Championship Saturday already kicked off on... er, Friday with the Pac-12 Championship game. Oregon toppled Utah, basically eliminating the Utes’ chances at the CFB Playoff. The Utes came in at #5, and with a win were likely looking at the top four spot. Instead, the Ducks jumped out to a 20-0 lead by halftime, let it dwindle to 23-15 before exploding for another couple touchdowns to the put the game away. The odds of two SEC teams making the playoff just went up.

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day for the Mizzou Coaching search, which is good news considering how loud Thursday was. But just because things were quiet for Missouri doesn’t mean there wasn’t news in the coaching search.

News broke late last night from ESPN that had Mike Norvell, the Memphis coach, and Florida State being closer to a match. Norvell was thought to be an early target for Missouri before that was quickly quashed. Norvell and Memphis play at 2:30 today in the American Championship game.

There appears to be a deal in place for Lane Kiffin to land at Ole Miss. Ole Miss fired Matt Luke nearly in response to Missouri firing Barry Odom. Heading into the end of the season most thought Luke would keep his job since the bulk of the Rebels roster were young players and they were mostly competitive. If the Rebels beat Mississippi State, we’re probably not talking about this. But they moved on, and quickly swept Kiffin out from underneath the nose of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Meanwhile in Fayetteville,

Barry Lunney Jr. was the interim head coach when they faced the Tigers in the final game of the year. I can’t imagine the Hogs going from thinking they’re going to spend to get a big time hire to settling on a guy in the building. Even Missouri fans know the pool isn’t great, but I don’t think anyone is assuming Brick Haley is going to take over.

Meanwhile, Missouri is refocusing on their own search and reopening the gates to new candidates. It’s possible Blake Anderson, Jeff Monken, and Skip Holtz will all be on the final list as they were reported to be on the initial list. But I would expect there to be some new names and candidates emerge in the next day or two.

In the meantime, we have football to watch! Here are the games slated for today:

Yesterday at Rock M Nation

• On the 6th day of December, the Mizzou Tigers gave to me— anxiety, annoyance, and appreciation
• It’s time to let Jim Sterk do his job
• Potential Coach Preview: Blake Anderson
• In the Huddle: Barry Odom deserved another shot to make things right
• Rock M Roundtable: Evaluating what we want in the next coach
• Notebook: Missouri gathers itself after rough stretch of play

More Links:

• Volleyball keeps it rolling with a sweep of Northern Iowa, in the first round of the NCAAs
• PowerMizzou’s Friday Search Notes... Gabe had some things to say.
• Meanwhile, Mizzou Basketball has a game tonight. Hopefully they can shoot in Philadelphia better than they have in the state of Missouri the last few weeks:

• We’ll have more coaching coverage forthcoming, including Nate Edwards breakdown of Army’s Jeff Monken. Plus a Hoops Preview!