HOUSTON – Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin said a Texas Tech player spat on one of his players and may have used a racial slur at the Texas Bowl on Wednesday night.
A scrum between teams came after Ole Miss’s Dayton Wade fumbled early in the fourth quarter and Texas Tech rallied. There was a scrum between the players and Ole Miss player Jordan Watkins received 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 No. 11 for the Red Raiders, instead of Watkins, who is the No. 11 for Ole Miss wears.
“They announce our 11, that’s Jordan Watkins who wasn’t in the fight, it was their 11 who fought 71 (Ole Miss lineman Jayden Williams) and everyone knew because their own trainers were yelling at the guy” said Kiffin.
“There was a racial slur, that’s not the point we’re talking about, (it’s about) the spitting part. I brought our own 71 to the officers, right or wrong, do you see him crying? He is not crying because he was spat on, but because something was said.”
When asked if a Texas Tech player racially abused one of his players, Kiffin said he wasn’t sure.
“I’m not going to say because I haven’t heard it (I won’t) that certainly happened, that he racially abused our player,” Kiffin said. “I was told that was said in this (incident) but I didn’t hear that. So obviously that would be a huge problem.”
Moore and Williams are both black.
Kiffin said he was so upset during the game because he didn’t think it was fair that his player was awarded a penalty he clearly believes should have been someone else’s.
“I will defend our players if 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 spoke to him about the spitting after the game.
“If you’re really watching over there one of them laughing because they got off,” Kiffin said. “He’s yelling at the player, they lose track of him… I spoke to their head coach afterwards, he was like, ‘Crazy to act out there.’ I say, ‘Yeah, that was really bad that your guy spat and our guy got the punishment.’ He said, ‘Yes, I know.’”
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