Ole Miss could be running out of rope to hold on to Lane Kiffin amid the heat of the Florida rumors.
After weeks of vagueness about his loyalty to the program from Kiffin, Ole Miss could be demanding an answer sooner than anticipated.
The coaching carousel rumor mill and Kiffin's ambiguity combined have created a tense and urgent situation in Oxford, one that needs Kiffin to stop sitting on a fence and pick a side.
Egg Bowl could be Kiffin's deadline
Josh Pate feels the decision will come much sooner than anyone anticipated, most likely before the Rebels step onto the Davis Wade Stadium after their bye week.
"This is how I would be if I were Ole Miss, if I were Keith Carter, if I were the big money people there, knowing full well I've given this guy everything he needs, everything he's ever asked for, " Pate says on his podcast.
"At some point, I'm getting an answer from him and it's going to happen before the Egg Bowl. I'm putting a new contract in front of him. Everything he says he needs is on this piece of paper and he's either going to sign it and we're going to move on."
"The noise is going to die down and we're going to put out a big announcement right before we play Mississippi State like A&M did with Elko yesterday."
Kiffin's automatic contract extension already kicked in when the Rebels won their seventh game this season.
However, the 50-year-old head coach being the hottest candidate in the coaching carousel will demand revised terms and a higher paycheck, especially since other programs are reportedly waiting for Kiffin with "blank cheques" in hand.
If he doesn't?
If not, the Rebels might as well part ways with him before entering the College Football Playoff.
"Or we're going to understand. We'll wrap up this regular season and then we'll go to our separate ways. If I'm not good enough for you to stick around in the future, then you're not good enough to stick around here when it comes to playoff time," Pate explains.
Kiffin's bag of mixed signal tweets just makes the whole situation even more of a toss-up.
If Ole Miss does decide to go down this road, they can be rest assured of a distraction-free playoff run.