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Ian Fitzsimmons may have some explaining to do when he gets home.

The ESPN announcer made an interesting comparison about a furious Lane Kiffin during the Texas Bowl on Wednesday night.

“I’ve had my wife yell at me at times and it looks like that right now,” Fitzsimmons said. “That referee is me and Lane Kiffin is my wife. I mean, it is getting nasty right now on the Ole Miss sideline. I don’t know what Lane Kiffin is upset about, but he is angrier than a disturbed hornet.”

Kiffin would reveal exactly what he was upset about after the 42-25 defeat to Texas Tech. Kiffin accused a Red Raiders player of spitting on one of his players and possibly using a racial slur in the scrum that broke out early in the fourth quarter.


  Ole Miss and Texas Tech players feud during the Texas Bowl ESPN/YouTube Ole Miss and Texas Tech players feud during the Texas Bowl ESPN/YouTube

The incident came after Ole Miss’ Dayton Wade fumbled early in the fourth quarter and Texas Tech recovered. There was pushing and shoving between players and Ole Miss player Jordan Watkins was given a personal foul penalty.

Kiffin said that the penalty should have actually been on Texas Tech’s Dimitri Moore, who is No. 11 for the Red Raiders, instead of Watkins, who wears No. 11 for Ole Miss.

“They announce 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 everybody knew because their own coaches were yelling at the guy,” Kiffin said.


  Lane Kiffin argues with the refs during the Texas Bowl ESPN/YouTube Lane Kiffin argues with the refs during the Texas Bowl ESPN/YouTube

“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.”

When asked to clarify if a Texas Tech player used a racial slur toward one of his players, Kiffin said he wasn’t sure.

“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.”

Moore and Williams are both Black.

Kiffin said he got so upset during the game because he didn’t believe it was fair that his player got a penalty that he thinks clearly should have been on someone else.

“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.”

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire was not asked about the incident, but Kiffin said he spoke with him about the spitting after the game.

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Ole Miss and Texas Tech players feud during the Texas Bowl
Ole Miss and Texas Tech players feud during the Texas BowlESPN/YouTube
Ole Miss and Texas Tech players feud during the Texas Bowl
Ole Miss and Texas Tech players feud during the Texas BowlESPN/YouTube
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“If you actually watch over there one of them’s kind of laughing because he got off,” Kiffin said. “He’s screaming at the player, they’re losing their mind on him… I talked to their head coach afterwards, he was like: ‘Crazy officiating out there.’ I go: ‘Yeah that was really bad on that one that your guy spit and our guy got the penalty.’ He was like: ‘Yeah I know.’”

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