Well, Notre Dame Fighting Irish HC Marcus Freeman is not the only person who is sad right now. Seeing the Ohio State Buckeyes bag the championship title, someone else is going through a guilt trip. That’s none other than the Ole Miss Rebels HC Lane Kiffin. Since Kiffin’s boys did not make it to the playoffs, they shouldn’t be having any business with the finale, right?

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. After all, one of the show stealers from the evening, Ohio State RB Quinshon Judkins, might leave Kiffin and the Ole Miss fans with an aching heart. That’s because Judkins was part of the Rebels before transferring to the Buckeyes. The fans chose to open up Kiffin’s wounds.

Quinshon Judkins’ highlight feat is a bitter pill for Lane Kiffin to swallow

Finally, the Buckeyes could save Day from losing his role. Thanks to their powerful duo, TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Both of them reached the 1000-yard rushers benchmark during the national championship game against Notre Dame. It’s just the third time in school history that Ohio State has fielded two such prolific rushers.

The Buckeyes took a 21-7 lead into the break; it didn’t take long for Ryan Day’s Ohio State to strike first in the second half. That’s when Judkins broke off a 70-yard run on the first possession of the third quarter. The RB then capped off the brief drive with a 1-yard touchdown scamper, leading his program to a 28-7 edge. So, this marked Judkins’ second touchdown of the night. And within seconds, he became an absolute sensation on social media. 

Meanwhile, this must be an absolute ‘biting the nails off’ moment for Kiffin. On the day of the national championship, Everything Ole Miss tweeted, “Sure, Ole Miss looks dumb after letting Judkins walk. However, it’s very obvious that if the staff handled the RB room correctly this year, the Judkins stuff might not have mattered.” Why is Kiffin’s squad tagged as ‘dumb’? Judkins spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Ohio State in January.

But not to forget, most of Judkins’ best feats, his 3,685 career rushing yards and 43 rushing touchdowns, had come with Kiffin’s program. The RB even ran for 1567 yards, earning the CBS Freshman of the Year honors. However, he left Ole Miss as he sought a better chance to play for a national championship program.

While Judkins got lucky to have achieved his goal, Kiffin is yet to fill his place. Sadly, Ole Miss finished the season averaging 147.5 rushing yards per game, which ranked 76th in the nation in rushing offense. That’s when fans thought of reminding Kiffin about his thunderblunder move. 

Ole Miss fans’ heartache for Quinshon Judkins

As per the reports, there has been a 60% hike in Ole Miss’ NIL expenditures from 2023 to 2024. But what’s the point of investing so much that they had let go of Judkins? On that note, a fan had a question for the program: “Ole Miss spent all that money but let the best player from on the team walk. Them losing Judkins never made sense to me.”

For those who said that the RB departed not because of money but something ‘personal,’ a fan demanded clarity. He wrote, “Can you three talk about why Judkins wasn’t at Ole Miss this year on the show? I don’t understand the “personal” answer. Personal between Kiffin and Judkins?”

Judkins’ highlight feat against Notre Dame would open the eyes of other Rebels players. As another fan sounded alarm for them, “I hope the entire Ole Miss football team is watching this game tonight and Judkins… After all, the only way any of them will ever compete for a national championship is by transferring to another school….”

For the benchmark that Judkins has set, Kiffin’s program must be treating the Buckeyes RB as God. The fan then shared a clip of Chad Johnson where he is seen crying, ‘We gonna be alright.’ The comment read, “-Ole miss fans on their knees worshipping judkins – Worst CFP in history (only watched 2 games)- Annual ole miss basketball sec play regression 🔜- Stefan still on my app – Geno still on my team  At least theres the grizzlies 💔.”

The Buckeyes RB will now be remembered for breaking off a 70-yard run on the first possession, “Meanwhile Judkins (ex Ole Miss) running 70 yards away from the ND defense.  Avoiding Carson Beck helped ND too.” Will Lane Kiffin now put behind the past and congratulate Quinshon Judkins?