As the Jimbo Fisher-Bobby Petrino experiment unfolds, Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin weighs in

The answer could have been simple enough for Jimbo Fisher, but Texas A&M's coach again projected a discomfort with relinquishing offensive control.

Fisher hired well-chronicled offensive mind Bobby Petrino to run the Aggies' offense after 2022 devolved into an unmitigated disaster for Fisher and A&M, which has yet to reach a College Football Playoff despite having hired away Fisher five years ago from Florida State.

"Yeah, I mean, we'll go through that as we go," Fisher, stumbling a bit, said of offensive play-calling responsibilities, though he hired Petrino away from UNLV where Petrino had just accepted the offensive coordinator role. "Plan on him making calls. Plan on him calling plays.

"I have no problem with that at all."

Fisher, who posted his second five-win campaign since 2017 in last season's 5-7 close atop the Aggies, seemed to imply with subsequent comments about "not getting into scheme" and results being solely predicated on player execution that Fisher's offensive approach was emphatically not the problem for Texas A&M.

Wednesday morning, responding to the headline from a linked story on the Twitter feed of the Tuscaloosa News, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin seemed -- or feigned -- shock that Fisher said execution was the sole discretionary element because "everyone runs the same plays."

Kiffin even sought to loop Georgia head coach Kirby Smart -- with whom Kiffin said he has maintained an in-season text conversation -- into the Twitter debate.

Fisher said, "Everybody does the same thing; there's not a hill of beans between anybody."

Kiffin's willingness to needle anyone -- but especially Fisher -- has been a compelling, if perhaps underrated, theme dating to last fall.

Kiffin lost his former defensive coordinator DJ Durking to the Aggies, plainly stating, "We (Ole Miss) got outbid."

Kiffin then had this remarkably entertaining exchange with SEC Network ace sideline reporter Cole Cubelic after Ole Miss won at A&M last season, with Kiffin praising his team for "running all over a bunch of 5-stars":