By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Former LSU linebacker Darry Beckwith knows the Tigers’ defense looks vastly improved so far this season after dominating wins over Clemson (51-10, 145 yards, 40 rushing yards allowed) and Louisiana Tech (45-14, 140 yards, -3 rushing yards allowed).
But he remembers what Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss did last year against LSU and the same defensive coordinator in Blaker Baker and several of the same players. Chambliss completed 23 of 39 passes for 314 yards with a touchdown and an interception and rushed 14 times for 71 yards in a 24-19 win in Oxford, Mississippi.
Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy, who rushed 23 times for 87 yards with a 15-yard touchdown, kept the ball for the final 5:04 of the game against Baker’s defense after LSU had cut it to five points with 5:07 to play. Chambliss rushed twice for 12 yards, Lacy three times for 24 yards, then Chambliss twice more for four yards before completing a 20-yard pass to tight end Dae’Quan Wright. Chambliss knelt three straight times, and it was over.
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The rematch is Saturday as No. 7 LSU (2-0) under new coach Lane Kiffin, who left Ole Miss as head coach after the 2025 regular season, plays at No. 8 Ole Miss (2-0) at 6:30 p.m. on ABC. Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. followed Kiffin to LSU as did six other offensive assistants from Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss after the playoffs last season.
Kiffin tried to take Chambliss and Lacy with him, too, but they’re still at Ole Miss and will be there Saturday night.
“Trinidad Chambliss – the guy is incredible,” Beckwith said on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night. “He can hurt you when he scrambles. He is most effective when he breaks the pocket because he constantly keeps his eyes downfield, and he’s accurate.”
Chambliss finished No. 3 in the nation last year in passing yards with 3,937 on 294-of-445 passing with 22 touchdowns and only three interceptions for the Rebels, who finished 13-2 and reached the College Football Playoff semifinal in Kiffin’s and Weis’ offense after an 11-1 (7-1 SEC) regular season.
Chambliss also rushed for 527 yards on 133 carries with eight touchdowns last season. So far this season, under new offensive coordinator John David Baker, Chambliss has completed 44 of 68 passes for 561 yards and five touchdowns with an interception while rushing 12 times for 62 yards with a touchdown.
“I think Trinidad Chambliss is going to win or lose this game for Ole Miss,” said Beckwith, a three-year starter at LSU from 2006-08 and a national champion in the 2007 season.
“I’m sure that Blake Baker’s defense is going to be well prepared for him,” he said. “Obviously, you have to put pressure on him. You can’t let him sit back in the pocket and pick you apart. And you have to make sure that if your first guy doesn’t hit home, you have a second-level guy that’s spying on Trinidad Chambliss. If he breaks contain, you’re going to have to have Whit Weeks or TJ Dottery (linebackers) spying to make sure that gap is closed. If not, that’s where he’s going to hurt you.”
With LSU suffocating Clemson and Tech’s run game the last two weeks, even though neither are very good teams, Beckwith is not as concerned with stopping Lacy as he is with stopping Chambliss. LSU does enter the Ole Miss game with the No. 2 rush defense in the nation with 18 yards allowed a game.
“I’m not as worried about him,” Beckwith said of Lacy, who finished third in the nation last year with 1,567 yards on 306 carries with 24 touchdowns. He has 148 yards on 30 rushes this season with three TDs.
“You’ve got to remember last year, Lacy had Charlie Weis and Lane Kiffin calling the plays,” Beckwith said. “They’re very creative in the run game. They do a lot of misdirection to get the linebacker’s eyes in different directions. I just don’t see the creativity in the run game this year that Ole Miss had last year.”
Baker, who was East Carolina’s offensive coordinator the previous two seasons before returning to Ole Miss, served as Kiffin’s tight ends coach with the pass game coordinator title from 2021-23. His running game is currently 96th in the nation with 139.5 yards a game. LSU is No. 27 with 228 a game. In total offense, Ole Miss is No. 39 nationally in total offense with 454 yards a game to LSU’s No. 3 with 620.5 yards a game. The Rebels’ pass offense is No. 22 in the nation (314.5 yards a game) to LSU’s No. 4 (358 a game).
“I just don’t think Kewan is going to matter as much this year as he did last year,” Beckwith said. “My main focus would be stopping Trinidad. I’d rather Kewan beat me than Trinidad. I just cannot see this LSU defense with its experience and talent and line play and linebackers letting Kewan Lacy run the football down their throat like he did last year. Because this defense takes pride in stopping the run. But you have to stop Trinidad.”
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