By GLENN GUILBEAU,Tiger Rag Editor
(Editor’s Note: The following story of Nov. 28, 2025, placed second in the game story category of the Football Writers Association of American annual contest behind Ryan McGee’s gamer on Indiana beating Miami for the national championship.)
STARKVILLE, Mississippi – Lane Kiffin’s life decision just got a lot more difficult, because he has Ole Miss as good as it has ever been and on the cusp of becoming the best it ever was.
Kiffin won a huge game in dominant fashion at hated rival Mississippi State, 38-19, on Friday that will give the No. 7 Rebels (11-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) their first College Football Playoff game on Dec. 19 or 20, and it will be at home.
But Kiffin might not be there.
With a win in that game, Ole Miss – with or without Kiffin – would be two wins away from its first national championship game ever.
“It’s all happening,” as Kate Hudson’s Penny Lane said in the “Almost Famous” classic about rock stars … like Lane Kiffin.https://t.co/KajxywPVmM
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 26, 2025
Since Kiffin has been told by Ole Miss that he can’t have his playoffs – his cake – and eat it, too, by accepting the LSU job and still coaching the Rebels through the playoffs, he must decide between one or the other by the end of the weekend. That means he either has to stay at Ole Miss, or leave all that the Rebels did under him the last six seasons and finished Friday on the table, if he goes to LSU.
LSU officials feel they have him, but they would feel better had he lost Friday.
“I feel like I got to,” Kiffin said when asked if he would decide by Saturday.
“I think it’s difficult no matter what,” he said when asked if the significance of the milestone victory – an 11th regular season win for the first time in Ole Miss history – and the clinching of the first playoff season for Ole Miss will make that decision harder.
“There is a relief that we played like I thought we would,” he said, turning back to his team. “But I didn’t think they would play like this.”
Meaning near flawlessly as Ole Miss played with zero negative yardage plays and gained 545 total yards – 359 passing and 186 rushing. In other words, like a team with no distractions whatsoever. That was the fear of Ole Miss people and the naysayers going after Kiffin for trying to pause and think about his future, which most Americans in other fields get to do with no drama.
“I am relieved for that,” he said. “Because if we didn’t play well today, we’d all know what the storyline would be. It would be my fault. I’m distracted and stuff. So, I’m really glad that we proved them wrong.”
But had Ole Miss lost on Friday, the decision would be much easier for Kiffin, who likely would have been booed by the 15,000 Ole Miss fans who made the two-hour drive. His interest in LSU would have caused the distracted loss.
Instead, it looked for a flash that all had been forgiven on a perfect Friday afternoon as Kiffin’s courtship first by Florida, then LSU has gone on for more than a month now with Florida now out of the picture.
Instead, there was Kiffin posing for pictures on the field with his players, with cheerleaders, with fans. He stopped for a moment, too, just to gaze and admire the scene as his Rebels carried the Golden Egg trophy around the field. A sea of blue watched amidst the empty Davis Wade Stadium seats left vacant by the departing home fans. He gathered it all in.
That scene could bode well for LSU, because it seemed like this was the end, much like when Saints quarterback Drew Brees did the same thing after his last game in 2020. He knew it was over, but everyone didn’t until he soon announced his retirement. Was Kiffin, 50, also saying goodbye to six pivotal years in his life with one last look?
Kiffin quit drinking at Ole Miss. He grew more mature and focused in Oxford. His ex-wife Layla moved from Los Angeles – where Lane coached USC from 2010-13 before getting fired – to Oxford to help raise their son Knox, who is in high school, and their daughter Landry, who is at Ole Miss but possibly transferring to LSU. He stabilized and legitimized a once-shaky head coaching career now blossoming and as hot as anyone’s in the game.
Or was he thinking, “Why am I leaving all this? Am I nuts?”
National championships are rare, and not just at Ole Miss. And he could win one this January. LSU hasn’t come close to the playoffs over the last six seasons since its national title in the 2019 season. It has averaged nearly five losses a season since then.
“Just over the years, you know, just really cool,” Kiffin said when asked about his pause at midfield. “Third time emptying out their stadium.”
He is 3-for-3 in the town he calls “Starksville,” which Ole Miss fans love to hear him say. And on this day, they loved Lane again as State fell to 5-7 and 1-7. The last time Ole Miss had a record like that was the season before Kiffin at 4-8 and 2-6 in 2019. What followed was 5-5 and 4-5, 10-3 and 6-2, 8-5 and 4-4, 11-2 and 6-2, 10-3 and 5-3 and 11-1 and 7-1.
But all that love can turn to hate in a second if Kiffin goes to Ole Miss’ daddy, which is LSU as it leads the series, 66-44-4.
Ole Miss junior linebacker TJ Dottery was asked what if Kiffin leaves for LSU.
“Players have the option to leave as well now,” he said. “Can’t blame him for that.”
But for at least one Friday night, Ole Miss and Kiffin will live in the present and the recent past.
“Watching Jaxson Dart (in 2023 and ’24 before becoming a first round pick in ‘25), watching Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss’ current QB) carry that trophy around,” Kiffin said proudly.
Chambliss, whom Kiffin signed out of Division II Ferris State in Big Rapids, Michigan, as a likely backup, exploded in Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr.’s offense. On Friday, he completed 23 of 34 for 359 yards and four touchdowns. He’s thrown for 3,016 yards on the season and 18 touchdowns with three interceptions.
“Just so much joy to see them do something like that,” Kiffin gushed on. “Watching guys come together from everywhere around the country. Think about that. They came from all over the place to come together and do this, to win, to bring joy to all the fans and the city of Oxford.”
He even looked at the Ole Miss sports information director nearby and talked about the possibility of playing in the SEC Championship Game next week, which would be another first in Ole Miss history. Should No. 10 Alabama (9-2, 6-1 SEC), a five-point favorite, lose the Iron Bowl grudge at Auburn (5-6, 1-6 SEC) Saturday night, the Rebels are in.
Then Kiffin touched on the home playoff game in Oxford on Dec. 19 or 20 and how he read that it will be the biggest sporting event in the history of the town.
And you’re going to miss it?
And you’re leaving?
He opened the press conference with, “What an awesome day.”
Toward the end, he grew emotional as he said he wished his father, Monte Kiffin, was still around, so he could ask him for advice about his next move.
Everything about Kiffin’s demeanor from beginning to end on Friday, his emotion and his words, indicated he clearly had not made up his mind.
“There’s a lot that goes into it,” Kiffin said. “It’s a hard decision.”
Kiffin said his first two calls late Friday or Saturday would be to his two favorite mentors – next to his dad, who passed away a year ago last summer. That will be former Alabama coach Nick Saban, whom he was offensive coordinator under from 2014-16 with a national championship in 2015, and former USC coach Pete Carroll, whom he coached quarterbacks and coordinated offenses for on the way to national titles in 2003 and ’04.
“I miss my dad,” he said. “Wish dad was here.”
When asked about his time frame, he obviously wasn’t there yet. He was going to see Knox play quarterback back home at Oxford High against Tupelo Friday night in a playoff game.
“Very fair question,” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe I should. I don’t. I know that may be crazy with all the attention on it. But tonight I’m happy for our players. And I’m going to go watch my son play.”
Doesn’t get much better than that.
Asked about coaching Ole Miss in the playoffs while also taking the LSU job, he said, “That’s not my call.”
Everything else is, though.
And a college football crazed world will wait for his decision on Saturday, or Sunday. There are many good games to watch this weekend, but none bigger or more dramatic than Lane’s Play Call.
“I have a lot of praying to do,” he said.
LSU and Ole Miss do, too.
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