Some ugly allegations are coming out of the TaxAct Texas Bowl between Ole Miss and Texas Tech – and now the parties involved are trying to set the record straight.
After the Red Raiders’ 42-25 victory over the Rebels on Wednesday night at NRG Stadium in Houston, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin accused Texas Tech linebacker Dimitri Moore of spitting on one of his players – and possibly using a racial slur in his direction.
On Thursday, Moore responded in a statement from the university, emphatically denying Kiffin’s allegations.
“I can’t state strongly enough that these accusations are false,” Moore said in the statement. “It is disappointing to have my final game as a collegiate student-athlete overshadowed by the false accusations that were stated Wednesday night.
“Since I have arrived at Texas Tech, I have strived to represent my teammates, this coaching staff and most importantly, my family, in the highest manner. It has been an honor to represent this program as we closed our season with a great team victory last night.”
The incident in question occurred in the fourth quarter of the game, when a scrum broke out between the two teams. Players from each side got into a shoving match, but Kiffin’s allegations escalated the stakes.
“There was a racial slur involved, that’s not the point of what we’re talking about, (it’s) about the spitting part,” Kiffin said after the game. “I brought our own 71 up to the officials, right or wrong, you see him crying? He’s not crying not because he got spit on, it’s because something was said.”
When asked to clarify his quote, Kiffin walked the statement back a bit, but still was upset.
“I’m not going to, because I did not hear it, (I’m not going to) say that that happened for sure that he gave a racial slur to our player,” he said. “I was told that that was said in that (incident) but I did not hear that. So that would obviously be a giant issue.”
Texas Tech’s decisive victory brought their final record on the season to 8-5. The loss dropped Ole Miss to the same record after they were ranked in the Top 10 at one point on the season.