Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin supports Colorado's Travis Hunter after Buffs loss: 'I'm a big fan'

Colorado entered Saturday's game against Oregon as heavy underdogs, but the Pac-12 matchup still drew nationwide attention with both teams coming in undefeated and the Buffaloes defying expectations through Week 3 in their first season under coach Deion Sanders.

Colorado suffered a decisive 42-6 defeat at the hands of a fired-up Dan Lanning in a game that Sanders called "a good, old-fashioned butt-kicking." Quarterback Shedeur Sanders was sacked seven times during the game, and it became abundantly clear Colorado was outmatched early on in the game.

This all went down without star two-way player Travis Hunter, who transferred to Colorado from Jackson State alongside Sanders and is out for the time being with a lacerated liver suffered against Colorado State.

Hunter took to X, formerly known as Twitter, wondering why so many were taking so much joy in the Colorado loss. And he got some unexpected support in Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin.

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While a myriad of factors may contribute to the answer to Hunter's question, the vigor with which Lanning denounced the hype surrounding Colorado is likely an influencing factor. Regardless of the answer, however, Kiffin — somewhat of an expert in the topic of disproportionate hate — responded to Hunter, telling him to keep his head up.

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Kiffin has enough experience to take the hate in stride. His roots are with the USC program, he coached at Alabama as offensive coordinator under Nick Saban and he found success with Florida Atlantic before settling down with Ole Miss. USC and Alabama in particular breed vitriol when they don't find sustained success, so to a degree Kiffin knows what Hunter is going through.

Ole Miss lost to Alabama 24-10 Saturday in a highly touted game in its own right. Kiffin will try to right the ship for Ole Miss, just as Sanders tries to do the same in Boulder.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lane Kiffin shows respect for two-way Colorado star Travis Hunter