Ole Miss Turns Back LSU's Late Rally

Lane Kiffin walked off the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium field Saturday night to boos that chased him all the way to the tunnel.

Ole Miss beat LSU 32-24, the first top-10 Magnolia Bowl meeting since 1962. Both teams came in unbeaten, LSU ranked seventh and Ole Miss eighth, and it was Kiffin's first game back in Oxford since he left for LSU last November.

Kiffin had been cast as the villain all week. By Saturday night, Oxford had made it official.

A 37-yard field goal set up a 5-yard touchdown run from Kewan Lacy, and Trinidad Chambliss found Traylon Ray for a 21-yard touchdown to make it 17-0. LSU answered with a 2-yard run from Dillin Jones before Chambliss found Deuce Alexander for 20 yards to make it 24-7 at halftime.

LSU came alive after the break. Sam Leavitt scored on a 4-yard keeper and Winston Watkins Jr. hauled in a 26-yard touchdown to cut it to 24-21 by the third quarter, then a 23-yard field goal tied it at 24 early in the fourth.

Ole Miss answered right away. A 13-play drive ended with Chambliss diving in from 14 yards out, and Pete Golding called a two-point conversion that made it 32-24.

LSU got one more chance. Leavitt drove the Tigers to the Ole Miss 6-yard line late in the fourth quarter. His fourth-down pass toward the end zone deflected off a lineman's helmet and into the arms of Jaylon Braxton, sealing it.

Chambliss finished 33 of 48 for 363 yards and two touchdowns, with an interception of his own. Leavitt threw for 158 yards and a score and ran for 63 more. Ole Miss out-gained LSU 426 yards to 330, and each team turned it over once.

Chambliss had a decision to make last winter, when Kiffin left for LSU and tried to recruit him there, too. Chambliss stayed. Saturday night was the answer to that choice.

Kiffin heard the boos as he left the field, and he did not pretend not to notice them. "I guess I had to leave to get them to do that, so you're welcome," he said afterward.

He admitted the return hit him differently than he expected. "It was really emotional driving in on the buses," Kiffin said. "There were a lot of emotions and a lot of gratitude for this place."

Asked if the win said anything about why Kiffin left, Golding would not bite. "I'm not getting into that, to be honest with you," he said. "People make decisions for their own reasons."

Chambliss said the stakes were obvious to everyone in the building. "This one meant a lot more than the other games," he said. "I wanted this one really bad, and our team did, too."