Lane Kiffin’s record against ranked teams is back in the spotlight after LSU’s 32-24 loss at No. 8 Ole Miss on Saturday dropped him to 13-26 against Top 25 opponents.
The defeat came in Kiffin’s first trip back to his former school, and it also pushed him below Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who is 23-45 against ranked teams, while tying him with former Arkansas and Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt at 20-40. College football insider Brennon Chapman posted the updated mark on X after the game.
Kiffin’s struggles in these matchups have been part of the story for a long time. He went 1-3 against ranked opponents in his lone season at Tennessee in 2009, then followed that with a 2-7 mark at USC. His run at Florida Atlantic included an 0-5 record against ranked teams, leaving him at 3-15 before he ever reached Oxford.
That changed at Ole Miss. Over six seasons with the Rebels, Kiffin went 10-10 against ranked opponents. Saturday was his first game against a ranked team as LSU’s coach.
The game itself followed a familiar SEC script. Ole Miss built a 24-7 halftime lead, LSU punched back with 14 straight points in the third quarter, and the Tigers tied it at 24 on a field goal with 11:23 remaining.
Then Trinidad Chambliss took over.
The Ole Miss quarterback, a Division II transfer Kiffin brought to Oxford last year, led a 13-play, 75-yard march and capped it with a 14-yard touchdown run with less than seven minutes to play. A two-point conversion stretched the Rebels’ lead to 32-24.
LSU still had a shot to force a tie, but Jaylon Braxton intercepted Sam Leavitt’s fourth-down pass in the end zone in the closing seconds.
Chambliss finished with 363 passing yards and three total touchdowns, and Kiffin had a blunt read afterward: "Credit to them. Players made plays," Kiffin said after the game. "That's what my biggest fear was all week, every minute, when the game is at the end and Trinidad has the ball in his hand."
The loss also dropped Kiffin to 1-7 when his top-10 team faces a ranked opponent. His only win in that situation came last season, when No.
8 Ole Miss beat No. 13 Oklahoma 34-26.
He is now 1-9 in true road games against Associated Press top-10 teams in a coaching database that goes back to 1990, with bowl games and neutral-site matchups excluded.
Still, the larger picture shows how rare success against ranked teams really is. Only 10 Power Four coaches entered the 2026 season with a career record of .500 or better against Top 25 opponents. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was 25-35 in those games, and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was 31-60.
Kiffin’s 10-10 record at Ole Miss matched a standard most Power Four coaches have never reached over an entire career. And he did it at a program that had only two 10-win seasons from 1972 until he arrived in 2020.
The former Rebels coach went 55-19 in Oxford with four 10-win seasons, and his 50 wins from 2021 on trailed only Georgia and Alabama in the SEC. He left Ole Miss at 11-1 in the regular season and headed for the program’s first College Football Playoff.
Texas A&M visits LSU (2-1, 0-1 SEC) on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Alabama comes to Baton Rouge on Nov. 7 and Texas follows on Nov. 14, and then LSU travels to Tennessee on Nov. 21.
In Other News...
LSUs Quarterback Situation Just Got Dragged Into A New Controversy
LSUs quarterback room has already carried plenty of weight this season, and now Sam Leavitts move to Baton Rouge has been pulled into a very different kind of spotlight. The Tigers loss to Ole Miss was the backdrop, but the noise afterward centered on social media attention around an account believed to be linked to Leavitts father, Jared Leavitt, a former BYU linebacker.
The posts drew controversy for comments about Muslims, and they quickly became part of the conversation around LSUs quarterback situation. As of now, LSU has not issued a statement about the social media posts, and there has been no apology from the account, leaving another off-field issue hanging over a team trying to settle things on the field. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Fans Had Plenty To Say About This Ole Miss Sideshow
The LSU-Ole Miss matchup had plenty of on-field intrigue, but a separate social media subplot quickly grabbed attention around the game. A fan seated next to Barstools Ben Mintz was identified online as Hannah Minch, an Ole Miss supporter who already had a sizable following, and her appearance in the seats turned into one of those viral side stories that can travel fast during a big SEC weekend.
For LSU fans, it was another reminder of how much the conversation around this rivalry now spills well beyond the stadium. Minchs profile surged after the moment spread, while Lane Kiffin added his own layer to the night by speaking about the emotional closure he felt connected to his Ole Miss past and his current LSU role. It left plenty for both fan bases to debate long after the game itself faded from view. [Read more 🡒]
Trinidad Chambliss Had A Message LSU Fans Wont Like
Ole Miss left Baton Rouge with a 32-24 win, and Trinidad Chambliss made sure the tone afterward matched the result. The Rebels quarterback was sharp from the start, finishing 33 of 48 for 363 yards and two touchdowns, and his play helped Ole Miss build a 24-7 lead by halftime before LSU tightened things up in the second half.
Chambliss also had a message for anyone still sizing up the Rebels after the game. He said Ole Miss is here to compete, a confidence that fit the way he played when the pressure was at its highest. For LSU, it was the kind of loss that leaves a sting because the early deficit made the comeback chase so difficult, and because the opposing quarterback sounded anything but surprised by the stage. [Read more 🡒]