Ole Miss Football conquered LSU and head coach Lane Kiffin on Saturday night with a 32-24 win. The victory was more important than just putting a former head coach in the past. It further established the Rebels as a legitimate team with a reputable head coach and put the program in an outstanding position for the rest of the season.
Before the game, the “Golding Era” was already off to a flying start with three victories over Top-25 teams, including one over a Top-5 team. Now, no one can say this is “Kiffin’s team” or call Ole Miss “the program that Kiffin built.” Ole Miss is doing just fine without its old coach.
Head coach Pete Golding and his team, which includes 59 new players, kept the Magnolia Bowl Trophy in Oxford. Golding outcoached Kiffin, and his players outperformed their counterparts. Head-to-head, Ole Miss was simply the better team.
Notably, nearly half of Ole Miss’ two-deep depth chart, the first two players at each position, is made up of players that Golding added. Moreover, even in Kiffin’s third year at Ole Miss, 36% of the two-deep roster was still left over from Matt Luke’s tenure, who was the Rebel head coach before Kiffin.
However, though this win meant a lot for Ole Miss Football and its fans, it cannot be the crowning achievement of this season.
“The goals and expectations that (Chancellor) Glenn (Boyce) and (Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics) Keith (Carter) have set for this place isn’t about winning one football game in September,” Golding said in a postgame press conference..
The Rebels will have to put this win in the rearview mirror and prepare for their first road SEC game of the season against No. 21 Florida. Golding will certainly not let the team walk into The Swamp unprepared.
“I don’t think anybody came here to beat LSU. That’s not what our goal was. Coming in, working so hard in the offseason (and) summer, (our goal) wasn’t to win one football game,” Golding said. “Is it sweet? Absolutely, and go enjoy it tonight for sure, but we have to come back to work tomorrow. We have a really … good Florida team next weekend, so it wasn’t the Super Bowl, and we didn’t make it to be the Super Bowl.”
Since Kiffin left, Ole Miss has consistently won big both on and off the field. The Sugar Bowl was the biggest win in program history, the Rebels were highly successful in the portal and recruitment and they have flourished in the court of public opinion, with Golding stealing the show at SEC Media Days as his authentic self. Rebel athletics have handled a variety of tasks with professionalism and finesse.
This is Ole Miss’ second win over LSU in as many years. When the Rebels won the Magnolia Bowl in 2025, the fans did not rush the field. They also refrained from doing so in 2026, further proving that big wins have become the standard in Oxford.
“Am I super proud of (the players)? Absolutely, but that’s three years since we’ve (Golding) been here that we’ve come home with that trophy. That’s an expectation here as it should be,” Golding said. “I couldn’t be happier for (Boyce) and (Carter).”
The Rebels looked like a bona fide Top-5 college football team Saturday night. Of course, they must keep playing that way to get back to the playoff, but they are in prime position to do so.
Ole Miss jumped four spots to No. 4 in the AP Poll after Saturday’s win. With two wins over Top-25 teams in just three weeks — which no other team can relate to — the Rebels have an argument as the best team in the country.
ESPN’s CFP projections rank Ole Miss as the No. 2 team in the country behind Texas, which, if the season ended today, would give the Rebels the No. 2 seed in the CFP. A month into the season, the Rebels have the ninth-best chance, 40%, to reach the CFP, up from 23% to begin the season.
Despite having a tough schedule, the win over LSU now puts Ole Miss in prime position for another playoff run. The path coming into the season was murky. Could the Rebels get back to the dance with Louisville, LSU, Texas, Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma on the schedule?
Last year, the Rebels’ biggest games of the season were against Georgia, LSU and Oklahoma. They won two of those games. This season, if they can defeat Missouri, Auburn, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, as they are projected to, the season will boil down to Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and, the biggest trap game of them all, Florida. Realistically, the Rebels can now afford two losses and still get into the playoffs.
Ole Miss has already knocked off two elite opponents. The rest of the way will not be easy, but the path is clear and doable for a strong Rebel team.
