HOUSTON — Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said a Texas Tech player spat at one of his players and may have used a racial slur Wednesday night at the TaxAct Texas Bowl.
A melee between the teams occurred after Ole Miss’ Dayton Wade fumbled early in the fourth quarter and Texas Tech recovered. There was some jostling between the players, and Ole Miss wide receiver Jordan Watkins was given a personal foul penalty.
After the game, which Ole Miss lost 42-25, Kiffin said the penalty should have gone to Texas Tech’s Dimitri Moore, who is the Red Raiders’ No. 11, instead of Watkins, who wears the No. ° 11 for Ole Miss.
“They’re announcing our 11, which is Jordan Watkins, who wasn’t in the fight. It was their 11 that was fighting 71 [Ole Miss lineman Jayden Williams]and everyone knew it because their own coaches were yelling at the guy,” Kiffin said.
“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 to the officials, right or wrong, see him cry? He’s not crying, not because he got spat on, it’s because something was said.”
When asked if a Texas Tech player had used a racial slur towards one of their players, Kiffin said he wasn’t sure.
“I’m not going, because I haven’t heard it, [I’m not going to] say it happened for sure that he threw a racial slur at our player,” Kiffin said. “I was told it was said in that [incident], but I didn’t hear that. So obviously that would be a giant problem. »
Moore and Williams are both black.
Kiffin said he got so upset during the game because he didn’t think it was fair for his player to receive a penalty which he said clearly should have been given to someone else.
“I will stand up for our players when a kid spits on them and is accused in front of a national audience that it’s him,” Kiffin said. “So Jordan has to deal with that.”
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire was not asked about the incident, but Kiffin said he told him about the spitting after the game.
“If you really look over there, one of them is laughing because he came down,” Kiffin said. “He’s screaming at the player, they’re losing their minds over him. … I spoke to their head coach afterwards. He was like, ‘Crazy officiating there.’ I say, ‘Yeah, that was really bad on that one your guy spat and our guy got the penalty.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I know.'”
