Lane Kiffin was jokingly referred to as the “Portal King” because of his skillful use of it NCAA Transfer Portal with great success in recent years.

But that hasn’t stopped the openness Ole Miss Head football coaches from trashing the ‘broken system’ given the litany of unintended consequences of having the portal open as postseason-eligible teams prepare for their upcoming bowl games.

Kiffin was eliminated again Thursday night after the 16th-ranked Rebels earned a commanding 52-20 victory duke in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl from EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.

“I think it’s a really broken system that needs to be fixed,” Kiffin said. “Having the portal (open) and we lost guys that went through the portal, a few starters that went into the portal that would have played, so it affected us the same way it did (Duke), especially at them.” Quarterback situation.”

The Blue Devils were without a starting quarterback Maalik Murphywho entered and committed to the transfer portal on December 9th, the first day it opened Oregon State 10 days later. duke Reserve QB Grayson Loftis also entered the portal and committed to it Charlotte. Heinrich Belin IV started Thursday’s bowl game completing 25 of 44 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns to one interception against Ole Miss.

Meanwhile, the Kiffin’s Rebels were missing two displaced starters at right tackle Micah Pettuswho has committed himself FSU on Christmas Eve and defensive back Jadon Canadawho entered the portal on December 19th. Ole Miss got off to a safe start Louis Moore and reserve receivers Micah Davis played against Duke, although both are currently in the portal, with Moore doing so less than a week after agreeing to transfer to Indiana on Dec. 28.

“That’s why I was proud of our offense, it was a really good defense that caused a lot of problems and didn’t have any escape options,” Kiffin continued. “So for them, missing their quarterback had nothing to do with whatever it was: 589 yards of offense. That’s because our offensive players played really well against a really good defense with a tough system. So I was really happy with it.”

Ole Miss dominated Thursday’s game in every way. The Rebels totaled 589 yards of offense — led by 404 yards and four touchdowns from the senior quarterback Jaxson Dart – and held Duke to seven points until the final four minutes of the game.

Since the final College Football Playoffs The rankings were published last month, Lane Kiffin didn’t hide his displeasure about it Ole Miss’ Absence. Following Thursday Gator Bowl win dukehe had another message for the selection committee.

As Ole Miss completed its 52-20 victory over Duke, Kiffin blasted the committee, saying the omission had fired up the Rebels. He saw a team that wanted to send a message, and he thought the rebels had done just that.

Ole Miss came into the game as the No. 14 team final CFP rankings. This made the Rebels one of the first teams out of the 12-team group.

“I’m pleased with how our guys played today,” Kiffin told ESPN Taylor McGregor. “The quarterback played really well and so did the defense. They made a statement to a committee that left them out: “Hey, here’s an ACC team that won nine games,” and came out and played extremely well. I think it was really important for her to come out and make a statement like that.”

Nick Schultz contributed to this report.