OXFORD, Miss. — Wearing an Ole Miss blue skirt and crimson top, Sarah Kathryn Sanders closed her eyes and blew out the candles on her 40th birthday cake.

When Lane Kiffin is your head coach , you start working every angle to keep him from leaving the Rebels. Hours prior to Saturday’s 34-24 come-from-behind win against Florida , Sanders wanted to avoid the ultimate loss to the Gators, who arrived searching for a new coach — with Kiffin atop their wish list.

“I blew out my candles and wished he would stay,” she said before catching herself. “If I tell you, does it not come true? Maybe, I actually wished he was going to go.”

Sanders laughed, holding an adult beverage in one hand and a cocktail of nerves and hope in her heart. At the entrance to her tailgating tent sat a life-

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