The lead up to Week 3 was all about Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford after leaving Ole Miss for LSU before the College Football Playoff last season.
And then, the Rebels outlasted the Tigers in an emotional 32-24 win that was essentially a massive sigh of relief for the state of Mississippi. Kiffin said after the game that he was grateful for his time coaching Ole Miss because his feelings for the place were not just about football.
Now that this SEC game — one of the most highly and hotly anticipated matchups of this regular season — is over, we can maybe all move on from the dramatic Kiffin headlines. We’ll see.
There was more than just LSU and Ole Miss in Week 3, though we still have more to discuss. With that, here are our superlatives from another fun weekend of college football:
Ole Miss topped LSU and Lane Kiffin 32-24 to improve to 3-0. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)
Before we move on, we have to briefly talk about the game of the week, which obviously was Kiffin’s Ole Miss homecoming. The Rebels jumped out to a 24-7 lead at halftime behind quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ sharpness and accuracy. His counterpart, LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, took awhile to settle in.
Things got spicy in the third quarter when the Tigers put together two touchdown drives and tied things up 24-24 early in the fourth. Chambliss then proceeded to lead his offense on a 13-play drive that he finished with a 14-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion to pull ahead.
The Ole Miss defense then shut things down with a goal line stand, which ended in Jaylon Braxton intercepting Leavitt on the Tigers’ final play of the game to clinch the 32-24 victory.
“Hotty f****** Toddy!” Chambliss said on the broadcast after the game.
Moment Of The Week: Vanderbilt, NC State’s Wild Finish
Vanderbilt converted a fumble (Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)
It has to be Vanderbilt’s fumble recovery in the end zone to pull off a shocking 35-31 win over NC State.
The Wolfpack faced fourth down on its own five-yard line while leading, 31-28, with six seconds left. Quarterback CJ Bailey tried to run out the clock and take a safety, but he fumbled, and the Commodores recovered to win the game. Vandy fans didn’t rush the field in excitement, but they would have had a good reason to do so.
The broadcast put up a wild statistic after the game, which was that teams who had the ball and the lead in the final 10 seconds of a game were 1,046-1 over the last 20 seasons before Vandy’s stunner.
Ole Miss’ 32-24 win over LSU earned them No. 4 in the AP Top 25. (Photo by Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It must feel good to be Pete Golding right now. All the chatter leading into the Ole Miss-LSU game was about Kiffin’s return, how Leavitt was “doubtful” according to LSU’s mid-week injury report, and that the Tigers’ defense was dominant.
Golding may have benefited most from Kiffin’s departure last year, as he was ultimately named the successor. Golding took the Rebels to the CFP, winning the first round and a quarterfinal game vs. Georgia before losing to Miami in the semifinal. Those results gave the program a confidence boost entering this season, where they are currently sitting with a 3-0 record.
Getting past the Tigers was important for team confidence, but Golding didn’t overhype the game with his players and reminded them afterward that they have more work to do.
“Is it sweet? Absolutely,” Golding told reporters. “But we’ve got to come back to work. It wasn’t our Super Bowl, and we didn’t make it out to be our Super Bowl.”
Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith officially became the Buckeyes’ all-time leading wide receiver against Kent State in Week 3. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Jeremiah Smith made history Saturday in Ohio State’s 59-3 win over Kent State, becoming the program’s all-time leader in career receiving yards. After catching five passes for 85 yards, the star wide receiver now has 2,959 career receiving yards, surpassing Michael Jenkins’ previous record of 2,898.
Smith, a junior, is a Heisman Trophy candidate and widely projected to be a top-5 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. He had 1,315 receiving yards as a true freshman and then 1,234 as a sophomore last season. Through three games this year, he has 312 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 157.5 yards per game.
The Buckeyes are 2-1 with Big Ten play beginning next week vs. Illinois.
Kentucky completed the upset over then-No.9 Texas A&M to clinch its first SEC win under new coach Will Stein. (Photo by Zach Del Bello/Getty Images)
Kentucky shocked then-No. 9 Texas A&M, 31-21, in College Station. It was a massive win for first-year Wildcats coach Will Stein in his first-ever SEC road game.
A week ago, the Wildcats were embarrassed in a 45-17 loss to Alabama. They led the Crimson Tide 17-13 at halftime before being outscored 32-0 in the second half. This week, Kentucky’s defense – led by former Texas A&M defensive coordinator Jay Bateman – was especially lethal, limiting Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed to 26-of-49 passing for 236 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
“Hats off to Kentucky, they came in here and beat our ass,” Aggies head coach Mike Elko said after the game. “No good enough from us on any level — coaching, playing, performing, physicality, anything. On me, I own it. It’s my program, I’m in charge of it. We have to get it fixed.
“… There’s no positives. Not an ounce of a positive anywhere.”
In this new era of a nine-game SEC schedule, no team has an easy path to the CFP. And things get tougher for Texas A&M, who has to travel to No. 10 LSU next week.
Biggest Week 4 Storyline: Oregon’s Road Contest At USC
No. 12 USC and No. 21 Oregon are set for a top-25 showdown in Week 4. (Photo by Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
There are a lot of intriguing matchups coming in Week 4. No. 1 Texas travels to No. 15 Tennessee, while No. 24 Oklahoma goes to No. 2 Georgia. It’s important for both the Longhorns and Sooners to get those road wins with the Red River Shootout looming in two weeks (both teams have a bye the week before their annual rivalry showdown).
But perhaps the biggest storyline entering next week is a Big Ten meeting between No. 12 USC and No. 21 Oregon. The Ducks have been confusing to start the season. They were a popular pick to win the national championship with quarterback Dante Moore a frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy. Then they nearly lost their season opener to Boise State and were stunningly upset by Oklahoma State in Stillwater in Week 2. This past week, they tried to make some sort of statement by trouncing Portland State, 84-0.
The Trojans, meanwhile, are 4-0, but raised questions in their 42-35 win over Rutgers on Saturday. USC was a three-touchdown favorite, and although Lincoln Riley’s team never trailed, it let the Scarlet Knights hang around.
There is no telling what will happen when the Trojans host the Ducks in Week 4.
