Lane Kiffin made the loudest statement of Week 1, and he did it in the kind of fashion that leaves no room for debate: Ole Miss thumped Clemson 51-10. After an offseason packed with turmoil and headlines, Kiffin walked into the season and passed the first real test in emphatic style.
That performance set the bar for the rest of college football’s first-year head coaches, a crowded group of 33 new hires all trying to make an instant impression. Some did that with clean, convincing wins. Others stumbled hard enough to raise real questions before September even gets rolling.
Huff came out of Week 1 looking like a coach who knows how to steady a program in the middle of the storm. After a one-and-done run at Marshall, he’s building a reputation for digging teams out of chaos and making them competitive. Memphis followed up a win over UNLV with another against Arkansas State, and that kind of start has the feel of a team that could crash the conversation for the G5 College Football Playoff spot.
Chesney also gave his new team a sharp opening act. UCLA, a program that has spent recent seasons fighting irrelevancy, looked crisp in a 45-24 win over Cal. If his running game translates in the Big Ten the way it did against the Golden Bears, Chesney could end up being one of the early stories of the season.
At Kentucky, Stein’s debut was steady and controlled in a 45-13 win. The opponent was Youngstown State, so Week 2 against Alabama will tell a much bigger story, but the Wildcats looked prepared and in command in the opener. That’s enough to suggest Kentucky could be more of a factor in the SEC sooner than many expected.
Campbell’s first game at Penn State didn’t come with much resistance from Marshall, but the result still mattered. The Nittany Lions rolled to a 45-0 win, and Campbell took a solid first step toward restoring the prestige of the program to where it wants to be. The real test will come in Big Ten play, but Week 1 was a clean start.
Not every new coach got to leave the opener with momentum. Whittingham and Michigan escaped Western Michigan thanks to what the source described as a massive fluke of officiating, but the Wolverines still looked like a team headed for a 5-7 season, with Bryce Underwood staring at the transfer portal. It was a rough sign for what’s ahead.
Morris had an even uglier opening. Oklahoma State’s 24-10 loss to Tulsa was more than just disappointing; it was a reminder of how far the program has slipped. The source framed it as a performance that could be enough to punt on the 2026 season.
Tulane’s 17-3 loss to Duke also looked like a warning light. The Green Wave managed only 10 first downs, and the result suggested they may be sliding quickly back toward their pre-Sumrall level.
Silverfield got a win, but not much comfort. Arkansas State beat North Alabama 31-14, and while nobody’s going to judge him too harshly for that, it wasn’t the kind of showing that eases concerns about a roster facing a talent deficiency for most of the year. The Razorbacks still have work to do if they want to climb out of the SEC cellar.
Ole Miss won too, but the K9iffin hangover was real. Trinidad Chamlbiss had to string together play after play just to hold off a Louisville team that figures to settle somewhere in the middle of a mediocre ACC. The offense did enough, but if the defense doesn’t improve quickly, Golding is headed for a long season.
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Keeps Giving Ole Miss Fans A Reason To Boil
Lane Kiffins exit from Oxford was always going to leave a mess, but the timing made it sting even more for Ole Miss fans. He accepted the LSU head coaching job just before the Rebels were set to compete in the College Football Playoff, and the move was enough to get him removed from Ole Miss program access as the school turned the page on a coach who had become impossible to separate from the programs recent rise.
Since then, LSU has wasted no time building under Kiffin, leaning heavily on the transfer portal and landing several former Ole Miss players as part of a class that has drawn plenty of attention. The drama around Kiffin has only followed him, too, from a profane halftime speech to public criticism from media figures like Paul Finebaum, giving Rebels fans plenty of reasons to keep one eye on Baton Rouge even after the breakup became official. [Read more 🡒]
Former Ole Miss Playmaker Stuck In Limbo As Next Move Looms
DaeQuan Wrights football future remains in limbo as he waits on an NFL ruling that will determine whether he can play this season. The former Ole Miss playmaker, who spent time with the Cleveland Browns in the offseason, had been linked to LSU at one point, but he has not signed there and is no longer pursuing a return to Baton Rouge.
For now, Wright is weighing his next step while his agent says multiple NFL teams have shown interest. Legal action is also being considered as he looks for a path forward, leaving one of Lane Kiffins former Rebels in a holding pattern while the league sorts out his eligibility. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Book Reopens Ole Miss Anger Over How He Left
A new book from John Talty is bringing fresh attention to the way Lane Kiffins exit from Ole Miss unfolded, revisiting the tense final stretch before his move to LSU in November 2025. Lane Being Lane looks at Kiffins career path and personality, but for Rebels fans the sharpest interest is in how the book frames his departure and the strain it created with Ole Miss officials along the way.
The book also digs into the ripple effect on the program after he left, including allegations that Kiffin tried to recruit Ole Miss players Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy to follow him to LSU. For a fan base that was already frustrated by how the separation played out, the new details are likely to stir the same anger again and keep the conversation going well beyond the last chapter. [Read more 🡒]