Were it any other coach in place of Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss’s win on Saturday would have made them desperate to shut the chapter and move on. But not Kiffin.
True to form, he couldn’t resist taking another shot at his former home, this time calling out Ole Miss for treating the Sep. 19 matchup as their personal ‘Super Bowl.’
“If it wasn’t for the name, Ole Miss, and if it was more of a traditional name that we were playing, we hadn’t coached at before, how would everybody be feeling if, in your third game of your first year of a program, you went to Ohio State and came all the way back?” Kiffin asked during his Wednesday teleconference, per ON3. “The quarterback didn’t play very — ours (Sam Leavitt) didn’t play very well, and theirs played lights out. I’m sure after three games, he would be named the Heisman winner.
Lane Kiffin Calls LSU Game Ole Miss’s ‘Super Bowl’
“So, I think when you look at it that way and say, OK, man, their Super Bowl, then all the stuff around it, all the energy in the stadium, everything, and we’re right there at the end with multiple chances to win the game. We got to learn from that and finish when we’re in that type of situation again.”
Ole Miss didn’t go all 2021 Knoxville on Saturday, not even a little bit. Well, only if you consider blasting “Callin’ Baton Rouge” a normal post-game celebratory song.
Minus that, the Oxford crowd didn’t show how much they hate Kiffin, and actually enjoyed their team, the Rebels, giving the LSU Tigers a run for their money.
Trinidad Chambliss didn’t let a single opportunity go to waste, going 33 completion in 48 attempts. He rallied for 363 passing yards, and topped it off with three touchdowns.
But that was just the scoreboard talking. After every touchdown, and even when Ole Miss won the game, it was Chambliss’s burning stare directed at the sideline right where Kiffin was standing that marked just how big the night was for him. But that was it. The Rebels did nothing more to actually rub it in Kiffin’s face.
And Golding stood by it.
Pete Golding Refused to Give Kiffin the Controversy he Wanted
Since Kiffin was staying true to his form, Golding stayed true to his usual form of downplaying every comment from Kiffin and not giving him the controversy he wants.
“I know everybody else had that game circled. I didn’t,” Golding said in his teleconference, per On3. “I mean, there’s nothing about winning a game in September that makes your season.”
Even before the matchup, Golding consistently downplayed any jab from Kiffin and actively ditched any chance to stir something up, even urging their home crowd to not “lose it over someone or one game.”
Post-game, Golding instantly pivoted to preparing for Florida, their Week 4 opponents, keeping it professional and about the game.
“This is a different roster with the same mentality, which is scary,” Golding said of having faced Sumrall last season as Tulane’s head coach.
LSU, on the other hand, faces an even bigger SEC heavyweight in Texas A&M.
Ole Miss-LSU Drama Continues as Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding Exchange Pointed Digs