HOUSTON (AP) — Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin said a Texas Tech player spit on one of his players and possibly used a racial slur in the Texas Bowl on Wednesday night.
After Ole Miss’ Dayton Wade fumbled early in the fourth quarter and Texas Tech recovered, the teams broke into a tussle. There was some pushing and shoving between players and Ole Miss player Jordan Watkins was penalized for a personal foul.
After the game, Ole Miss lost 42-25, Kiffin said the penalty should have been on Texas Tech’s Dmitri Moore, who wore No. 11 for the Red Raiders, instead of Watkins, who wore No. 11 for Ole Miss.
“They announce the 11 Jordan Watkins that wasn’t in the fight, the 71 that (Ole Miss linebacker Jayden Williams) was fighting and everybody knew because their own coaches were yelling at the guy,” Kiffin said. .
“It was a racial slur, that’s not what we’re talking about, it’s about the spit part. I presented our own 71 to the authorities, right or wrong, did you see him cry? “He cries not because he was spat at, but because something was said.”
When asked to explain how a Texas Tech player used a racial slur against one of his players, Kiffin said he wasn’t sure.
“I’m not going, because I didn’t hear, (I’m not going) that definitely said racial slurs at our players,” Kiffin said. “I was told that was mentioned in that[incident]but I didn’t hear that. So obviously that’s going to be a big deal.”
Moore and Williams are both black.
Kiffin was upset during the game because he didn’t believe the penalty was fair because he thought it should have been on someone else.
“I’ll defend our players when a kid spits on them and he’s accused in front of a national audience,” Kiffin said. “So Jordan has to deal with that.”
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire wasn’t asked about the incident, but said Kiffin talked about the spit after the game.
“If you look at it there, it’s kind of laughable because one of them went down,” Kiffin said. “He’s yelling at the player, they’re losing their minds on him … I talked to their head coach afterwards, he was like: ‘It’s crazy to officiate in there.’ He was like, “Yeah, I know.”
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