You think Southeastern Conference Bylaw 10.5.4 hasn't been texting and tweeting Lil Lane Kiffin all week, showering him with candy, nuts, flowers, Get Out of Jail (Almost?) Free cards?

You think he hasn't said Thank you, Thank you, Thank you at least 5,000 times to his new top man from Foot-'n-Mouth Land for making Bylaw Boy suddenly as relevant as a five-star quarterback recruit on Kiffin's Orangeberry phone?

Before Kiffin came along to take the Tennessee job last winter, Bylaw 10.5.4 -- which states that (SEC) coaches, assistant coaches, players, support personnel and others associated with an institution's athletics program refrain from public criticism of officials -- got discussed about as often as Air Supply at a heavy metal convention.

But thanks to Loose Lip Lane's latest round of comments about officiating, SEC commissioner Mike Slive is about to do for Bylaw 10.5.4 what Lana Turner did for the sweater.

"On rare occasions over the last seven years there were several private reprimands, and that took care of the matter," Slive told The Associated Press on Friday about his decision to forgo reprimands now in favor of fining, suspending (or both) any head or assistant coach who violates the rule.

"On occasions there were public reprimands, and that took care of it. It became clear to me after last week that I was no longer interested in reprimands. ... For the foreseeable future there will be no reprimands. We will go right to suspensions and fines."

And should those fail to work, well, Slive is said to be reviewing guillotine blueprints.

Until then, however, we have what will surely be known as the Kiffin Clause, a far more captivating phrase than Bylaw 10.5.4.

But is Kiffin listening? After all, Slive reprimanded him back in the winter for falsely accusing Florida coach Urban Meyer of breaking NCAA rules. There were private discussions with the coach after Kiffin and Meyer traded barbs following the UT-Florida game in Gainesville in September.

Then came a second public reprimand Monday for the UT coach's comments about the Alabama loss last Saturday.

Kiffin appeared even to have pushed for the second reprimand by saying Sunday, "I'm sure that we'll get one of those letters that really means nothing that (Arkansas coach) Bobby (Petrino) got last week, but Florida and Alabama live on."

It also didn't help Kiffin that he had earlier said of his play calling near the end of the Bama defeat: "You run another play and you throw an interception or they throw another flag on us -- I wasn't going to let the refs lose the game for us there and some magical flag appear."

Now a magical warning has appeared from one of the most powerful men in college athletics, a man who most believe has uncommon patience, wisdom and vision.

At least until he ran up against Kiffin.

"I think the memo is crystal clear," Slive said. "It needs no embellishment."

By all accounts, Kiffin also is a smart guy blessed with vision. Despite the Vols' 3-4 record heading into tonight's visit from South Carolina, the players seem overwhelmingly committed to him. More future stars appear to be committing to him every day.

Heck, he's so popular with the young crowd that rapper Lil Wayne included this line in his latest single "Banned from TV" regarding college football's youngest head coach: "Talk (expletive) like Lane Kiffin."

But can Kiffin listen? Can he accept authority? Can he follow rules? And if he can't, what then? Suspension? Fines? Dismissal?

So we come to tonight against the Gamecocks almost as excited about the postgame as the real game. Especially if the Vols should lose on an official's questionable call.

You can already see Kiffin at the podium, an invisible devil on his right shoulder urging him to let it all out, defy authority, remain a rebel without pause against his sport's ultimate good ol' boys' club.

"Do it," the devil's screaming in his ear. "Call it like it is. Take the suspension. Pay the fine. Be your own guy."

And that's what Kiffin clearly wants to do. But then there's the invisible angel on his left shoulder who looks remarkably like his athletic director, Mike Hamilton -- calming him, reasoning with him.

"Don't say a word," that angel says. "Show your players you can follow authority, you can obey rules, you can put what's best for the team above yourself."

Which voice wins? It says here what it has from the beginning: Bylaw Lane is crazy like a fox. The Kiffin Clause won't be ignored.

But just in case, Lil Wayne might want to start penning a follow-up to his latest single. He could call it: Banned from TV ... And Everywhere Else.