones.

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Below are the details on the closures, according to GDOT:

Georgia 400 Northbound

  • SR 400 (Georgia 400) NB from Abernathy Road (MM 8) to Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) – Single outside right-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 NB from Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) to Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) – Single, outside right-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 NB from Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) to SR 141 (MM 27) – Single, outside right-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 NB from Abernathy Road (MM 8) to Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) – Double, inside left-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 NB from Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) to Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) – Double, inside left-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 NB from Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) to SR 141 (MM 27) – Double, inside left-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 NB from McGinnis Ferry Road to Big Creek Trail – Outside shoulder closure – Tuesday, Dec. 2 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • SR 400 NB Northridge Road to Roberts Drive – Outside shoulder closure – Tuesday, Dec. 2 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Georgia 400 Southbound

  • SR 400 (Georgia 400) SB from SR 141 (MM 27) to Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) – Single, outside right-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 SB from Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) to Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) – Single, outside right-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 SB from Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) to Abernathy Road (MM 8) – Single, outside right-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 SB from SR 141 (MM 27) to Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) – Double, inside left-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 SB from Old Milton Parkway (MM 19) to Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) – Double, inside left-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • SR 400 SB from Holcomb Bridge Road (MM 15) to Abernathy Road (MM 8) – Double, inside left-lane and shoulder closure – Monday, Dec. 1, to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.

Other locations

  • Windward Parkway NB Exit – Single, left or right lane closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • Mansell Road NB Exit – Single, right lane closure – Monday, Dec. 1 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
  • Roberts Drive – Lane closure – Tuesday, Dec. 2 to Friday, Dec. 5, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

The work schedule could change, so drivers should check the SR 400 Express Lanes website for the latest updates, GDOT said. Drivers can also check updates by calling “511,” visiting 511ga.org, or by downloading the “Georgia511” app.

RELATED COVERAGE:

Tolled express lanes on Ga. 400 become financial ‘reality’ after federal loan



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‘We have become so divided’: Georgia district prepares for life after Marjorie Taylor Greene

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‘We have become so divided’: Georgia district prepares for life after Marjorie Taylor Greene


Marjorie Taylor Greene for president. Randy Bone rolled the idea around in his hands for a second as he stood inside his wife’s antique shop in Ringgold, Georgia. He’s heard the talk. He’s even seen the prediction market action. He doesn’t have a problem with his boisterous, attention-seeking congresswoman. He just doesn’t think it will work.

“I don’t know. I don’t see her as one that is very attractive … You’ve got to focus on those that are kind of in the middle, and I don’t think that she’s unifying enough,” he said.

Greene has spent five years in Congress, drawing attention for wild conspiracies and outrageous statements about national politics. Last week, she announced that she would resign her seat in January.

Greene’s voters in north-west Georgia, contemplating her legacy with her impending exit from Congress, said they are less concerned about the culture war issues that have dominated her tenure than they are about the kitchen table concerns that drive their discontent.

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Bone, 55, a Ringgold resident and Trump supporter, said he is conservative but doesn’t describe himself as a Republican, though he is quick to distance himself from Democrats, except for former ones such as the director of national intelligence,, Tulsi Gabbard, and the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

When asked what he wants out of Washington, he talks economic issues. “We want the economy to keep improving, you know what I mean? You want to be able to afford gas. You want to be able to afford vacations.”

Even in Ringgold, a suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee, housing costs have skyrocketed. Bone described how rapidly rising home values and high mortgage rates trap families like his: they have equity but cannot afford to move. He believes both parties have contributed to systemic economic problems.

“I’ve got a son that’s about to be 18. We have housing issues and it’s great for the boomers … Their houses have appreciated and appreciated, but that’s pushed out the younger kids to where they can’t afford houses.”

In the weeks before Greene’s break with Trump over the Epstein files, the congresswoman had been sounding alarms about the rising cost of health insurance and how it would affect voters. Trump and Greene have been trading increasingly vitriolic public comments ever since she signed the discharge petition to bring a vote before congress to release additional documents in the case.

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Joy Thorton, who owns an antique store and other buildings in downtown Ringgold, said she has never been a Greene supporter, and finds the spat hard to take seriously.

“If she was really pissed off, she would resign now, instead of waiting until January so she gets her pension,” Thorton said. “None of them should get it.”

Deep disagreement with Trump turned Thorton into a Democrat, she said. But her concerns remain fundamentally conservative: rising property values have come with rising property taxes. Homes under construction aren’t affordable for the people who have grown up in the area.

“I bet you there are a bunch of people in this county who will not be able to pay their property tax,” Thorton said. “And if it triples over a year, the super-wealthy will buy all that property out from under them.”

Greene has spoken out against Wall Street hedge fund managers buying up single-family residential properties, in the context of criticizing a Trump proposal for 50-year mortgages as a solution to the housing crisis. The public largely missed her comments, lost in the larger conflict between the two.

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There’s a vitriol in politics both in Washington and locally that seems pervasive, said Steven Henry, chair of the Catoosa county board of commissioners.

“We have become so divided – not just Democrat and Republican, but Republican left and Republican extremist,” Henry said. “I’ve been a Republican all my life, yet I’ve got Republicans who hate me because I’m not Republican enough. Even though I never raised taxes and held them every year I was in office … It boils down to I’m not loud, I’m not boisterous.”

Catoosa county is politically as red as a barn with a “See Rock City” sign on the way to Lookout Mountain. But internecine fighting on the county’s Republican party committee threatened to administer conservative “purity tests” to candidates before allowing them to run as Republicans – a gambit halted by state judges that remains the subject of a federal lawsuit.

Henry expects a scramble of office seekers for the open seat, with resignations from local office holders and a cascade of highly contested elections down the ballot. He did not say if he would seek the nomination himself. Instead, he lamented the unwillingness of competent leaders to step up and run for public office, its luster tarnished by withering, extreme abuse taken from a disillusioned public, he said.

Even Greene in parting has described an increase in death threats against her as motivation for her retreat.

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“Oh I haven’t suffered enough for you while you post all day behind a screen?” Greene said in response to a comment on X by conservative commentator Mike Cernovich. “Do I have to stay until I’m assassinated like our friend Charlie Kirk. Will that be good enough for you then?”

The internal squabbling over ideology will eventually give Democrats an opening, even in a place where Republican leadership thoroughly dominates local politics, Henry said. “Maybe it will take some strong opponent on the Democratic side to get us back, focused on just doing the job.”

For Charles Carroll, owner of the Broken Horseshoe Winery in Ringgold and a staunch conservative, elected leaders should be focused on eliminating corruption, keeping taxes low and keeping the currency strong. His store has a video display that – in between messages about his business – intermittently flashes Trump’s face and a message of support for the city.

For Carroll, Greene’s appeal has been rooted in challenging the status quo. “I want somebody in there that’s going to ask the questions nobody will ask and try to get the answers,” he said. “Our forefathers fought for this nation to make it free, and I don’t know of anything in this nation that’s free any more.”

His winery business has been down 30% this year, which he attributes to economic conditions that are squeezing his customers.

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“It’s not just the wine industry. Every local business that I’ve talked to is struggling right now,” Carroll said. “As a country, as individuals in America, you used to have some extra income after your bills and stuff and you could splurge a little bit on this or that, go out to eat or something. Now by the time you pay your bills and stuff, from what I’m seeing from the average people out here, there’s nothing left over.”

That’s the problem that needs solving, he said.



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