No. 16 Ole Miss scores 24 of the first game's points to win against Liberty. (1:49).
Officials at Ole Miss have since deleted tweets from Ole Miss' official Twitter account mocking Hugh Freeze, former coach of the Rebels after Saturday's victory over Liberty 27-14.
One of the tweets featured a photo of Freeze coaching from Liberty's hospital bed two years ago, while he was recovering from surgery after a potentially fatal strand of staph infections entered his bloodstream. This complicated his back and caused a herniated disc.
After being fired on July 20, 2017, school officials discovered a pattern of "personal misconduct" in which Freeze had made phone calls to a number that was linked to a female assistant service.
ESPN's Keith Carter, Ole Miss athletic director, stated that the tweets were "unfortunate" and did not reflect who we are at Ole Miss athletics. They were taken down immediately after I learned about them. I have since apologized to Ian McCaw, the Liberty athletic director. We will do better in future."
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss coach, said that he didn't know about the tweets until he was told after his postgame conference press conference. He also offered his apologies for any inconvenience caused to Liberty and Freeze.
ESPN's Kiffin stated that he has no connection to the Ole Miss football twitter site. It's a shame that someone would post something like that, making it appear like it was Ole Miss football. It was very disrespectful, classless, and bush league. I sincerely apologize to Liberty and Hugh Freeze, even though I had no involvement in it.
ESPN's Freeze stated that he did not want to comment on "something which I had no control over," but thanked the Ole Miss community and their kindness.
Freeze stated, "For Jill and me, it was an answered prayer to get the reception we received." We heard nothing negative about it, and it was amazing to see friends on Friday and Saturday. We were treated so well by the people there. Ole Miss has an excellent football team and I'm happy to see them win again."
From 2012 to 2016, Freeze was Ole Miss' coach. The Rebels won four seasons under Freeze, including a 10-win 2015 season that culminated in the school's first Sugar Bowl victory since 1970. Under Freeze, Ole Miss defeated Alabama in back to back seasons in 2014-2015. Nick Saban has only lost to four SEC rivals since then.
In 2017, Ole Miss was placed under NCAA probation for violating Freeze's tenure. The sanctions included a two year bowl ban.
