Lane Kiffin spent Saturday night bathing in the hate of his biggest haters as his old team, No. 9 Mississippi, came up with a late defensive stand and beat his new one, No. 7 LSU, 32-24.
Things looked clear at the break, after Trinidad Chambliss executed a perfect two-minute drive and found Deuce Alexander for a touchdown and a 24-7 lead. That came after LSU finally moved the football with a 75-yard drive to get on the board.
LSU would open things up in the third quarter, developing a rhythm and adjusting to take back momentum after Chambliss tossed an interception at his own 33-yard line three minutes into the second half.
After Ole Miss went back in front on a 14-yard touchdown run by Chambliss in the fourth quarter, Leavitt pass on 4th and goal
with under a minute to play would be tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted to seal the emotional win.
The on-the-field meaning: Ole Miss already has two very good wins in LSU and Louisville, and down the road this win could mean the difference in determining an at-large College Football Playoff bid. Or even a spot in the SEC championship game.
But the deeper meaning in what was an only-in-college-football scene down in Oxford was seen in the Rebels’ combination of jubilation and relief after that late defensive stop.
Despite the loss, LSU is built to compete for everything in Kiffin’s first year and should get better in the coming weeks. There is obviously no shame in losing by a possession on the road.
But you know Kiffin wanted this one. Ole Miss delivered not just a key win but a blow to its former coach’s ego – talk about a perfect night.
Ole Miss, Chambliss, Kiffin and West Virginia lead the biggest winners and losers from Week 3:
Winners
Trinidad Chambliss
This wasn’t a perfect game, which goes to show the high standard in place for the senior. Chambliss had one turnover but threw for 363 yards and had three total touchdowns, and by doing so in that setting might’ve climbed alongside Arch Manning in the Heisman Trophy race. One thing that is apparent when watching Ole Miss is the ability Chambliss has to lift the quality of play around him and turn a very good team into a possibly great one.
Commonwealth of Kentucky
Unranked Louisville is set to climb in the US LBM Coaches Poll and the playoff race after winning a 41-31 shootout against No. 16 SMU. That’s going to provide the type of tiebreaker that could ultimately decide which teams play for the ACC crown and an automatic playoff berth. Much more surprisingly, Kentucky beat No. 8 Texas A&M 31-21 to give new coach Will Stein a banner win. Before Saturday, the last time Kentucky and Louisville beat ranked opponents on the same day was Oct. 13, 2007.
Kamario Taylor
Mississippi State’s sophomore quarterback continues to make a strong Heisman Trophy case and easily the Power Four’s breakout star of the first few weeks. He tossed another four touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ 41-34 road win against South Carolina, giving him 11 on the year against one interception.
West Virginia
Rich Rodriguez has things cooking in the second year of his second turn at West Virginia. The Mountaineers will get some Top 25 consideration after running for 247 yards and beating No. 25 Virginia 38-27, controlling things up front and beating the Cavaliers at their own game as a double-digit underdog. Former Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins threw for 190 yards, ran for another 123 and had five total touchdowns.
Clemson
North Carolina led Clemson 17-3 early in the second quarter and then 17-15 when lightning in the area led to a long delay about midway through the fourth. The Tar Heels tacked on a field goal coming out of the delay to go ahead 20-15 but quickly gave the game to the Tigers, who scored twice down the stretch and won 28-20. This is a big one for Dabo Swinney, if only to avoid the dogpile of criticism that would’ve come out of a loss at home to Bill Belichick and UNC. But this could be the result that begins the Tar Heels’ tumble out of the bowl picture given games ahead against No. 3 Notre Dame at home and then Pittsburgh and Duke on the road.
Vanderbilt
We’ll get into the ending of Vanderbilt’s shocking 35-31 win against North Carolina State in a moment. But let’s focus on the Commodores’ Jared Curtis, the five-star freshman who made his starting debut after replacing former starter Blaze Berlowitz. While he tossed two interceptions, including one that looked fatal inside the red zone with about a minute left, Curtis threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns on 8.1 yards per attempt with a game-high 64 yards on the ground. Not bad for the highest-rated recruit in modern program history.
Losers
Lane Kiffin
It has to sting. Kiffin watched some of the key players from his former team, including Chambliss, deliver the sort of win that would’ve proclaimed LSU as maybe deserving of a spot in the top of this week’s Coaches Poll. The difference was the game plan Ole Miss brought to the table, setting the table for that 24-7 lead. While Kiffin adjusted, as expected, the Rebels had built enough of a cushion to give Chambliss the chance to deliver when it mattered in the fourth quarter.
North Carolina State
Here’s the history of North Carolina State football distilled in one play: With the Wolfpack leading Vanderbilt 31-28 and facing 4th-and-7 with six seconds left and the ball at their own 4-yard line, quarterback CJ Bailey took the snap and ran into his end zone to kill as much time as possible before either taking a safety or, better yet, run out the clock entirely. Instead, Bailey was stripped by safety Mason Lewis and the loose ball was recovered by cornerback Cayden Daniels for the game-winning score as time expired. You know, N.C. State doing N.C. State things. This was already expected to be coach Dave Doeren’s final season, but this is the type of loss that will make that a certainty.
Texas A&M
The No. 8 Aggies looked like anything but one of the top contenders after Kentucky blew things open with a 21-point third quarter. Kenny Minchey went for 252 yards and two touchdowns for Kentucky to outplay Marcel Reed, who completed 26 of 49 attempts for 236 yards with two picks. This loss is a very bad omen for the Aggies’ chances of getting back into the playoff.
Arkansas
This is the worst team in the SEC and one of the worst teams in the Power Four. Arkansas dropped to 1-2 under new coach Ryan Silverfield after losing 45-17 to No. 2 Georgia, which ran for 254 yards and needed only 13 pass attempts from Gunner Stockton. So far, the Razorbacks have won an ugly one against North Alabama and lost to the Bulldogs and No. 17 Utah by a combined 88-27 score. While he inherited a really rough spot, Silverfield’s first few weeks have been almost unimaginably bad.
Colorado
The outlook for Colorado changes with a 41-7 loss at Northwestern, which took advantage of three takeaways to put this one away in the third quarter. The Buffaloes had looked much improved defensively in beating Georgia Tech in the opener but couldn’t stop quarterback Aidan Chiles, who thew for 241 yards and three touchdowns and looks comfortable in Chip Kelly’s scheme. This uncompetitive loss comes as Colorado heads into a tough stretch of Baylor on the road and then No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 17 Utah.
Lance Leipold
The pressure is increasing on Kansas coach Lance Leipold three years after the Jayhawks’ breakout nine-win season and Top 25 finish. On the heels of back-to-back five-win seasons, Kansas is in danger of falling short of bowl eligibility again after dropping to 1-2 with a 24-17 loss at home to Arizona State. A week ago, two interceptions helped No. 22 Missouri turn a 14-14 game into a 38-21 win. Against the Sun Devils, KU was minus-three in turnover margin and offset a punt return for a score with several miscues on special teams, giving up a 100-yard kickoff return, missing a field goal and uncorking a 17-yard punt that ASU quickly converted into a touchdown.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mississippi, Trinidad Chambliss lead college football winners, losers from Week 3
